Scilla Gabel
She was born Scilla Gabellini, one of five siblings, in Rimini on the Adriatic coast. Scilla initially studied law at Oxford University, graduating with a doctorate. Her interest in pursuing a legal career waned quickly, however, since her next move was a return to Italy for acting classes at Rome's Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica. At the age of seventeen, the voluptuous, blue-eyed Scilla became a body double for Sophia Loren (to whom she bore more than a passing resemblance), notably in the classic Boy on a Dolphin (1957). Two years later, she underwent cosmetic surgery to look less like Sophia in order to forge her own screen image. In 1963, Scilla featured on the cover of several magazines, including Playboy, the Milanese publication Le Ore and Parade (at the time, the most widely read weekly in the U.S.). Though she went on to command leads in a number of films during the 60s, Scilla tended to be typecast in roles which emphasized her physical attributes, rather than her acting ability. She appeared most often in genre films, anything from innocuous sex comedies (Genitori in blue-jeans (1960), Bel Ami 2000 oder Wie verführt man einen Playboy? (1966)) to swashbuckling costume dramas (La Venere dei pirati (1960)), and from spaghetti westerns (Johnny Golden Poker (1966)) to peplum spectacles (Death on the Arena (1962), The Revenge of Spartacus (1964)). After 1971, she was afforded more challenging and critically acclaimed roles as a star in Italian TV miniseries. Eleven years after leaving the screen, Scilla attracted media attention as a result of the murder of her 87-year old landlord father Giuseppe, by a crazed tenant at his villa on the via Campi di Torre Flavia in Ladispoli.
Filmography · 47
The Odyssey
1968 · Helen
Le donne del Tenente Sheridan
1965 · Cheril
Sodom and Gomorrah
1962 · Tamar
The Odyssey
1969 · Helen
Modesty Blaise
1966 · Melina
Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
1959 · Toni
Dov'è Anna?
1976 · Paola Silvestri
Vino e pane
1973 · Annina
Mara
1961 · Mara
I ragazzi dei Parioli
1959 · Nuccia
Tender Sharks
1967 · Zeezee
Mill of the Stone Women
1960 · Elfie Wahl
The Shortest Day
1963 · L'amante di un soldato...
Romulus and the Sabines
1961 · Dusia
The Queen of the Pirates
1960 · Isabella, the Duke's D...
That Awful Mess on Via Merulana
1983 · Liliana Balducci
La salamandre d'or
1962 · Béatrice
I piaceri del sabato notte
1960 · Patrizia
Bastard, Go and Kill
1971 · Susanna
Son of Cleopatra
1964 · Livia
The White Warrior
1959 · Princess Mario Voronts...
Target for Killing
1966 · La Tigra
The Revenge of the Gladiators
1964 · Cinzia
Outlaws of Love
1963 · Wilma
How to Seduce a Playboy?
1966 · Anita Bionda
Colossus of the Arena
1962 · Thalima
Legs of Gold
1958 · Gianna Savelli
Two Colonels
1963 · Iride
Village of Daughters
1962 · Angelina Vimereati
Take Me As I Am
1960 · Gina
Girls of the Night
1958 · Lola
Three Faces of Sin
1961 · Rossana
Seven Slaves Against the World
1964 · Claudia
Arms of the Avenger
1963 · Isabella - duchessina...
No Man's Land
1962 · Signora De Rossi
La grande vallata
1961
Genitori in blue-jeans
1960 · Colette
Corpse for the Lady
1964 · Renata
Djurado
1966 · Barbara Donovan
The Festival Girls
1961 · Nadja
Con rispetto parlando
1965 · Vittoria Oriani, in ar...
Noi duri
1960 · Josette
Il terrore dei mantelli rossi
1963 · Cristina
Una storia di notte
1964 · Turista tedesca
Gente felice
1957 · Gina
Tua per la vita
1955 · La sartina dell' Ateli...
Due sosia in allegria
1956