Laura Antonelli, Marquise Eugenia from the movie “God, how deep I’ve sunk!” hardly needs an introduction. She also enjoyed immense popularity in the former Czechoslovakia. Laura was born on November 28, 1941 in Pula, Istria. The peninsula then belonged to Italy. After the war, she and her parents moved to Naples, where she studied at the local Academy of Physical Education after graduating from high school. After school, she briefly became a PE and math teacher. But she was extremely beautiful, which was constantly assured by those around her, so she decided to take advantage of the opportunities that this fact offered her and apply herself in a different way.
A sex symbol was born
She went to Rome and started making a living as a photo model. She has also shot several commercials for Coca Cola and presented television programs. Her physical charms did not go unnoticed by the filmmakers. She soon got several small roles in front of the movie camera. In 1969, the director Massimo Dallamano offered her her first prominent role in the erotic drama “Venus in a fur coat”. However, strict Italian censorship prevented the film from being released in theaters for six long years. Therefore, the actress had to wait for success until 1971, when she played the role of a cellist’s wife in the comedy “Il merlo maschio”. The film “Malice” followed. In this comedy directed by Salvatore Samperi, Laura played a maid who is wooed by both her master and his son. The film earned a respectable six billion lire in its time and became a cult in Italy. For it, Laura received the Silver Ribbon for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in the Discovery category. She literally became an erotic symbol of the time overnight.
As Eugenie, she conquered the world
But it was the role of Marquise Eugenie of Maqueda in the film “God, how deep I have sunk!” from 1974 that brought her real international fame. The unforgettable film, in which Michele Placido and Jean Rochefort also appeared alongside Laura, describes the turbulent life of the Marquise full of love flare-ups and disappointments, but also a deep moral crisis and the decline of the nobility of the time. The actress played a similar role in the drama “The Innocent”, which was filmed in 1976 under the direction of Luchino Visconti. Here she plays aristocrat Giuliana Hermill, the beautiful but unfaithful wife of an equally unfaithful and decadent husband.
In 1981, she wins Donatello’s David for the role of the unhappily married Klara, the lover of the main character, a cavalry captain, represented by Bernardin Giraudeau, who gradually falls into a toxic love for the ugly, severely mentally ill Fosca, in the drama “The Passion of Love” directed by Ettore Scola. Laura Antonelli also appeared in the 1985 erotic film “Venetian Night”.
Fame was constant
Throughout her career, however, she actually suffered a lot, she didn’t believe in herself, she didn’t think she was pretty enough, and even private relationships didn’t work out for her. In 1972, during the filming of the Italian-French comedy “Doctor Popaul”, she became close to Jean-Paul Belmond. The actor left Bond girl Ursula Andress for her. At that time, Laura already had one unsuccessful marriage with the antique dealer Enrico Piacentini and a relationship with the humorist Mario Marence. She and Belmond were a couple until 1980, but they never lived together. Laura continued to stay in Italy, Belmondo in France for a change. They eventually broke up. The cause was said to be the actress’ problematic nature, which could not be stopped. She couldn’t handle her fame and slowly and surely the fall came.
A drug affair and botched plastic surgery triggered a prolonged depression
On the night of April 27, 1991, the police found 36 grams of cocaine in the actress’s house in Cerveteri. The court of first instance sentenced her to three years and six months in prison for drug trafficking. The whole court process dragged on for a very long time. It was only in 2000 that Laura Anttonelli was acquitted by an appeals court in Rome, which recognized her as a regular drug user, but not as a drug dealer. Taking drugs for personal use was no longer a criminal offense in Italy at that time. At the same time that her troubles with the law began, she also underwent plastic surgery to cover up the early signs of aging. However, the procedure failed, side effects appeared, swelling disfigured the actress’s face, so she demanded compensation in the form of a billion lira from the court. The court dragged on for thirteen years and finally rejected her claims. The swelling should have been the result of a disease called quicke’s edema, not an aesthetic medicine procedure.
As a result of this event, the actress began to suffer from prolonged depression and had to be repeatedly hospitalized in a psychiatric hospital. Laura’s lawyers therefore sued the Department of Justice and demanded proper compensation. In 2003, they managed only ten thousand euros. In the appeal process, the amount was increased to 108 thousand plus interest.
The ending was sad
At that time, the actress’ career was definitely in the past. She made her last film in 2000. Since then, she went through not only a mental crisis, but also an economic crisis, she closed herself in and refused any help, including help from close friends. Her pension was only five hundred euros a month, so her friends called on Prime Minister Berlusconi for the state to provide the actress with economic support. But Laura refused this help, saying that she is no longer interested in earthly life and would rather be forgotten. She converted and became a practicing Catholic. In one of the last interviews, she said that she considers the world of the entertainment industry to be frivolous and lacking in values. “It may seem paradoxical, but one day you look in the mirror and see that you are beautiful, rich and famous, but you realize that inside you are empty. And then bad decisions come, you fall into the abyss. I overcame so many adversities only thanks to faith,” the actress said at the time.
Laura Antonelli died of a heart attack at her home in Ladispoli, near Rome, on June 22, 2015, aged 73. She is buried in the local cemetery. “Laura was a cute, charming companion and a high-quality partner. I will have wonderful memories of her,” said Jean-Paul Belomdo after the actress’ death.
