Rossana Rory(1927-2020)

This blonde Italian glamour model and actress was born Rossana Coppa in Rome. Featured in weekly fashion and movie magazines from the age of seventeen, she made her screen debut in 1951. With a few supporting roles in Italian pictures under her belt, Hollywood beckoned. However, despite being seen in the right places and with some of the right people, Rossana's stint in the movie capital turned out to be brief and unsatisfactory. Offended by the roles offered her, she walked out on her contract with Warner Brothers after nine months. Still hoping to break through in Hollywood, she then took classes at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, but her fortunes did not improve greatly thereafter. The main highlight was a co-starring role as one of two Cuban belles (the other was Gia Scala) romancing a rather seedy and tired looking Errol Flynn in The Big Boodle (1957), a cheaply made United Artists second feature, filmed on location in Havana and Mexico City. Rossana also had another lead in a routine Republic western, Hell Canyon Outlaws (1957), before making her return to Italy.

After headlining in the war picture El Alamein (1957), Rossana made what was probably her best known appearance, in Mario Monicelli's classic caper comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). Her last few roles tended to be closer to the bottom of the cast, with the possible exception of the quaint comedy Jessica (1962). This international co-production was directed by Jean Negulesco, filmed in Sicily and turned out to be Rossana's penultimate appearance on the screen.