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Franco Fabrizi and Leonora Ruffo in I Vitelloni (1953)

Biography

Leonora Ruffo

Overview

  • Born
    January 13, 1936 · Rome, Lazio, Italy
  • Died
    May 28, 2007 · Rome, Lazio, Italy (pancreatic cancer)
  • Birth name
    Eleonora Ruffo
  • Nickname
    • Bruna Falchi

Mini bio

  • Elegant Italian leading lady of the 50's and 60's, born Bruna Bovi, the youngest of five siblings in Rome. As a youth she was noted for her prowess as a gymnast, a fact which contributed to her discovery for the screen by the director Pietro Francisci in 1952. Possessed of luminous eyes and a spirited personality, Leonora was rarely cast as anything other than eye-candy in spaghetti westerns or sword-and-sandal epics. A couple of exceptions stand out: first, her titular role as Balkis, The Queen of Sheba (1952) (co-starring Gino Cervi, as King Solomon); secondly, -- arguably her best performance -- as Sandra Rubini, wife of an irresponsible ne'er-do-well and inveterate womanizer (played by Franco Fabrizi) in Federico Fellini's masterpiece I Vitelloni (1953). She also romped through a couple of mildly diverting horror flics. As Gordon Scott's girlfriend she battled faceless robots and vampires in Goliath and the Vampires (1961). In the off-beat Mario Bava offering Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), she was held on the island of the Hesperides under the control of a demon (Christopher Lee at his menacing best). Leonora's sporadic career as a movie actress was done and dusted by 1961 and she retired from acting at the end of the decade.
    - IMDb mini biography by: I.S.Mowis

Family

  • Spouse
      Ermanno Curti(? - May 28, 2007) (her death)

Trivia

  • Mother of producer Gianluca Curti and composer/producer Stefano Curti.
  • Leonora Ruffo was an Italian film actress.
  • She was almost entirely active in peplum and adventure films; an exception is her role as the sensible Sandra Rubini in Federico Fellini's I Vitelloni.
  • Ruffo also starred in a number of fotoromanzi, usually being credited as Bruna Falchi or with the stage name Ingrid Swenson.
  • The daughter of Angelo Bovi, basketball coach of Ginnastica Roma, Italian Championship pluri-winner.

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