Marina Berti as Areta in THE ODYSSEY (1968) mini-series (Odissea)
Marina was in QUO VADIS (1951) and she was one of the main charaters in it and then had a supporting role in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA and that was pretty much it. She appeared briefly in BEN-HUR, a role without any lines, which was disappointing. And 17 years after QUO VADIS she starred in THE ODYSSEY mini-series looking stunning and all, as if she hasn't aged a day since QV. What an odd career. Why she never became a big star is a mystery.
The mini-series, which is playing right now on PEPLUM TV, is filled with many actors from the PEPLUM genre, many of them not credited, including Bella Cortez.
2 comments:
Marina Berti appeared in almost one hundred movies, mostly in fairly minor roles. She died of cancer in 2002 at a relatively young age.
Marina spoke fluent English. Accordingly, it is indeed surprising that she never became a major star.
It seems she lived in Rome and had a large family, but maybe all those minor roles kept her busy. She was a very attractive presence in QUO VADIS and that moment in BEN HUR ... but the Italian film industry had so many beautiful women - particularly in the peplum genre, it was only a few, like that Sofia Lazzaro, who were able to become big stars.
Having a producer like Carlo Ponti (for Lazzaro - who changed her name to Sophia Loren) or Dino De Laurentiis who was married to his star, Silvana Mangano, certainly helped.
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