Maria Grazia Buccella

Last updated

Maria Grazia Buccella
Maria Grazia Buccella (cropped).jpg
Buccella in a publicity photograph, c. 1960
Born (1940-08-15) August 15, 1940 (age 83)
Milan, Kingdom of Italy
Occupations
  • Model
  • actress
Years active1951–2000
Beauty pageant titleholder
Title Miss Italia 1959
Major
competition(s)
Miss Italia 1959
(Winner)
Miss Universe 1959
(Unplaced)
Buccella with Ugo Tognazzi in Sissignore (1969) Sissignore screenshot.png
Buccella with Ugo Tognazzi in Sissignore (1969)
Buccella in Basta guardarla (1970) Basta guardarla - Maria Grazia Buccella (cropped).png
Buccella in Basta guardarla (1970)

Maria Grazia Buccella (born August 15, 1940) is an Italian actress, glamour model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Italia 1959 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1959.

Contents

Career

Buccella won the Miss Trento, Miss Venice, and Miss Italy beauty pageants, and placed third in the Miss Europe 1959 competition. [1] She represented Italy in the 1959 Miss Universe contest held in Long Beach, California. When she failed to make the cut from the initial 81 contestants to the final 15, the voluptuous Buccella was quoted as saying, "The judges and I obviously disagree. Back home, the men would wait for most of these girls to gain some more weight. But I am not bitter. They are nice girls." [2]

She was busy throughout the 1960s in numerous Italian and European films. She screen tested for the role of Domino Derval in the 1965 James Bond film Thunderball . [3] (The role, originally an Italian woman named Dominetta Petacchi, went to French actress Claudine Auger). [4] That same year Buccella appeared in the Dino Risi-directed film Il Gaucho which starred Vittorio Gassman; Gentleman de Cocody, starring Jean Marais; The Secret Agents , starring Gassman and Henry Fonda; and the Dino DeLaurentiis production Menage All'Italiana.

Buccella appeared in the comedy anthology Love and Marriage (U.S. release 1966) in a story that presaged the film Indecent Proposal. New York Times film critic Howard Thompson wrote, "Lando Buzzanca as the proud and fiery husband and Maria Grazia Buccella as his dovelike bride are marvelous." Vittorio De Sica cast her as Miss Okra in the Peter Sellers farce film After the Fox , in which she flirted with Sellers while lip-synching dialog by Akim Tamiroff. In 1968 she won a Silver Ribbon award at the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists for Best Supporting Actress (Migliore Attrice Non Protagonista) in the film Ti ho sposato per allegria (released as I Married You for Fun ). [5]

Buccella was featured on the cover of the July 1977 Italian edition of Playboy magazine. She retired from films in 1979, although she made two small appearances in the late 1980s and a final appearance in the 2000 television series Hotel Otello.[ citation needed ]

Filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vittorio De Sica</span> Italian film director and actor (1901–1974)

Vittorio De Sica was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.

<i>After the Fox</i> 1966 British-Italian English language film directed by Vittorio De Sica

After the Fox is a 1966 heist comedy film directed by Vittorio De Sica and starring Peter Sellers, Victor Mature and Britt Ekland. The English-language screenplay was written by Neil Simon and De Sica's longtime collaborator Cesare Zavattini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Chiari</span> Italian actor

Walter Annicchiarico, known as Walter Chiari, was an Italian stage and screen actor, mostly in comedy roles.

<i>Il Gaucho</i> 1964 film

Il Gaucho is a 1964 Italian comedy film directed by Dino Risi. It was co-produced by Clemente Lococo, an Argentinian production company, and in Argentina it was released as Un italiano en la Argentina. For his role in this film Nino Manfredi won a Grolla d'oro for best actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luciano Salce</span> Italian film director

Luciano Salce was an Italian film director, comedian, tv host, producer, actor and lyricist. His 1962 film Le pillole di Ercole was shown as part of a retrospective on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pasquale Festa Campanile</span> Italian screenwriter, film director and novelist

Pasquale Festa Campanile was an Italian screenwriter, film director and novelist, best known as a prominent exponent of the commedia all'italiana genre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enrico Montesano</span> Italian actor

Enrico Montesano is an Italian actor and showman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paola Borboni</span> Italian actress (1900–1995)

Paola Borboni was an Italian stage and film actress whose career spanned nearly eight decades of cinema.

<i>Pleasant Nights</i> 1966 film

Pleasant Nights is a 1966 Italian anthology comedy film directed by Armando Crispino and Luciano Lucignani and starring Vittorio Gassman and Gina Lollobrigida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunello Rondi</span> Italian film director and screenwriter

Brunello Rondi was an Italian screenwriter and film director, best known for his frequent script collaborations with Federico Fellini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">100 film italiani da salvare</span> List of the best 100 Italian films

The list of the 100 Italian films to be saved was created with the aim to report "100 films that have changed the collective memory of the country between 1942 and 1978". Film preservation, or film restoration, describes a series of ongoing efforts among film historians, archivists, museums, cinematheques, and non-profit organizations to rescue decaying film stock and preserve the images they contain. In the widest sense, preservation assures that a movie will continue to exist in as close to its original form as possible.

The Nastro d'Argento is a film award assigned each year, since 1948, by Sindacato Nazionale dei Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani, the association of Italian film critics.

<i>Basta guardarla</i> 1970 film

Basta guardarla is a 1970 Italian comedy film directed by Luciano Salce.

<i>Where Are You Going All Naked?</i> Film

Dove vai tutta nuda?, internationally released as Where Are You Going All Naked?, is a 1969 Italian comedy film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile.

<i>The Black Sheep</i> (1968 film) 1968 film

La pecora nera, internationally released as The Black Sheep, is a 1968 Italian comedy film directed by Luciano Salce.

<i>Il provinciale</i> 1971 film

Il provinciale is a 1971 Italian comedy film directed by Luciano Salce.

<i>Adultery Italian Style</i> 1966 film

Adultery Italian Style is a 1966 Italian comedy film written and directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mimmo Poli</span> Italian actor

Mimmo Poli was an Italian film character actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elsa Vazzoler</span> Italian actress

Elsa Vazzoler was an Italian stage, film, television and voice actress.

References

  1. New York Daily News. 08 Sep 1959: 118.
  2. "Miss U.S.A. Passes First Beauty Test." Daily Boston Globe; Jul 24, 1959.
  3. Variety. Jan. 27, 1965): 15.
  4. Production notes for Thunderball MI6.co.uk Archived 18 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  5. Enrico Lancia (1998). I premi del cinema. Gremese Editore, 1998. ISBN   88-7742-221-1.