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Photo of Scilla Gabel

Scilla Gabel

ActorBorn January 4, 1938 (86 years)
She was born Scilla Gabellini, one of five siblings, in Rimini on the Adriatic coast. Scilla initially studied law at Oxford University, graduating with a doctorate. Her interest in pursuing a legal career waned quickly, however, since her next move was a return to Italy for acting classes at Rome's Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica. At the age of seventeen, the voluptuous, blue-eyed Scilla became a body double for Sophia Loren (to whom she bore more than a passing resemblance), notably in the classic Boy on a Dolphin (1957). Two years later, she underwent cosmetic surgery to look less like Sophia in order to forge her own screen image.

In 1963, Scilla featured on the cover of several magazines, including Playboy, the Milanese publication Le Ore and Parade (at the time, the most widely read weekly in the U.S.). Though she went on to command leads in a number of films during the 60s, Scilla tended to be typecast in roles which emphasized her physical attributes, rather than her acting ability. She appeared most often in genre films, anything from innocuous sex comedies (Genitori in blue-jeans (1960), Bel Ami 2000 oder Wie verführt man einen Playboy? (1966)) to swashbuckling costume dramas (La Venere dei pirati (1960)), and from spaghetti westerns (Johnny Golden Poker (1966)) to peplum spectacles (Death on the Arena (1962), The Revenge of Spartacus (1964)). After 1971, she was afforded more challenging and critically acclaimed roles as a star in Italian TV miniseries.

Eleven years after leaving the screen, Scilla attracted media attention as a result of the murder of her 87-year old landlord father Giuseppe, by a crazed tenant at his villa on the via Campi di Torre Flavia in Ladispoli.
Movies & Shows on Plex
  • Mill of the Stone Women
  • Bastard, Go and Kill
Known For
  • Mill of the Stone Women
  • Modesty Blaise
  • Sodom and Gomorrah
  • Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
  • Two Colonels
  • The White Warrior
  • Legs of Gold
  • The Son of Caesar and Cleopatra
  • Romulus and the Sabines
  • Colossus of the Arena
  • Noi duri
  • Target for Killing
  • How to Seduce a Playboy
  • Djurado
  • Bastard, Go and Kill
  • Le puits aux trois vérités
  • The Fruit Is Ripe
  • Corpse for the Lady
  • Genitori in blue-jeans
  • Arms of the Avenger
  • Seven Slaves Against the World
  • Outlaws of Love
  • I ragazzi dei Parioli

Filmography

1976
Where is Anna? (TV Series) · as Paola Silvestri
1971
1968
Die Odyssee · as Elen
1968
The Odyssey (1968) (TV Series) · as Elena
1967
Das große Glück · as Molly Pink
1966
How to Seduce a Playboy · as Anita Bionda
1966
Target for Killing · as La Tigra
1966
Djurado · as Barbara Donovan
1966
Modesty Blaise · as Melina
1964
1964
1964
Corpse for the Lady · as Renata
1964
1963
Outlaws of Love · as Wilma
1963
Arms of the Avenger · as Isabella - Duchessina Di Collinalto
1963
The Shortest Day · as L'amante Di Un Soldato (uncredited)
1963
Two Colonels · as Iride
1962
Sodom and Gomorrah · as Tamar
1962
Colossus of the Arena · as Thalima
1962
No Man's Land · as Signora De Rossi
1962
Village of Daughters · as Angelina Vimereati
1961
1961
1961
The Fruit Is Ripe · as Kissa
1960
1960
The Queen of the Pirates · as Isabella, The Duke's Daughter
1960
1960
Noi duri · as Josette
1960
1960
Les canailles · as Gina
1959
1959
The White Warrior · as Princess Mario Vorontsova
1959
1958
Legs of Gold · as Gianna Savelli
1958
Capitan Fracassa (TV Series) · as Zerbina

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