A cat with an attitude!

During the production of the movie "Danger: Diabolik!", directed by Mario Bava and starring John Phillip Law as "Diabolik" and Marisa Mell as "Lady Eva Kant", the production crew did not only film in the studio's owned by producer "Dino de Laurentiis" called "Dinocitta" in Rome but also outside in two other places in the Italian country. The first place was Turin, a major city as well as a business and cultural centre in northern Italy, mostly famous for the Shroud of Turin, a linnen cloth with the face of Jesus. The other place is Anzio, a city and comune on the coast of the Lazio region of Italy, about 57 km south of Rome. The city is well known for its seaside harbor setting, fishing port and a departure point for ferries and hydroplanes to the Pontine Islands of Ponza, Palmarola and Ventotene. During the production of the movie, Marisa Mell and John Phillip Law were a real life couple and were living together (as can be seen on a photo in the the excellent Tim Lucas book about the life and work of Mario Bava called "All the Colors of the Dark"). While filming on the beach of Anzio, best known in the movie for the famous Diabolik castle-scaling scene, both actors found a little stray black kitten. Marisa Mell being an animal lover could not leave the kitten to its fate. So she adopted the little one. Giving it a name was not difficult either: Diabolik. The character Diabolik in the Italian fumetti is often refered to as the black cat in 60's, the early years of the comic, in later years he is called the panther. The cat stayed with the couple during the entire production of the movie from april untill may of 1967. At the end of the production, both actors seperated and went their own way. Because Marisa Mell was more a dog then a cat lover, having owned several dogs during her life, the black cat found probably a new home with one of the productions members. Nevertheless, Diabolik the cat became movie history thanks to the behind the scene pictures of the staff photographer.