At the end of her life when she was diagnosed with throat cancer Marisa Mell was living back in Vienna (Austria) after having lived in Rome (Italy) for decades. It was not a free choice of hers but out of necessity having no more money to spend and live "la dolce vita", the life of the rich and famous as she had done so many years in the highest political and cultural circles. The lights of showbizz had been dimmed a long time ago, friends had gone on to other places and showbizz friendships and even a devoted partner for life was nowhere to be seen. Marisa Mell was all alone except for a few very devoted friends like Father Laun, at that time a parish priest in Vienna, now Bishop, who helped her to earn some money by working for him and others and her agent Agnes Rehling was tried to book new roles in movies, theatre or television productions. And then of course there was a long time friend "Erika Pluhar", who wrote a wonderful book about her deep friendship with Marlies Moitzi, who later became the international film star "Marisa Mell". In this clip, Erika Pluhar tells about the time when she and Marlies went to theatre school, how stunningly beautiful she was and how, when she had survived till today, would probably had regained her career to take more mature roles like for example Michelle Pfeifer did!
The above clip comes from the DVD "Gaslicht", a made-for-TV remake of a Ingrid Bergman film from the 1940's with Erika Pluhar as "Bella Manningham". Next clip is for many Marisa Mell fans one of her best and most beautifuly shot movies the giallo "La Encadenada". Here you can clearly see what Erika Pluhar is talking about when mentioning the beauty of her best friend.
Thanks to Marisa Mell filmographer André Schneider for the clips of Erika Pluhar and Marisa Mell in "La Encadenada"'. André Schneider has written a great in depth review for this movie and many other Marisa Mell movies on his blog
2 comments:
If Marisa had lived longer, her career would have undoubtedly been revived, given that within a year of her death, Danger: Diabolik started to become available on VHS and then laserdisc and DVD and was rediscovered by a new audience. With its resulting popularity and the rise of interest in Eurocult films and actresses in general, Marisa would have been sought out for interviews and would definitely have been offered work - I can imagine her in a Quentin Tarantino film for sure!
Yes, you are so right! In the end she woudl have bounced back in a major way like Joan Collins, Jane Wyman or Larry Hagman... did with their prime time soaps, in other programmes and yes, in movies from Tarantino or other cult related directors! He did gave her indirectly a part in Jackie Brown with the clip "La Belva col Mitra" with Helmut Berger! But sadly it was not to be!
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