A Butterfly Among Flies Revisited!

The Italian Western "Amico stammi lontano almeno un palmo" from 1972 is one of my favorite Marisa Mell movies. Not because the movie has a great story or that Marisa Mell had a leading part or that it is one of the cult westerns from that era, no, it is one of my favorite Marisa Mell films solely because it has in my opinion the most beautiful cameo Marisa Mell ever had in her movie career, with a segment that runs no longer than around 15 minutes. What makes it so captivating is that it is a movie within a movie with Marisa Mell at the height of her beauty and acting abilities together with a superb Guiliano Gemma as her counterpart. For the complete analysis of that cameo, visit A Butterfly Among Flies! on this blog! For the last entry this month honoring 25 years since the sad passing of Marisa Mell, here are some behind the scene pictures taken during the summer of 1971 in Ameria, Spain, while shooting their scenes. These are some wonderful pictures of Marisa Mell, who was enjoying herself immensely during the shoot with her co-star Gemma.

Marisa Mell - A Natural Beauty!

This beautiful picture from 1967 of Marisa Mell is one of the rare pictures where the photographer was able to capture her amazing notorious emerald green eyes in exquisite detail! What makes this picture even more special is the condition of the skin of Marisa Mell laced with freckels, blemishes and unevenness, which nowadays would be covered with thick layers of foundation or make-up or removed altogether with Photoshop to make a smooth even looking unnatural skin or face, making it all very artificial! Not in the 60's, the faces of actresses as nature created them were accepted as natural beauties by the public. We have come a long way since then in accepting what is seen as beautiful and personally I think it is mostly not for the better!

I Piu Belli Locandini di Marisa Mell

Les Belles au Bois Dormantes (1970) - Publicity Stills

During the filming of the movie "Les Belles au Bois Dormantes" or "Versatiles Lovers" in Barcelona, Spain, in 1969, Marisa Mell and her co-star French cult actor Robert Hossein found some time to make these publicity stills at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia!

"Ciao Amore" or remembering Marisa Mell's death already 25 years!

Today marks the 25^th remembrance day of the passing of Marisa Mell on May 16th 1992, after losing her battle with throat cancer at the Wilhelminenspital, in Vienna, Austria. Her best friend actress, author and publisher Erika Pluhar wrote in her famous book “Marisa Mell – Rückblenden auf einer Freundschaft” shortly after her death the following eulogy:

“Marisa,

My dearest friend Marlies

When we strolled through the park of Schloss Schönbrunn 35 years ago we tried to grasp the secrets of life in our conversations. Life was in front of us, and we walked full of hope into its direction.

Now I have to say goodbye to you…and that hurts immensely.

You have fulfilled your life on Earth! It was full of glamour and hardship. It has gifted you with beauty, wisdom and talent… but it has also gifted you in the end with nothing.

What does give your early departure a glow, and what will stay with your friends forever, whom are now left behind, in the years to come, is another kind of beauty, which death could not wrangle from you, and that is your last wild coarsely laughter, which I will never forget.

We, your friends, your family of the “other art”, will never forget you.

We love you!

I will say only two words, which you always said when saying goodbye to your friends, and which you loved to say:

CIAO AMORE!”

Tonight I will watch as a remembrance of this date one of my favorite Marisa Mell movies “French Dressing” to see her on the screen in all her beauty, wisdom and talent but foremost to hear her wild coarsely laughter as a reminder that one’s life has to be cherished each and every day so that at the end of it, while crossing the Styx, you can look back at fond memories with a more than satisfied feeling that your life was worth living.

Who ordered carnations for lunch?

Marisa Mell was always aware of her beauty and body, and like most of the actresses open to new fashion and diet trends in the world to keep this beauty and body in pristine condition. At the end of the 60's, a doctor from India was in Rome the new it-man, who made some waves with a new diet composed of eating flowers, especially the colourful carnations! So Marisa Mell had to try this at home in her beautiful apartment near the Forum Romanum. By the looks of it, it was not really her cup of tea, being a down to earth women from Austria, especially the hard boiled region of the Steiermark. In later years, after a long time living in Rome, that attitude would change when she became open to everything new age and spirituality like card reading, palm reading, pendels, guru's...