Eleonora Giorgi

Eleonora Giorgi (21 October 1953 – 3 March 2025) was an Italian actress, screenwriter, and film director. She gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s, starring in a variety of Italian films, particularly in the comedy and drama genres. Giorgi first gained attention with her roles in erotic and giallo films before transitioning to mainstream cinema, where she became a popular figure in Italian comedy, working with directors such as Pasquale Festa Campanile and Carlo Verdone.

In 1982, she won the David di Donatello Award for Best Actress for her performance in Borotalco, one of her most acclaimed roles. Beyond acting, Giorgi has also worked as a screenwriter and director, making her directorial debut in 2003.

Early life and career

File:Appassionata (film 1974) Giorgi e Muti.png

Giorgi (left) and Ornella Muti in a scene from the Italian erotic film Appassionata (1974).

Giorgi was born in Rome, Italy on 21 October 1953. Her father was of Italian and English origin. Her mother was of Italian and Hungarian origin.

She made her film debut in a minor role in Paolo Cavara's horror film Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971) and subsequently appeared in nearly fifty films, mostly in prominent roles. She first starred in Domenico Paolella's Story of a Cloistered Nun (1973), an important nunsploitation, at age eighteen. She then took part in The Kiss, a fantasy drama directed by Mario Lanfranchi, and in erotic comedies such as Salvatore Samperi's La sbandata (1974), in which she plays near Domenico Modugno and Luciana Paluzzi, Luciano Salce's Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo compleanno (1974), Pasquale Festa Campanile's The Sex Machine (U.S. title: Love and Energy) (1975) and Gianluigi Calderone's Appassionata, that definitively gained her the public acclaim.

Roles in films like Franco Brusati's To Forget Venice (1979), Dario Argento's Inferno (1980), Nino Manfredi's Portrait of a Woman, Nude (1981), and Liliana Cavani's Beyond the Door (1982) are some of her most known and remarkable dramatic performances but in the beginning of the eighties, Giorgi decided to rejoin comedy. She's near Adriano Celentano in Velvet Hands and Grand Hotel Excelsior; for her performance in Carlo Verdone's Talcum Powder (1982), she won the Nastro d'Argento award and David di Donatello award for Best Actress.

In 2003, Giorgi wrote and directed her first film Uomini & donne, amori & bugie (U.S. title: Love, Lies, Kids... & Dogs), with Ornella Muti.

Personal life and death

In 1974 Giorgi lost her boyfriend, fellow actor Alessandro Momo, to a motorcycle accident.

Giorgi was married from 1979 to 1983 to film producer and publisher Angelo Rizzoli, with whom she had a son, Andrea (born 1980). In 1991 she had another son, Paolo, by actor Massimo Ciavarro, to whom she was married from 1993 to 1996.

She was in a relationship with writer Andrea De Carlo between 1996 and 2007.

After suffering from pancreatic cancer from late 2023, Giorgi died in Rome on 3 March 2025, at the age of 71.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	Black Belly of the Tarantula	Beauty Center Maid	Uncredited
1972	Roma	Motorbike Rider	Uncredited
1973	The Three Musketeers of the West	Dart's lover	Cameo
	Story of a Cloistered Nun	Carmela Simoni
	Number One	Girl	Uncredited
1974	Appassionata	Nicola
	The Kiss	Elena Vergani
	Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo compleanno	Angela
	La sbandata	Mariuccia
1975	The Sex Machine	Piera
1976	Dog's Heart	Zina
	Young, Violent, Dangerous	Lea
	And Agnes Chose to Die	Vandina
	Born Winner	Marzia
1977	Ready for Anything	Anna
	A Spiral of Mist	Lidia
1978	Ça fait tilt	Sylvia
	Suggestionata	Anna Lori
	Safari Rally	Lucille Davis
	Non sparate sui bambini	Ilda
1979	To Forget Venice	Claudia
	A Man on His Knees	Lucia Peralta
	Velvet Hands	Tilli
1980	Inferno	Sara
	Mia moglie è una strega	Finnicella
1981	Portrait of a Woman, Nude	Laura/Rirì
1982	Talcum Powder	Nadia Vandelli
	Beyond the Door	Nina
	Grand Hotel Excelsior	Ilde Vivaldi
1983	Mani di fata	Franca Ferrini
	Sapore di mare 2	Tea Guerrazzi
1984	Vediamoci chiaro	Eleonora Bauer
1986	Giovanni Senzapensieri	Claire
1988	Il volpone	Francesca Corvino
	Compagni di scuola	Valeria Donati
1996	Mamma, mi si è depresso papà	Maria
2003	Uomini & donne, amori & bugie	None	Director and screenwriter
2006	Agente matrimoniale		Producer
2007	SoloMetro	Elvira Alvari
2009	L'ultima estate	None	Director and screenwriter
2012	Carlo!	Herself	Documentary
2016	My Father Jack	Ada Pontecorvo
	Attesa e cambiamenti	Caterina
	The Paolella Connection	Herself	Short film
2017	La mia famiglia a soqquadro	Grandma Fiore	Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Castigo	Hermione	Television film
1983	Un disco per l'estate	Herself / Host	Annual music festival
1984	Notti e nebbie	Magda	Television film
1985	Yesterday	Susy Armani	Television film
1986	Atto d'amore	Lena	Television film
1987	Lo scialo	Nella Viani	Television film
1988	Festa di Capodanno	Barbara Maggesi	Television film
1996	Death of a Witch	Pina Acciai	Television film
	Uno di noi	Francesca	Episode: "I due amori"
	Andata e ritorno	Attorney Martinez	Television film
2002–2006	Lo zio d'America	Beatrice Ricciardi	Main role
2007	Provaci ancora prof!	Dora Cantino	Episode: "L'amica americana"
2016	Don Matteo	Amelie Rosario	Episode: "La diva"

Discography

Singles

• "Quale appuntamento/Messaggio Personale" – Dischi Ricordi (1981)

External links

• Template:Trim/ Template:PAGENAMEBASE at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidata
• Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs