Olga Villi

Olga Villi (20 January 1922 – 12 August 1989), was an Italian model and actress.

Olga Villi
Villi in Letter at Dawn (1948)
Born	Olga Villani (1922-01-20)20 January 1922 Suzzara, Mantua, Italy
Died	12 August 1989(1989-08-12) (aged 67) Rapallo, Italy
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1943–1975 (film/television)

Life and career

Born in Suzzara, Mantua as Olga Villani, Villi began to work, only twelve years old, as a saleswoman and seamstress at the Milanese fashion house Biki.^[1]

A few years later her employer hired her as a model; noted by Macario, she was hired by him in 1942 for the rivista-operetta Il grillo al castello, where she had to act, sing and dance.^[1] Thanks to the success of the show Villi became one of the most quoted soubrettes of the period, working with Anna Magnani, Nino Taranto and Alberto Sordi, and in mid-1940s she also starred in several drama plays, working among others with Luchino Visconti, Alessandro Blasetti and Giorgio Strehler.^[1][2]

Also active in films and on television, in 1967 Villi won a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress thanks to her performance in Pietro Germi's The Birds, the Bees and the Italians.^[3] After having announced her retirement in 1972, she came back on stage in 1984.^[2]

She was married to the nobleman Raimondo Lanza di Trabia until his death in 1954.^[1][4] Villi died after a long illness in Rapallo, where she lived for about thirty years.^[2]

Selected filmography

• Macario Against Zagomar (1944)
• Christmas at Camp 119 (1948)
• Letter at Dawn (1948)
• Yvonne of the Night (1949)
• Four Red Roses (1952)
• Half a Century of Song (1952)
• Adriana Lecouvreur (1955)
• Sex Quartet (1966)
• The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966)
• Il fischio al naso (1967)