Gorgeous Italian actress Rosalba Neri (1939) began her film career at the age of 15 and worked steadily throughout the 1960s and 1970s in nearly 100 films. In genres like the Peplum, the Spaghetti Western and the Giallo, she portrayed both heroins and sexy villainesses On her resume are many cult classics, for which she was sometimes credited as Rosalina Neri, Sara Bey or Sara Bay.
![Rosalba Neri]()
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, no. 420.
Hercules
Rosalba Neri was born in Forlì, Italy in 1939. Still very young, she won a beauty pageant. She decided to persue an acting career, and attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia film school. She received an offer to attend the Actors Studio in the United States, but did not accept. A year earlier, the 15 years old had begun her film career in I Pinguini ci guardano/The Penguins Watch Us (Guido Leone, 1955). In the film animals in a zoo watch the people around them and reveal interesting, human thoughts. Some sources, however, list as her first film Mogli pericolose/Dangerous Wives (Luigi Comencini, 1958) starring Sylva Koscina. Neri is uncredited in this comedy. More roles followed in Italian and French productions, in which she was sometimes credited as Rosalina Neri. The most interesting was Roberto Rossellini’s war drama Era notte a Roma/It Was Night in Rome (1960) with Giovanna Ralli. That same year, she appeared in two films set in the Ancient world. The first was Il Sepolcro dei Re/The Tomb of the King (Fernando Cerchio, 1960) with Debra Paget. This film tells the story of Nemorat (Corrado Pani), an Egyptian pharaoh who was instrumental in the creation of the pyramids of Giza due to the intrigues surrounding his death and entombment. The second was Ester E o Rei/Esther and the King (Raoul Walsh, Mario Bava, 1960), starring Joan Collins as the Biblical Jewish Queen. Rosalba played Keresh and was assassinated by someone who mistook her for the Queen. She also played a harem girl in El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961). Because of her dark, sultry beauty, Rosalba was often a natural fit to play in Peplums - or Sword & Sandal epics. Her first Hercules Peplum was Ercole al centro della terra/Hercules in the Haunted World (Mario Bava, Franco Prosperi, 1961) featuring British muscleman Reg Park. Neri played also in Hercules adventures like Ercole contro Molock/Hercules vs. the Molloch (Giorgio Ferroni, 1963) with Gordon Scott, Ercole contro i figli del sole/Hercules against the Sons of the Sun (Osvaldo Civirani, 1964), and Il Leone de Thebe/The Lion of Thebes (Giorgio Ferroni, 1964), both starring Mark Forest. Neri also played Delilah, the Biblical beauty who was the downfall of the Old Testament hero, Samson (played by Dutch judoka Anton Geesink), in I Grandi Condottieri/Great Leaders of the Bible (Marcello Baldi, Francisco Pérez-Dolz, 1965).
![Rosalba Neri]()
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 201.
Sexy Villainess
Although her starring roles were few and far between, Rosalba Neri worked steadily throughout the 1960s in supporting and sometimes, nondescript roles. She took part in a couple of Angélique adventures, starting with Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964). The Angélique series about a fiery and beautiful heroine played by the stunning Michèle Mercier was set in Mid-17th century France under the young Sun King Louis XIV. These European co-productions were a big hit around the world. Neri’s career followed the popular trends of the times. She played a sexy villainess in some Euro Spy films, a genre that came up in the wake of the James Bond craze. In Il Superseven Chiama Cairo/Superseven Calls on Cairo (Umberto Lenzi, 1965), she played Faddja, one of the dangerous ‘women’ that the playboy-spy (Roger Browne) comes into contact with. Also in 1965, she appeared in Due Mafiosi contro Goldginger/Two Mafioso against Goldginger (Giorgio Simonelli, 1965). Here she was credited as Sara Bay and played a character called The Secretary. Next, she was Amalia in Password: Uccidete Agente Gordon/Password: Kill Agent Gordon (Sergio Grieco, 1966). Over the years, she also had roles in several Spaghetti Westerns. In Dinamite Jim (Alfonso Balcázar, 1966), she played Margaret, and in Wanted: Johnny Texas (Emimmo Salvi, 1967) she was Rosita. That year she also appeared opposite Mark Damon in Johnny Yuma (Romolo Guerrieri, 1967). As a bombshell, Neri was much in demand for erotic genre films. She was in one of the first Women In Prison exploitation films Der heiße Tod/99 Women (Jess Franco, 1969) starring Maria Schell. Another example was Top Sensation (Ottavio Alessi, 1969) opposite Edwige Fenech.
![Michèle Mercier]()
Michèle Mercier. French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 937. Offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Cult Siren
A big fan of Rosalba Neri is the webmaster of Cult Sirens: “Rosalba Neri, Edwige Fenech and Barbara Bouchet are sometimes perceived as the ultimate sexy female triumvirate in Euro B-productions, as they are still amongst the most alluring film actresses of all time.” Neri’s best-known films are from the horror genre, in which she is often credited as Sara Bay (or Bey). She played Tania Frankenstein, the daughter of the monster’s creator (played by Joseph Cotten), in La figlia di Frankenstein/Lady Frankenstein (Mel Welles, 1972), now considered a B film classic. Cult Sirens: “Oddly, the ultimate Rosalba Neri film could very well be an over-the-top horror production mainly known as Lady Frankenstein, where our actress plays probably the sexiest Doctor Frankenstein ever filmed! Even with a ludicrous script, Ms. Neri gives an amazing performance, full of perverse sensuality and wicked evil. A truly amazing movie, mixing clumsy dubbing, some erratic special effects but still impressive in its willingness to shock.” In Il Plenilunio dell Vergini/The Devil’s Wedding Night (Luigi Batzella, 1972), she played Lady Dracula, a vampire who uses the ring of Dracula to lure young virgins to her home so she can murder them and bathe in their blood (à la the medieval Countess Elizabeth of Báthory). The Giallo thriller trend was in full swing so the next step was logical. She played Farley Granger’s wife in Alla Ricerca del piacere/Amuck (Silvio Amadio, 1972). Granger plays a wealthy author who hires a beautiful secretary (Barbara Bouchet) and engages her in kinky sex games with him and his wife. Bouchet and Neri would team up in another Giallo combining sex with horror, Casa d’appuntamento/French Sex Murders (Ferdinando Merighi, 1972) starring Anita Ekberg. A jewel thief is accused of murdering a prostitute but is decapitated in a motorcycle accident prior to the trial. When those involved in the trial start dying, everyone wonders if the dead man has come back to exact a little revenge. Neri would appear in a few more films, like the crime film Tony Arzenta/No Way Out (Duccio Tessari, 1973) featuring Alain Delon, Cugini carnali/Loving Cousins (Sergio Martino, 1974), and the Roger Corman production The Arena (Steve Carver, 1974), an amazing tale of female gladiators, starring Pam Grier. One of her more prestigious films was Libera, amore mio.../Libera, My Love (Mauro Bolognini, 1975) starring Claudia Cardinale. In 1976, she shot her last film, the comedy Il pomicione/Blood River (Roberto Bianchi Montero, 1977) with Joan Collins. Towards the end of her career, Rosalba Neri married and eventually decided it was time to retire from film work to do some traveling and take on new challenges. She returned once to the screen in the Italian TV miniseries Olga e I suoi figli/Olga and her children (Salvatore Nocita, 1985) with Annie Girardot, but that was it. In 2002, a German documentary with the title Rosalba Neri: The Italian Sphinx became available. Rosalba Neri has a daughter, actress Francesca Neri (1964), who also has an intriguing film career - and her mother’s good looks.
Trailer Der heiße Tod/99 Women (Jess Franco, 1969). Source: Surfink1963 (YouTube). Whisper to your friends that you saw it!
Trailer La figlia di Frankenstein/Lady Frankenstein (Mel Welles, 1972). Source: CinePublicoBrasil (YouTube).
Trailer The Arena (Steve Carver, 1974). Source: Surfink1963 (YouTube).
Sources: Tribute to Rosalba Neri, Pierre Talley (IMDb), Cult Sirens, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, no. 420.
Hercules
Rosalba Neri was born in Forlì, Italy in 1939. Still very young, she won a beauty pageant. She decided to persue an acting career, and attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia film school. She received an offer to attend the Actors Studio in the United States, but did not accept. A year earlier, the 15 years old had begun her film career in I Pinguini ci guardano/The Penguins Watch Us (Guido Leone, 1955). In the film animals in a zoo watch the people around them and reveal interesting, human thoughts. Some sources, however, list as her first film Mogli pericolose/Dangerous Wives (Luigi Comencini, 1958) starring Sylva Koscina. Neri is uncredited in this comedy. More roles followed in Italian and French productions, in which she was sometimes credited as Rosalina Neri. The most interesting was Roberto Rossellini’s war drama Era notte a Roma/It Was Night in Rome (1960) with Giovanna Ralli. That same year, she appeared in two films set in the Ancient world. The first was Il Sepolcro dei Re/The Tomb of the King (Fernando Cerchio, 1960) with Debra Paget. This film tells the story of Nemorat (Corrado Pani), an Egyptian pharaoh who was instrumental in the creation of the pyramids of Giza due to the intrigues surrounding his death and entombment. The second was Ester E o Rei/Esther and the King (Raoul Walsh, Mario Bava, 1960), starring Joan Collins as the Biblical Jewish Queen. Rosalba played Keresh and was assassinated by someone who mistook her for the Queen. She also played a harem girl in El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961). Because of her dark, sultry beauty, Rosalba was often a natural fit to play in Peplums - or Sword & Sandal epics. Her first Hercules Peplum was Ercole al centro della terra/Hercules in the Haunted World (Mario Bava, Franco Prosperi, 1961) featuring British muscleman Reg Park. Neri played also in Hercules adventures like Ercole contro Molock/Hercules vs. the Molloch (Giorgio Ferroni, 1963) with Gordon Scott, Ercole contro i figli del sole/Hercules against the Sons of the Sun (Osvaldo Civirani, 1964), and Il Leone de Thebe/The Lion of Thebes (Giorgio Ferroni, 1964), both starring Mark Forest. Neri also played Delilah, the Biblical beauty who was the downfall of the Old Testament hero, Samson (played by Dutch judoka Anton Geesink), in I Grandi Condottieri/Great Leaders of the Bible (Marcello Baldi, Francisco Pérez-Dolz, 1965).
Italian postcard by Bromostampa, Milano, no. 201.
Sexy Villainess
Although her starring roles were few and far between, Rosalba Neri worked steadily throughout the 1960s in supporting and sometimes, nondescript roles. She took part in a couple of Angélique adventures, starting with Angélique, marquise des anges/Angélique (Bernard Borderie, 1964). The Angélique series about a fiery and beautiful heroine played by the stunning Michèle Mercier was set in Mid-17th century France under the young Sun King Louis XIV. These European co-productions were a big hit around the world. Neri’s career followed the popular trends of the times. She played a sexy villainess in some Euro Spy films, a genre that came up in the wake of the James Bond craze. In Il Superseven Chiama Cairo/Superseven Calls on Cairo (Umberto Lenzi, 1965), she played Faddja, one of the dangerous ‘women’ that the playboy-spy (Roger Browne) comes into contact with. Also in 1965, she appeared in Due Mafiosi contro Goldginger/Two Mafioso against Goldginger (Giorgio Simonelli, 1965). Here she was credited as Sara Bay and played a character called The Secretary. Next, she was Amalia in Password: Uccidete Agente Gordon/Password: Kill Agent Gordon (Sergio Grieco, 1966). Over the years, she also had roles in several Spaghetti Westerns. In Dinamite Jim (Alfonso Balcázar, 1966), she played Margaret, and in Wanted: Johnny Texas (Emimmo Salvi, 1967) she was Rosita. That year she also appeared opposite Mark Damon in Johnny Yuma (Romolo Guerrieri, 1967). As a bombshell, Neri was much in demand for erotic genre films. She was in one of the first Women In Prison exploitation films Der heiße Tod/99 Women (Jess Franco, 1969) starring Maria Schell. Another example was Top Sensation (Ottavio Alessi, 1969) opposite Edwige Fenech.
Michèle Mercier. French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 937. Offered by Les Carbones Korès 'Carboplane'. Photo: Sam Lévin.
Cult Siren
A big fan of Rosalba Neri is the webmaster of Cult Sirens: “Rosalba Neri, Edwige Fenech and Barbara Bouchet are sometimes perceived as the ultimate sexy female triumvirate in Euro B-productions, as they are still amongst the most alluring film actresses of all time.” Neri’s best-known films are from the horror genre, in which she is often credited as Sara Bay (or Bey). She played Tania Frankenstein, the daughter of the monster’s creator (played by Joseph Cotten), in La figlia di Frankenstein/Lady Frankenstein (Mel Welles, 1972), now considered a B film classic. Cult Sirens: “Oddly, the ultimate Rosalba Neri film could very well be an over-the-top horror production mainly known as Lady Frankenstein, where our actress plays probably the sexiest Doctor Frankenstein ever filmed! Even with a ludicrous script, Ms. Neri gives an amazing performance, full of perverse sensuality and wicked evil. A truly amazing movie, mixing clumsy dubbing, some erratic special effects but still impressive in its willingness to shock.” In Il Plenilunio dell Vergini/The Devil’s Wedding Night (Luigi Batzella, 1972), she played Lady Dracula, a vampire who uses the ring of Dracula to lure young virgins to her home so she can murder them and bathe in their blood (à la the medieval Countess Elizabeth of Báthory). The Giallo thriller trend was in full swing so the next step was logical. She played Farley Granger’s wife in Alla Ricerca del piacere/Amuck (Silvio Amadio, 1972). Granger plays a wealthy author who hires a beautiful secretary (Barbara Bouchet) and engages her in kinky sex games with him and his wife. Bouchet and Neri would team up in another Giallo combining sex with horror, Casa d’appuntamento/French Sex Murders (Ferdinando Merighi, 1972) starring Anita Ekberg. A jewel thief is accused of murdering a prostitute but is decapitated in a motorcycle accident prior to the trial. When those involved in the trial start dying, everyone wonders if the dead man has come back to exact a little revenge. Neri would appear in a few more films, like the crime film Tony Arzenta/No Way Out (Duccio Tessari, 1973) featuring Alain Delon, Cugini carnali/Loving Cousins (Sergio Martino, 1974), and the Roger Corman production The Arena (Steve Carver, 1974), an amazing tale of female gladiators, starring Pam Grier. One of her more prestigious films was Libera, amore mio.../Libera, My Love (Mauro Bolognini, 1975) starring Claudia Cardinale. In 1976, she shot her last film, the comedy Il pomicione/Blood River (Roberto Bianchi Montero, 1977) with Joan Collins. Towards the end of her career, Rosalba Neri married and eventually decided it was time to retire from film work to do some traveling and take on new challenges. She returned once to the screen in the Italian TV miniseries Olga e I suoi figli/Olga and her children (Salvatore Nocita, 1985) with Annie Girardot, but that was it. In 2002, a German documentary with the title Rosalba Neri: The Italian Sphinx became available. Rosalba Neri has a daughter, actress Francesca Neri (1964), who also has an intriguing film career - and her mother’s good looks.
Trailer Der heiße Tod/99 Women (Jess Franco, 1969). Source: Surfink1963 (YouTube). Whisper to your friends that you saw it!
Trailer La figlia di Frankenstein/Lady Frankenstein (Mel Welles, 1972). Source: CinePublicoBrasil (YouTube).
Trailer The Arena (Steve Carver, 1974). Source: Surfink1963 (YouTube).
Sources: Tribute to Rosalba Neri, Pierre Talley (IMDb), Cult Sirens, Wikipedia, and IMDb.