Virna Lisi

Italian actress (1936–2014)

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Lived 1936–2014, aged 78Italy

Italy ActorsActor

Wikipedia
53 languages
Cross-language footprint
Era
1936–2014
Aged 78
Known for
Queen Margot
1994

Summary

Updated 2026-09-01

Virna Lisi crossed from Italian cinema into American comedies of the mid-sixties, then circled back decades later to win Cannes and a César for La Reine Margot—proof that the long game sometimes pays.

Biography

About

Born Virna Lisa Pieralisi on 8 November 1936, she shortened her name and built a career that moved easily between Rome and Hollywood. The sixties brought her to English-language comedies—How to Murder Your Wife in 1965, Not with My Wife, You Don't! the year after—and then The Secret of Santa Vittoria in 1969. She worked steadily through the seventies and eighties, including Beyond Good and Evil in 1977 and Follow Your Heart in 1996. Then in 1994, La Reine Margot delivered the validation: Best Actress at Cannes and the César for Best Supporting Actress. She died on 18 December 2014.

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