Ornella Muti

Ornella Muti
Muti in 2000
Born	Francesca Romana Rivelli (1955-03-09) 9 March 1955 Rome, Italy
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1970–present
Spouse(s)	Alessio Orano ​ ​ (m. 1975; div. 1981)​ Federico Facchinetti ​ ​ (m. 1988; div. 1996)​
Children	3

Ornella Muti (born Francesca Romana Rivelli; 9 March 1955) is an Italian actress.

Early life

Muti was born in Rome as Francesca Romana Rivelli, to a Neapolitan journalist father and Ilse Renate Krause, a Baltic German sculptor from Estonia. Her maternal grandparents emigrated from Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, Russia) to Estonia. She has an older sister, Claudia (born 1950).

Career

Muti modeled as a teenager and made her film debut in 1970 in La moglie più bella (aka The Most Beautiful Wife). She has primarily worked in Italian films but she made her English-speaking film debut as Princess Aura in Flash Gordon in 1980. American movies she appeared in include Love and Money (1982), Casanova (1987), Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1989), A Season of Giants (1990), Oscar (1991), Once Upon a Crime (1992), Somewhere in the City (1998) and To Rome with Love (2012).

She is mostly known to the French for appearing in a television commercial of Giovanni Panzani pasta. She was voted "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" in 1994 by a worldwide poll of readers of the magazine Class.

In 2008, Muti introduced her own line of jewelry. She opened new shops in Paris, Milan, Rome, Riga, Moscow and Almaty. She reportedly insured her breasts for $350,000.

Personal life

Muti has been married twice, first to Alessio Orano (a fellow actor in The Most Beautiful Wife), from 1975 to 1981. She was married, secondly, to Federico Fachinetti, from 1988 to 1996. Muti has three children: Naike Rivelli (born 1974), a fashion model, singer, and actress (whose father was believed to be Spanish film producer José Luis Bermúdez de Castro Acaso); a son, Andrea, and a second daughter, Carolina, both from her marriage to Fachinetti.

Selected filmography

• La moglie più bella (The Most Beautiful Wife, 1970) as Francesca
• Il Sole nella pelle (1971, also known as Summer Affair, Sun on the Skin) as Lisa
• Un posto ideale per uccidere (Oasis of Fear, 1971) as Ingrid Sjoman
• The House of the Doves (1972) as Sandra
• Experiencia prematrimonial (1972) as Alejandra Espinosa
• Le Monache di Sant'Arcangelo (1973, also known as Sisters of Satan, The Nuns of Saint Archangel, The Nun and the Devil) as Isabella
• Fiorina la vacca (1973) as Teresa - daughter of Betta
• Italian Graffiti (1973) as Santazza
• The Sensual Man (1973) as Giovanna
• Una chica y un señor (1974) as Caridad 'Ariadna'
• Cebo para una adolescente (1974) as Maribel
• Appassionata (1974, also known as Passionate) as Eugenia Rutelli
• Romanzo popolare (1974, also known as Come Home and Meet My Wife) as Vincenzina Rotunno Basletti
• Leonor (1975) as Catherine
• La Joven casada (1975) as Camino
• Pure as a Lily (1976) as Lucia Mantuso
• La Dernière femme (1976, also known as The Last Woman, L'Ultima donna) as Valerie
• La stanza del vescovo, (1977, also known as The Bishop’s Room) as Matilde Scrosati in Berlusconi
• Mort d'un pourri (1977, also known as Death of a Corrupt Man, The Twisted Detective) as Valérie
• I nuovi mostri (1977) as Autostoppista (segment "Autostop") / Hostess (segment "Senza parole")
• Ritratto di borghesia in nero (1978, also known as Nest of Vipers, Portrait of a Bourgeois in Black) as Elena Mazzarini
• Primo amore (1978) as Renata, the maid
• Eutanasia di un amore (1978) as Ursenna aka Sena
• Neapolitan Mystery (1979) as Lucia
• La vita è bella (Life is Beautiful, 1979) as Maria
• Flash Gordon (1980) as Princess Aura
• Il Bisbetico Domato (1980) as Lisa Silvestri
• Love and Money (1981) as Catherine Stockheinz
• Storie di ordinaria follia (Tales of Ordinary Madness, 1981) as Cass
• Nessuno è perfetto (1981) as Chantal
• Innamorato pazzo (Madly in Love, 1981) as Principessa Cristina
• La ragazza di Trieste (The Girl from Trieste, 1982) as Nicole
• Bonnie e Clyde all'italiana (Bonnie and Clyde Italian Style, 1983) as Rosetta Foschini - aka Giada
• Un povero ricco (Rich and Poor, 1983) as Marta
• Un amour de Swann (1984, also known as Eine Liebe von Swann, Swann in Love) as Odette de Crecy
• Il futuro è donna (The Future Is Woman, 1984) as Malvina
• All the Fault of Paradise (Tutta colpa del paradiso) (1985) as Celeste
• Grandi magazzini (1986) as Ornella / Luisa
• Stregati (1986) as Anna
• Casanova (1987, TV Movie) as Henriette
• Cronaca di una morte annunciata (Chronicle of a Death Foretold, 1987) as Angela Vicario
• Io e mia sorella (Me and My Sister) (1987) as Silvia Piergentili
• Codice privato (1988) as Anna
• Il frullo del passero (The Sparrow's Fluttering, 1988) as Silvana
• O Re (The King of Naples) (1989) as Maria Sofia of Austria
• Wait Until Spring, Bandini (1989) as Maria Bandini
• Il Viaggio di Capitan Fracassa (1990, English titles: Captain Fracassa's Journey, The Voyage of Captain Fracassa) as Serafina
• A Season of Giants (1990, TV Movie) as Onoria
• Stasera a casa di Alice (1990) as Alice
• Oscar (1991) as Sofia Provolone
• La domenica specialmente (Especially on Sunday, 1991) as Anna (segment "La domenica specialmente")
• Count Max (1991) as Isabella
• Vacanze di Natale '91 (1991) as Giuliana
• Mezzaestate (1991)
• Once Upon a Crime (1992) as Elena Morosco
• Non chiamarmi Omar (1992) as Viola
• El Amante Bilingüe (The Bilingual Lover, 1993) as Norma
• Compromesso d'amore (1995, Spanish title: Tatiana, la muñeca rusa, US title: Love Deal) as Tatiana
• Pour rire! (1996) as Maître Alice Obini
• Mi fai un favore (1996, US title: Stella's Favor) as Stella
• Mordbüro (1997) as Madame Béhar
• Widows - Erst die Ehe, dann das Vergnügen (1998) as Maria
• Somewhere in the City (1998) as Marta
• L'inconnu de Strasbourg (1998) as Madeleine Wals
• The Count of Monte Cristo (1998, TV Mini-Series) as Mercedes
• Panni sporchi (Dirty Linen) (1999) as Bruna
• Esther (1999, TV Movie) as Queen Vashti
• Tierra del fuego (2000) as Armenia
• Jet Set (2000) as Camilla Balbeck
• The Unscarred (2000) (co-starred with daughter Naike Rivelli) as Rafaella
• Domani (2001, English title: Tomorrow) as Stefania Zerenghi
• Una lunga lunga lunga notte d'amore (2001) as Egle
• Last Run (2001) as Danny
• Hotel (2001) as Flamenco Spokesperson
• Il figlio prediletto (2001 Brazil, Portuguese title: Um Crime Nobre) as Claudia Maccari
• Cavale (2002, also known as Trilogy: One, On the Run) as Cécile Costes
• Un couple épatant (2002, also known as Trilogy: Two, An Amazing Couple) as Cécile Costes
• Après la vie (2002, also known as Trilogy: Three, After the Life) as Cécile Rivet
• Uomini & donne, amori & bugie (2003) as Anna
• The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 1: The Moab Story (2003) as Mathilde Figura
• The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 2: Vaux to the Sea (2004) as Mathilde Figura
• The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) as Grandmother
• People (2004) as Aphrodita
• The Tulse Luper Suitcases, Part 3: From Sark to the Finish (2004) as Mathilde Figura
• Di que sí (2004) as Francesca, la directora
• La bambina dalle mani sporche (2005, TV Movie) as Wanda Rosso
• A Life in Suitcases (2005) as Mathilde Figura
• Friday or Another Day (2005) as La mère de Philippe Rohan
• Les Bronzés 3: Amis pour la vie (2006) as Graziella Sparaggi Lespinasse
• Yo-rhad, un amico dallo spazio (2006) as Marianna (voice)
• L'Inchiesta (2006) as Mary of Magdalene
• Peopling the Palaces at Venaria Reale (2007, TV Movie) as Marchesa di Caraglio
• Civico zero (2007) as Nina
• Postcards from Rome (2008) as Ornella
• Io non ci casco (2008) as Professoressa Lamberti
• Doc West (2009, TV Movie) as Debra Downing
• To Rome with Love (2012) as Pia Fusari
• Checkmate (2016, Short) as Penury
• Wine to love (2018) as Anna
• Mare di grano (2018)
• Magical Nights (2018) as Federica

External links

• Ornella Muti at IMDb
• Ornella Muti at the TCM Movie Database
• Ornella Muti at AllMovie