Rosalba Neri (born 19 June 1938) is a retired Italian actress.
Early life
Born in Forlì, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Neri was regarded for her beauty even in youth, winning a beauty pageant when she was still young. Eventually pursuing an acting career, she attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Center for Experimental Cinematography) in Rome, graduating in 1959.[1] She also received an offer to attend the Actors Studio in the United States, but did not accept.[2][3]
She made her film debut in 1958 in the film Mogli pericolose. She is uncredited in this comedy which was directed by Luigi Comencini. Her second film role was in Roberto Rossellini's prize-winning drama Era notte a Roma in 1960.
In 1960, she appeared in two sword and sandal films set in the Ancient world. The first was Il Sepolcro dei Re (AKA Cleopatra's Daughter or The Tomb of the King). This film tells the story of Nemorat, 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 Raoul Walsh's Esther and the King (1960), starring Joan Collins as the Biblical Jewish Queen. Rosalba played Keresh and was assassinated by someone who mistook her for the Queen. Because of her dark, sultry beauty, Rosalba was often a natural fit to play certain legendary characters.
She was Ramses' intended bride in the Hercules Adventure, Il leone di Tebe (The Lion of Thebes) in 1964. She played Delilah, the Biblical beauty who was the downfall of the Old Testament hero, Samson, in I Grandi Condottieri (The Great Guides) (1965). She returned to the genre in The Arena (1974).
Although starring roles were few and far between for Neri, she worked steadily throughout the 1960s/70s in supporting and sometimes, nondescript roles, such as her turn as a harem girl in El Cid (1961).
Bouchet and Neri would team up in 1972 in another movie combining sex with horror, Casa d’appuntamento (French Sex Murders). 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 off, everyone wonders if the dead man has come back to exact his revenge.
Perhaps Neri's best-known films are from the horror genre. Credited as Sara Bay, she played Tania Frankenstein, the daughter of the monster's creator, in 1971's Lady Frankenstein. Tania was willing to take her father's work to new – and frightening – levels. It is considered a B movie classic.
In 1972, she starred in The Devil's Wedding Night as Lady Dracula, a vampire who uses Dracula's ring to lure young virgins to her home so she can murder them and bathe in their blood (à la the medieval Countess Elizabeth Báthory). In Italy it was released as Il Plenilunio dell Vergini (Full Moon of the Virgins).
Retirement
Neri would appear in a few more films such as: No Way Out (1973), Loving Cousins (1974), Blood River (1974) and Il pomicione (1976), which is her last credited film. In 1985 she did appear in the Italian miniseries Olga e I suoi figli (Olga and her children).