☰

ZingW

Delia Scala

Delia Scala, an Italian dancer and actress who after debuting in movies and stage musicals became one of the country’s most beloved TV stars –among those few emblematic of the advent of Italian television — died Jan. 16 in the northwestern port city of Livorno. She was 74.

The cause of Scala’s death was not disclosed, but Italian president Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who called her career “a model of vivacity and rigorous professionalism,” said Scala had been bravely fighting “a grave illness.”

Born Odette Bedogni, she took the stage name Delia Scala after graduating from the ballet school of Milan’s La Scala theater, where she debuted at age 8, performing in Sergei Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf.”

Related Stories

Icons representing film, music, books and news being connected by AI nodes and lines VIP+

Generative AI & Licensing: A Special Report

rachel-campos-duffy

Rachel Campos-Duffy to Lead Spanish-Language 'Fox Noticias' for Fox Deportes

She got her first big break at 17, landing a role in Luigi Zampa’s 1948 neorealist pic “Anni Difficili,” (Difficult Years), the first of 40 movies she starred in during the following 12 years.

Popular on Variety

These include Mario Monicelli’s “It’s a Dog’s Life,” in which Scala played a pretty young woman who quits her factory job to seek fame and fortune as a showgirl; and Eduardo De Filippo’s “Napoli Milionaria,” which saw her alongside the hugely popular comic actor known as Toto, with whom Scala subsequently also starred in “Signori Si Nasce.”

In 1956 — two years after pubcaster RAI began beaming its signal –the classically trained ballerina with the girl-next-door look and spontaneous personality rose to household-name status, dancing the cancan on RAI’s variety show “Canzonissima,” which she hosted in 1959 in tandem with Nino Manfredi.

At the time, Scala’s high kicking drew Vatican admonishment for being too risque.

“This young girl burst onto Italian television screens like a gust of fresh air, with genuine originality and drive,” veteran TV personality Pippo Baudo said. “She was petite, but she could do anything and always with great irony.”

Scala’s long stint on small-screen variety shows segued into starring roles in sitcoms, most recently in “Io e La Mamma” (Me and Mom), which ran in 1996-98 on Mediaset.

Scala’s third husband, Arturo Fremura, died in 1991. Other survivor information was not available.

Jump to Comments

More from Variety

Most Popular

Must Read

Sign Up for Variety Newsletters

By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy.We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. // This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Variety Confidential

A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast

ncG1vNJzZmiukae2psDYZ5qopV9nfXGAjqyanqaVZL2mu8%2BlnGamlazAcLDEpaCaZaOYrq2tjGpoam9oboV5fpZo

Larita Shotwell

Update: 2024-05-03

<< Florida woman, 48, is found NOT GUILTY of murdering her NBA exec husband who used to be her stepdad

11 Best Eye Makeup Removers That Won't Sting Your Eyes >>