Delia Boccardo

Stunning leading actress Delia Boccardo was an eye-catching beauty who graced Italian and international films for over four decades. Born in Genoa, Italy on January 29, 1948, but raised in a small fishing village called Nerv,i she studied at colleges in both Switzerland and London before returning to Italy and enrolling at a film school in Rome.

Briefly appearing on the stage, Delia made her debut at age 18 with a prime role in the “spaghetti western” Death Walks in Laredo (1967) (Death Walks in Laredo). She then co-starred with French actor Philippe Leroy in the action adventure drama L’occhio selvaggio (1967) (The Wild Eye) before making her third film, and first English-speaking appearance, as the leading lady to Alan Arkin in the misguided comedy Inspector Clouseau (1968) with Arkin an unsuccessful Peter Sellers replacement as the klutzy title French detective.

The lovely actress would go on to become a seductive foil and/or love interest in numerous late 60’s and 70’s films. Additional European-filmed appearances by Boccardo had her co-starring opposite some of Europe’s most handsome and virile actors: Franco Nero in the crime dramas Detective Belli (1969); and High Crime (1973); Bekim Fehmiu in the US-produced epic The Adventurers (1970); suave Giancarlo Giannini in Una macchia rosa (1969); Pierre Clémenti in The Year of the Cannibals (1969); actor/director/co-writer Nino Manfredi in the comedy Between Miracles (1971); U.S. import Scott Holden in the Italian western Panhandle 38 (1972); and Luc Merenda in the action thrillers Shoot First, Die Later (1974) and Silent Action (1975). She even found herself a co-star to good-looking famed skier Jean-Claude Killy in Snow Job (1972). She was also among the English-speaking star ensemble of Tentacles (1977), with John Huston, Shelley Winters Henry Fonda and Bo Hopkins.

Continuing into the early 1980s, Delia proved an entrancing Athena in the Italian-made Hercules (1983), starring Lou Ferrigno; portrayed Mary Magdalene in the TV-movie The Day Christ Died (1980); graced the mini-series Martin Eden (1979); was part of the multi-star cast of the WWII historical drama The Assisi Underground (1985) starring James Mason, Irene Papas and Maximilian Schell.

Delia has remained primarily in Italian films since then including Aphrodite (1982) starring Horst Buchholz; Sposi (1988); The Return of Casanova (1992) starring Alain Delon; Dichiarazioni d’amore (1994) (Declarations of Love); Questo è il giardino (1999) and Sole negli occhi (2001). She finished her career on TV as the star of the Italian romantic drama series Incantesimo (1998).