Introduction
Daniela Rocca (12 September 1937 in Acireale, Italy – 28 May 1995 in Milo, Italy) was an Italian actress, model and writer.
Rocca was born and raised in Acireale, a small town near Catania. She became Miss Catania in 1953, and was discovered by talent scouts after competing in a Miss Italy competition. She made her film debut in French director Maurice Cloche's Marchands de Filles (1957) and also appeared in the Riccardo Freda film Caltiki - il mostro immortale (1959), and Esther and the King (1960). More film roles followed, but Rocca did not find fame until Divorzio all'Italiana (1961). Rocca became a star after playing the part of the smothering wife Marcello Mastroianni is desperate to escape in Pietro Germi's international box-office hit. Rocca fell in love with Germi during filming and attempted suicide when he rejected her. After that, she was considered unstable and was not offered significant roles. A nervous breakdown led to a stay in a mental hospital. After playing minor roles in movies and television, her show business career ended in 1967. She ended her days in a retirement home in Milo, near Catania. There she wrote four books: Agente segreto con licenza di vivere; Avvocato offresi; Il condannato a morte; and Psicoanalisi, sogni, fantasie nascosti nella mente; and a collection of poems, Ara.
Selected filmography
- Head of a Tyrant (1959)
- Caltiki – The Immortal Monster (1959)
- The Giant of Marathon (1959)
- Non perdiamo la testa (1959)
- Austerlitz (1960)
- Colossus and the Amazon Queen (1960)
- Revenge of the Barbarians (1960)
- Divorce, Italian Style (1961)
- Rome 1585 (1961)
- I Don Giovanni della Costa Azzurra (1962)
- The Captive City (1962)