Actress

Born: January 30, 1935;

Died: July 8, 2017

ELSA Martinelli, who has died of cancer aged 82, got her break in movies because Kirk Douglas was finding it difficult to find someone for the female lead in his movie The Indian Fighter (1955). His wife Anne was leafing through Vogue when she happened upon a photograph of the dark-haired Italian model and declared “This girl would make a fantastic Indian!”

Douglas phoned her, but found it difficult to convince her the call was genuine. Douglas recalled in his memoirs her telling him “No beeleeva you … You no Keerka Douglas”. She was persuaded only when he sang A Whale of a Tale from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which had just come out.

Film-makers were not so strict about ethnic niceties back in the 1950s. Despite the fact that she was Italian (and that she had only limited English), Martinelli was cast as the Sioux chief’s daughter with whom Douglas’s character falls in love. “She was gorgeous and had a wonderful gamine quality that was perfect for the part,” Douglas recalled.

Despite the dubious casting, the film is notable for its attention to Native American culture, as well as for Martinelli’s nude bathing scene, and is still well regarded today.

Martinelli attracted many admirers, reputedly had an affair with Frank Sinatra and married an Italian count and became part of Italian society, mixing with the likes of Maria Callas and Aristotle Onassis.

But she also continued with her movie career, appearing in dozens of movies in America and Europe, including the African adventure Hatari! (1962), with John Wayne and several baby elephants, and The VIPs (1963), with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor.

One of eight children of a railway worker, she was born Elsa Tia in the Tuscan town of Grosseto in 1935. The family were poor and she went to work at 12 and did various jobs including waitressing. She began modelling at about 16 and by the time Kirk Douglas “discovered” her she had appeared in small roles in a couple of European films and had recently relocated to New York.

She did not stay long in the United States. She fell out with Kirk Douglas and missed out on the chance of a lead role in Spartacus (1960). Instead she used The Indian Fighter as a springboard to starring roles back in Europe, including the 1956 Italian comedy Donatella, for which she won the Silver Bear for best actress at the Berlin Film Festival.

On Hatari! she and the baby elephants pretty much stole the show from John Wayne, against the musical backdrop of Henry Mancini’s catchy Baby Elephant Walk.

She had gone out to East Africa early, when the calves were born. “The trick is to feed them right away,” said Martinelli, who played a wildlife photographer in the film. “That’s how you become their ‘mother.’ So they got used to me and would follow me everywhere.”

Her first marriage was short-lived and in 1968 she married Willy Rizzo, a Paris Match photographer. He also developed a career as a furniture designer and she as an interior designer, although she did go on acting occasionally.

She is survived by a daughter from her first marriage.

BRIAN PENDREIGH