Beryl Cunningham is another of the black actresses who came to brief fame as ‘exotic totty’ in Italian films of the late sixties and early seventies. Biographical information about her is scanty, although I think she was born in Jamaica. She obviously ended up in Rome in the early sixties, where she worked as a model and occassional actress. For several years – in the likes of Piero Regnoli’s peplum I re manfredi and Lenzi’s giallo So Sweet So Perverse – she was basically restricted to roles as either servants or strippers, and her real breakthrough came in Alberto Cavallone’s cult erotic favourite Le salamandre (where she and Erna Schurer were practically the only performers). More interesting roles followed: as Christopher Chittel’s ‘surprise’ wife in Michele Lupo’s Concerto per pistola solista, in the strange ‘African’ decameron Black Decameron and so on. In the seventies, her roles decreased, although she did have brief roles in Sergio Martino’s L’isola degli uomini pesce and Giuliano Carnimeo’s Gli sterminatori dell’anno 3000.
- Re Manfredi (1962) aka The Defeat of the Barbarians …. Grenda’s black maidservant
- Sexy che scotta (1963)
- Curse of the Voodoo (1965) …. Nightclub dancer
- Temptation (1968)
- Così dolce… così perversa (1969) aka So Sweet… So Perverse …. Black stripper
- Tarzana, sesso selvaggio (1969) aka Tarzana, the Wild Girl …. Kamala – Dancer
- Salamandre, Le (1969) …. Uta
- Storia d’amore, Una (1969) aka Love Me, Baby, Love Me! …. Mulatto Girl
- Dio serpente, Il (1970) …. Stella
- Concerto per pistola solista (1970) aka The Weekend Murders …. Pauline Collins
- Morte risale a ieri sera, La (1970) aka Death Occurred Last Night …. Terrell
- Dorian Gray (1970) …. Adrienne
- Dipingi di giallo il tuo poliziotto (1970)
- Quickly, spari e baci a colazione (1971)
- Decamerone nero, Il (1972) aka The Black Decameron …. Queen (segment “The Ravishing Queen”)
- Brutti sporchi e cattivi (1976) …. Baraccata Negra
- Nipote del prete, La (1976)
- Isola degli uomini pesce, L’ (1979) aka Screamers …. Shakira
- Sterminatori dell’anno 3000, Gli (1983) aka Exterminators of the Year 3000 …. Shadow
you said that beryl cunningham came to brief fame as an “exottic totty.” perhaps it would be more accurate to say that she came to fame as an “exotic hotty” (or “hottie”).
thank you for the information about beryl cunningham. i just wish you could have gotten more biographical information about her. (it would be great to read a detailed interview of someone like cunningham.)
i am very interested in american and black performers in european films. (and in asian films, for that matter. but that is another story.) your website provides an invaluable service, providing information about some of the neglected corners of film history. keep the great information and analysis coming!
i just came across some pictures of beryl cunningham. she was an absolute goddess!!
i think she was exotic and very nice as a person, i met her long ago,at rome and we were
introduced by a common friend,chilean as myself,i was doing some interviews with gucci and
some other personalities and i did interview her
i remembered her because a few days ago i saw brutti,sporchi e cattivi where she was playing
a minor role
i would like to contact her again