Luisella Boni, who was also known as Brigitte Corey, Isabelle Corey (not to be mistaken for the French Isabelle Corey), Luisa Boni and – to her mum and dad – Luisa Angela Bozzo, was born in Como on the 24th July 1935. An attractive brunette, she has been a busy actress in films, theatre and television from the early 1950s onwards.
She made her film debut in Mario Bonnard’s 1953 film Frine, cortigiana d’Oriente, and it was the firts of numerous historical adventure and peplum films she’d make throughout the 1950s and 60s. She tended to play the love interest in smaller productions such as Gianni Vernuccio’s The Treasure of Bengal (opposite Sabu, 1953) and Mario Costa’s Cavalier in Devil’s Castle (59), but also put in supporting turns in bigger budgeted projects like Land of the Pharoahs (55, starring Jack Hawkins and Joan Collins). She also made three films with Gianfranco Parolini in Yugoslavia: Samson (61), The Old Testament (62) and The Fury of Hercules (62).
Away from costume dramas, she was also the lead in popular melodramas (Le dicciotenni, 56), crime films (I mafiosi, 59) and spy films (Sfida nella citta dell’oro, 62).
Her film career dropped off in the 1960s and she began working regularly on television, often in collaboration with her husband Daniele D’Anza. Her theatre work was more sporadic, but included a well respected Zerbinetta opposite Vittorio COngio in Moliere’s Le furberie di Scapino.
In recent years she has made occasional appearences on screen, most particularly in the 2003 comedy Caterina in the Big City (2003).