Rosanna Schiaffino was the lovely Italian actress who starred opposite American Olympic athlete (and future Congressman) Bob Mathias in 1960′s The Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete. Schiaffino played the dual role of the evil Princess Fedra and her good twin, Arianna, in this filmic version of the legendary man-bull who roamed the Cretan maze searching from human sacrifices.
Schiaffino was born in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, on November 25, 1938. She won a local beauty contest in 1952, and soon embarked on a career in films. Her many film credits include Roland the Mighty (1956), the sword and sandal adventure Romulus and the Sabines (1961) starring Roger Moore, a segment of the episodic fantasy film RoGoPaG (1963), the adventure saga The Long Ships (1964) with Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier, the sensual horror film The Witch in Love (1966) as the supernatural Aura, the bio-film of the mysterious 18th Century count Cagliostr” (1974), and the giallo horror film The Killer Reserved Nine Seats (1974).
Schiaffino died of complications from breast cancer in Milan, Italy, on October 17, 2009, at the age of 70.
Written by Harris Lentz III
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