A voice unmistakablea role from airhead given to her on the set by Federico Fellini, her great love, and remained with her, a bright smile, lots of cinema and TV. This and much more it was Sandra Milo, who passed away in her sleep at the venerable age of 90, in her home, surrounded by her loved ones, as she had asked. Her family made it known.
The children: he left us asleep, as he had requested
“Today at 8:25 in the morning our mother passed away. She left us peacefully, falling asleep in her bed, the way she had specifically requested, surrounded by our love and that of his beloved dogs Jim and Lady. We ask you to respect our immense pain and to pray for her soul, sending her a thought of light“. So on social media Sandra’s children Milo, Debora, Ciro and Azzurra. “We sincerely thank our father Ottavio de Lollis – the post continues -, the lawyer Bruno della Ragione, Maurizio Pennesi, Alberto Matano, Cristina Morea, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Claudio and Pino Insegno, Franco Brel, Angelo Genovese, Franco Lattanzi and his wife Rita, Enrico Pola, Federica Di Giacomo, Lorenzo Picone, Luigi Alesi, Angelo De Biasio, Carlotta and Gabriele Malaguti, Marina and Tullio, Maricla Verdesca, Simona Ballarino. And if we have forgotten anyone we sincerely apologize“.
To the century Elena Liliana Greco, aka Sandra Milo, “Sandrocchia”, as Fellini had nicknamed her, she was born on March 11, 1933 in Tunis. Inspiration of great Italian and French directors she married very young, at just 15 years old, to the Marquis Cesare Rodighiero. The marriage unfortunately lasts a couple of months, but just enough for her to get closer to aelite very sought after.
In 1953 he decided to start acting and did so in Giorgio Bianchi’s film “Via Padova, 46″, alongside Peppino De Filippo, Alberto Sordi, Giulietta Masina, Memmo Carotenuto, Massimo Daiuto, Ernesto Almirante, Vittorio Duse, Lamberto Maggiorani and Virna Lisi, but in such a varied cast of well-known faces no one notices his. The first artistic partnership with Antonio Pietrangeli. It will support Alberto Sordi neither “The Bachelor” (1955), and thanks to his particularly round and eye-catching shapes and due to that strange voice of hers, even as a child, she established herself as a major on the big screen, taking part in numerous comedies: “Adua and her companions” (1960), alongside Claudio Gora and Marcello Mastroianni in “Ghosts in Rome” (1961). Finally, in 1964, he became the protagonist of “Visit”.
After acting with Gino Cervi in “Wife and Oxen” (1956), he has a small role in the film “My son Nero” (1956) with Brigitte Bardot, Alberto Sordi, Vittorio De Sica and the great American silent diva Gloria Swanson. He will also work with De Sica in “The Woman Who Came from the Sea” (1956).
In 1959, after her marriage to the producer Moris Ergas she acted for Roberto Rossellini in “General Della Rovere” (1959), alongside De Sica and Vittorio Caprioli. She was panned by critics, she took refuge in France and Claude Sautet chose her as Jean-Paul Belmondo’s partner in “Hotting Asphalt” (1960). Federico Fellini organizes an audition for her at home and she becomes the ironic and uninhibited femme fatale in “8 ½” (1963) with Marcello Mastroianni, Claudia Cardinale, Mario Pisu, Rossella Falk, Anouk Aimée, Barbara Steele, Caterina Boratto, Annibale Ninchi and Giuliana Calandra, earning her, among other things, her first Nastro d’Argento as best supporting actress. Milo remained close to him for 17 long years in which Giulietta Masina – Fellini’s wife – was aware of her husband’s extramarital affair and she even found herself acting with Milo in “Giulietta degli Spiriti” (1965), winning her second Nastro d’Argento. She is born “Sandrocchia”, that’s what he affectionately nicknamed her. And again “The white voices” (1964), “Woman is a wonderful thing” (1964).
The stormy marriage with Ergas ends, from which Deborah, currently a television journalist, will be born will find a new love with Ottavio De Lollis, which will make her the mother of Ciro and Azzurra.
In 1987, she acted with Jeanne Moreau in Remake, then driven by her friendship with Bettino Craxi, she improvised as a television presenter on Rai Due with the program “Piccoli fans”, program for children that will bring it back into fashion. In 1990 during the broadcast “Love is a wonderful thing” the bad telephone prank made to her directly where he warned her of an accident – which never happened – of her son Ciro. Milo runs away from the studio in tears, but Milo’s screams become a catchphrase for programs like “Blob” and “Target”. In 2021 she was awarded a David di Donatello for lifetime achievement.