
Scilla Gabel
She was born Scilla Gabellini, one of five siblings, in Rimini on the Adriatic coast. Scilla initially studied law at Oxford University, graduating with a doctorate. Her interest in pursuing a legal career waned quickly, however, since her next move was a return to Italy for acting classes at Rome's Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica. At the age of seventeen, the voluptuous, blue-eyed Scilla became a body double for Sophia Loren (to whom she bore more than a passing resemblance), notably in the classic Boy on a Dolphin (1957). Two years later, she underwent cosmetic surgery to look less like Sophia in order to forge her own screen image. In 1963, Scilla featured on the cover of several magazines, including Playboy, the Milanese publication Le Ore and Parade (at the time, the most widely read weekly in the U.S.). Though she went on to command leads in a number of films during the 60s, Scilla tended to be typecast in roles which emphasized her physical attributes, rather than her acting ability. She appeared most often in genre films, anything from innocuous sex comedies (Genitori in blue-jeans (1960), Bel Ami 2000 oder Wie verführt man einen Playboy? (1966)) to swashbuckling costume dramas (La Venere dei pirati (1960)), and from spaghetti westerns (Johnny Golden Poker (1966)) to peplum spectacles (Death on the Arena (1962), The Revenge of Spartacus (1964)). After 1971, she was afforded more challenging and critically acclaimed roles as a star in Italian TV miniseries. Eleven years after leaving the screen, Scilla attracted media attention as a result of the murder of her 87-year old landlord father Giuseppe, by a crazed tenant at his villa on the via Campi di Torre Flavia in Ladispoli.
48 acting credits
Acting · 48

The Odyssey
1968

Le donne del Tenente Sheridan
1965

The Shortest Day
1963

Sodom and Gomorrah
1962

Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
1959

Modesty Blaise
1966

The Queen of the Pirates
1960

I ragazzi dei Parioli
1959

That Awful Mess on Via Merulana
1983

Mill of the Stone Women
1960

Vino e pane
1973

Colossus of the Arena
1962

The White Warrior
1959

Target for Killing
1966

Three Faces of Sin
1961

Odissea
1968

Son of Cleopatra
1964

Outlaws of Love
1963

Dov'è Anna?
1976

The Revenge of the Gladiators
1964

Romulus and the Sabines
1961

Tender Sharks
1967

Legs of Gold
1958

Village of Daughters
1962

Two Colonels
1963

I piaceri del sabato notte
1960

Noi duri
1960

Seven Slaves Against the World
1964

Corpse for the Lady
1964

How to Seduce a Playboy?
1966

Djurado
1966

Genitori in blue-jeans
1960

Con rispetto parlando
1965
Johnny Belinda
1969

Mara
1961

Il terrore dei mantelli rossi
1963

Take Me As I Am
1960

Arms of the Avenger
1963
The Fruit Is Ripe
1961

Gente felice
1957

No Man's Land
1962

The Festival Girls
1961

Una storia di notte
1964

Bastard, Go and Kill
1971

Girls of the Night
1958

Tua per la vita
1955

La salamandre d'or
1962

Due sosia in allegria
1956