{{Short description|Italian actress, model and writer (1937–1995)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Daniela Rocca | image = Daniela Rocca Luna Park.JPG | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1937|9|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Acireale, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age |1995|5|28|1937|9|12|df=yes}} | death_place = Milo, Italy | years_active = 1955–1970 | spouse = }} '''Daniela Rocca''' (12 September 1937 – 28 May 1995) was an Italian actress, model and writer.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituarydaniela-rocca-1584612.html|title= Obituary: Daniela Rocca|author=Wolfgang Achtner|work=The Independent|location=London|date= 2 June 1995}}</ref>
==Biography== Rocca was born and raised in Acireale, a small town near Catania. She became Miss Catania in 1953, and was discovered by talent scouts after competing in a Miss Italia competition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1995-06-01 |title=OBITUARY:Daniela Rocca |url=https://www.the-independent.com/news/people/obituary-daniela-rocca-1584612.html |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
Rocca made her film debut in French director Maurice Cloche's ''Marchands de Filles'' (1957) and also appeared in the Riccardo Freda film ''Caltiki – The Immortal Monster'' (''Caltiki – il mostro immortale'', 1959), and ''Esther and the King'' (1960).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rooney |first=David |date=1995-06-05 |title=DANIELA ROCCA |url=https://variety.com/1995/scene/people-news/daniela-rocca-99127105/ |access-date=2025-11-18 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}</ref> More film roles followed, but Rocca did not garner international attention until ''Divorce, Italian Style'' (''Divorzio all'Italiana'', 1961). Rocca became a star after playing the part of the smothering wife Marcello Mastroianni is desperate to escape in Pietro Germi's international box-office hit. For her performance she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress in 1963. Rocca fell in love with Germi during filming and attempted suicide when he rejected her. After that, she was considered unstable and was not offered significant roles.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Halliwell |first=Leslie |title=Halliwell's Who's who in the Movies |year=2001 |isbn=9780002572149 |pages=376 |language=English}}</ref> A nervous breakdown led to a stay in a mental hospital.
After playing minor roles in movies and television, her show business career ended in 1967. She ended her days in a retirement home in Milo, near Catania. There she wrote four books: ''Agente segreto con licenza di vivere; Avvocato offresi; Il condannato a morte''; and ''Psicoanalisi, sogni, fantasie nascosti nella mente''; and a collection of poems, ''Ara''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1995-06-01 |title=OBITUARY:Daniela Rocca |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-daniela-rocca-1584612.html |access-date=2025-09-21 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
==Partial filmography== {{div col|colwidth=30em}} * ''La Luciana'' (1954) * ''Il nostro campione'' (1955) * ''Il padrone sono me'' (1955) - Nunziata * ''Addio sogni di gloria'' (1957) * ''Marchands de filles'' (1957) - Bettina * ''Head of a Tyrant'' (1959) - Naomi * ''Non perdiamo la testa'' (1959) - Volante * ''Caltiki – The Immortal Monster'' (1959) - Linda * ''Legions of the Nile'' (1959) - Teyrè * ''The Giant of Marathon'' (1959) - Karis * ''Austerlitz'' (1960) - Caroline Bonaparte * ''Colossus and the Amazon Queen'' (1960) - Melitta * ''Esther and the King'' (1960) - Queen Vashti * ''Revenge of the Barbarians'' (1960) - Galla Placidia, Onorius' Sister * ''Rome 1585'' (1961) - Princess Alba of Portoreale * ''Divorce, Italian Style'' (1961) - Rosalia Cefalù * ''Peccati d'estate'' (1962) - Teresa * ''The Captive City'' (1962) - Doushka * ''I Don Giovanni della Costa Azzurra'' (1962) - Assuntina Greco, aka Géneviève * ''L'attico'' (1963) - Silvana D'Angelo * ''Symphonie pour un massacre'' (1963) - Hélène Valoti * ''The Empty Canvas'' (1963) - Rita * ''Behold a Pale Horse'' (1964) - Rosana, Mistress of Vinolas * ''The Sucker'' (1965) - (uncredited) * ''Assicurasi vergine'' (1967) - Carmela - don Pippo's lover * ''Un giorno, una vita'' (1970) - Olga (final film role) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{IMDb name|name=Daniela Rocca|id=0733598}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocca, Daniela}} Category:1937 births Category:1995 deaths Category:People from Acireale Category:Italian film actresses Category:Actresses from Sicily Category:20th-century Italian actresses Category:Models from Sicily