2. Laura Gemser
La creme de la creme of Euro Cult movie actresses, Laura Gemser was born in Indonesia but her family emigrated to Holland when she was four. They lived in Utrecht and a young Laura studied fashion design. Tiring of this, Laura took herself off to Italy in the mid 1970s and did some modelling. Her acting career burgeoned when she collaborated with Italian sleaze maestro Joe D'Amato. D'Amato cast Gemser in a series of films known as the 'Black Emanuelle' movies. In these movies she starred as Emanuelle, an intrepid, globe-trotting journalist who happened to get mixed up with sexual hijinks all over the world. Gemser chose to stay in the softcore sex arena and frequently starred in these cult classics alongside her husband Gabriele Tinti. In quite a few of her movies - Emanuelle in America, for example - hardcore pornographic sequences were inserted but Laura never took part. Gemser retired from the world of film in the 1990s when her husband died. She now lives a very quiet life in Italy but her beauty, class and the infectious enthusiasm that she brought to her film roles are enshrined on DVD and Blu-Ray.
1. Edwige Fenech
Stunningly beautiful French actress who lit up the screens in many sexy Italian and German sex comedies of the late 60s and 70s. Edwige Fenech got her big break with Austrian director Franz Antel and his Frau Wirtin series of films, which did big business at the box office. Her greatest commercial success was in Italian sex comedies, but these are little known beyond the confines of Italy. Fenech is thus known to admirers across the globe as a seminal Giallo actress. She made many Gialli, for which she removed her clothes with as much abandon as her sexy comedies. Films Edwige starred in include the masterful Case of the Bloody Iris, Strip Nude for Your Killer, Phantom of Death: Off Balance, The Strange Vice of Mrs Wardh, Five Dolls for an August Moon and Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key. All wonderful titles and wonderful movies, made all the more special by Edwige's incandescent beauty and lively screen presence. Edwige is still active in the entertainment world today. She is a popular TV personality and she produces movies. Vive la Fenech!
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