L'educanda, la bambola, la signora. Virna Lisi attrice e (anti)diva

This essay investigates Virna Lisi’s acting style and star image. In the Italian female stardom of the 1950s, marked by the myth of the maggiorata, the sophisticated and tiny beauty of Virna Pieralisi does not mean sexual desire or transgression, but rather elegance and refinement. Grace, moral integrity and candor are the main traits of a stardom which feeds off of Lisi’s ability as an actress to play not only the part of the naïve girl (Signore & signori), but also that of the blue-eyed blonde temptress (How to murder your wife). One of the goals of this paper is to verify the validity of labels such as ‘antidiva’ and ‘Italian Marilyn’. For this purpose, I will analyze not only the most important Virna Lisi’s performances, but also a selection of the interviews released by the actress to magazines like «Oggi» or «Così». The attention shown by some magazines towards Lisi’s ‘off-camera life’ helped build her brand and define her image’s social meanings