Marcella Mariani

Though she appeared in several popular movies and was garnering acclaim as an actress, her career was cut short by her death in a 1955 airliner crash.

[1] At the age of 17 Mariani was crowned Miss Italy of 1953 in the Tyrolean resort town of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

[citation needed] Her most significant role was in director Luchino Visconti's 1954 film Senso,[1] in which she worked alongside Alida Valli and Farley Granger, playing the small but important part of Clara, a young prostitute.

[citation needed] Her promising career was prematurely ended by her death in a plane crash, which occurred on the slopes of Monte Terminillo, in the province of Rieti, Italy, as she returned from hosting a film festival in Belgium[2] on 13 February 1955.

[1] Travelling from Brussels to Rome, the DC-6 passenger liner crashed due to errors made by the crew in poor weather conditions.