Rossana Rory

Rossana Rory (7 August 1927 – 1 April 2020) was an Italian actress best known for her performance as Norma in Mario Monicelli's caper film Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958).

Rory began working as a model at the age of seventeen, posing mainly for the stylist Vincenzo Ferdinandi and in fotoromanzi in the weekly magazines Sogno, Luna Park, and Cine Illustrato.

Dissatisfied by a series of supporting roles, Rory went to London to attend acting courses at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, with hopes of a career in Hollywood.

[1] Her lack of luck in American films convinced her to return to Italy, where she appeared in Guido Malatesta's El Alamein (1957) and Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958).

The last film she made before her retirement from cinema was Michelangelo Antonioni's L'eclisse (1962).