# Gianna Maria Canale

Gianna Maria Canale (12 September 1927 – 13 February 2009) was an Italian film actress.

## Biography

Canale was born in 1927 in Reggio Calabria. In 1947, she competed in the Miss Italia beauty contest, where she was runner-up to Lucia Bosè. Following this, she appeared in many Italian magazines, with her looks being compared to those of Ava Gardner.
Canale was offered a role in a movie by Riccardo Freda, with whom she eventually fell in love. They moved to Brazil where they were married and worked together in two movies. As Canale did not enjoy living in South America, the couple returned to Italy where, often directed by her husband, she starred in many Sword-and-sandal movies, as well as horror and adventure ones. I vampiri was her last film with Freda.
Canale retired from acting in 1964 at the age of 37. She died in Sutri, Viterbo in January 2009.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Cast | Notes |
| 1946 | Black Eagle | | Riccardo Freda | Rossano Brazzi, Irasema Dilián, Gino Cervi | |
| 1946 | Rigoletto | Maddalena | Carmine Gallone | Tito Gobbi, Marcella Govoni, Lina Pagliughi | |
| 1948 | Il cavaliere misterioso | Countess Lehmann | Riccardo Freda | Vittorio Gassman, María Mercader, Yvonne Sanson | |
| 1948 | Guarany | Jacqueline | Riccardo Freda | António Vilar, Mariella Lotti | |
| 1949 | Totò Le Mokò | Viviane de Valance | Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia | Totò | |
| 1949 | O caçula do Barulho | | Riccardo Freda | Oscarito, Grande Otelo | |
| 1949 | The Iron Swordsman | Emilia | Riccardo Freda | Carlo Ninchi | |
| 1949 | Il bacio di una morta [it] | Nora O'Kira | Guido Brignone | Virginia Belmont | |
| 1950 | Son of d'Artagnan | Linda | Riccardo Freda | Carlo Ninchi | |
| 1951 | Double Cross | Luisetta | Riccardo Freda | Amedeo Nazzari, Vittorio Gassman | |
| 1951 | Go for Broke! | Rosina | Robert Pirosh | Van Johnson | |
| 1951 | Revenge of Black Eagle | Tatiana Cernicevskij | Riccardo Freda | Rossano Brazzi | |
| 1951 | See Naples and Die | Marisa Meris | Riccardo Freda | | |
| 1952 | The Eternal Chain | Maria Raneri | Anton Giulio Majano | Marcello Mastroianni | |
| 1952 | The Legend of the Piave | Contessa Giovanna Dolfin | Riccardo Freda | | |
| 1953 | Sins of Rome | Sabina Crassus | Riccardo Freda | Massimo Girotti, Ludmilla Tchérina | |
| 1953 | The Man from Cairo | Lorraine Belogne | Ray Enright | George Raft | |
| 1953 | Alarm in Morocco | Nathalie Provence | Jean Devaivre | Jean-Claude Pascal, Erich von Stroheim | |
| 1954 | Theodora, Slave Empress | Theodora | Riccardo Freda | Georges Marchal | |
| 1954 | Madame du Barry | Duchesse de Grammont | Christian-Jaque | Martine Carol | |
| 1954 | The Shadow | Elena | Giorgio Bianchi | Märta Torén, Pierre Cressoy | |
| 1954 | Madame Butterfly | Singer: Suzuki | Carmine Gallone | Kaoru Yachigusa, Nicola Filacuridi, Michiko Tanaka | |
| 1955 | Napoleón | Pauline Bonaparte | Sacha Guitry | Daniel Gélin, Raymond Pellegrin, Orson Welles, Erich von Stroheim, Michèle Morgan, Danielle Darrieux, Yves Montand, Jean Gabin, Jean Marais | |
| 1955 | Il coraggio | Susy Esposito | Domenico Paolella | Totò, Gino Cervi | |
| 1956 | A Woman Alone | Mara | Vittorio Sala | Eleonora Rossi Drago | |
| 1956 | The Lebanese Mission | Countess Athelstane Orloff | Richard Pottier | Jean-Claude Pascal, Omar Sharif, Jean Servais, Juliette Gréco | |
| 1956 | Le schiave di Cartagine | Julia Martia | Guido Brignone | Jorge Mistral | |
| 1957 | I Vampiri | Giselle du Grand | Riccardo Freda | | Film completed by Mario Bava |
| 1958 | Pirate of the Half Moon | Infanta Caterina | Giuseppe Maria Scotese | John Derek | |
| 1958 | Hercules | Antea | Pietro Francisci | Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina | |
| 1958 | The Silent Enemy | Conchita | William Fairchild | Laurence Harvey, Dawn Addams, Michael Craig | |
| 1958 | The Mighty Crusaders | Armida | Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia | Francisco Rabal, Sylva Koscina, Rik Battaglia | |
| 1958 | The Whole Truth | Gina Bertini | John Guillermin | Stewart Granger, Donna Reed, George Sanders | |
| 1958 | The Warrior and the Slave Girl | Amira | Vittorio Cottafavi | Georges Marchal | |
| 1959 | Devil's Cavaliers | Baroness Elaine of Faldone | Siro Marcellini | Frank Latimore | |
| 1960 | Seven in the Sun | Libertà | Sergio Bergonzelli | Frank Latimore | |
| 1960 | The Night They Killed Rasputin | Czarina Alexandra | Pierre Chenal | Edmund Purdom, John Drew Barrymore | |
| 1960 | Queen of the Pirates | Sandra | Mario Costa | | |
| 1960 | Colossus and the Amazon Queen | Amazon Queen | Vittorio Sala | Rod Taylor, Ed Fury, Dorian Gray | |
| 1960 | The Conqueror of the Orient | Dinazar / Zobeida | Tanio Boccia | Rik Battaglia | |
| 1961 | The Treasure of Monte Cristo | Lucetta Di Marca | Monty Berman, Robert S. Baker | Rory Calhoun | |
| 1961 | Maciste contro il vampiro | Astra | Sergio Corbucci, Giacomo Gentilomo | Gordon Scott, Jacques Sernas | |
| 1961 | The Centurion | Artemide | Mario Costa | Jacques Sernas, John Drew Barrymore, Geneviève Grad, Gordon Mitchell | |
| 1962 | The Slave | Claudia | Sergio Corbucci | Steve Reeves, Jacques Sernas | |
| 1962 | Le Chevalier de Pardaillan [fr] | Princess Fausta Borgia | Bernard Borderie | Gérard Barray | |
| 1962 | Tiger of the Seven Seas | Consuelo | Luigi Capuano | Anthony Steel | |
| 1963 | The Adventures of Scaramouche [fr] | Suzanne | Antonio Isasi-Isasmendi | Gérard Barray, Michèle Girardon | |
| 1963 | Il Boom | Silvia Alberti | Vittorio De Sica | Alberto Sordi | |
| 1963 | The Lion of St. Mark | Rossana | Luigi Capuano | Gordon Scott, Rik Battaglia | |
| 1964 | Il treno del sabato | Luisa Mancini | Vittorio Sala | | |
| 1964 | The Avenger of Venice | Imperia | Carlo Campogalliani, Piero Pierotti | Brett Halsey | (final film role) |