Simonetta Stefanelli is a former Italian actress who is now an entrepreneur. Although her acting career ended in 1992, she is still popular in this regard due to some of her great works such as The Godfather, Moses the Lawgiver, and Three Brothers. After recording her early success as an actress, she received various acting offers in Hollywood, but she rejected them, later choosing to quit acting altogether.
Simonetta Stefanelli Biography
It was on November 30, 1954 that the actress was born in Rome, Italy. She was also raised here and, at the age of just 14, her acting journey began when she appeared in La moglie giapponese in 1968.
1971 saw her appear in 4 films, Non Commettere Atti Impuri, Die Sonne angreifen which was a German television film, Man of the Year, and then the Dino Risi directed film In the Name of the Italian People.
Professional Achievements
In 1972, she had one of her biggest and most memorable roles when she was offered to portray Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone in The Godfather. She was the wife of Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) whom he married when he fled to Sicily. Unfortunately, she was killed in a car bomb meant for Michael. Even though her role was not very long, it was very important and remains one of the roles she is always remembered for.
The next film she made after The Godfather in 1972 was the historical drama Il Caso Pisciotta. Focusing her career in Italy, she had more roles in 1973 with films such as Gli amici Degli Amici Hanno Saputo, The King is the Best Mayor and The Big Family.
In the years that followed, Simonetta Stefanelli took on more and more roles, until 1981 when she took on another important role as the young wife of Three Brothers. This was followed by the TV mini-series Quer Pasticciaccio Brutto de via Merulana in 1983 and then Ars Amandi came in 1985.
In 1986 Simonetta Stefanelli starred as Marisa Romano in the Italian anthology-comedy film Grandi Magazzini and in 1988 she was Lungo la Via in the TV series Non Basta Una Vita. This became her last television series and it was followed 4 years later by Close Friends which became her last role as an actress. The film was directed by Michele Placido, Steffanelli’s husband at the time.
Following her exploits in The Godfather which became both a commercial and critical success in Italy and internationally, many offers from Hollywood came to Simonetta Stefanelli. While that was what many other people were looking for, she rejected them all, insisting that they only wanted to show off her body and nothing more.
That said, she appeared in the erotic film, Peccati at Famiglia in 1975 with her husband. Even before that, in 1973, she had posed nude for Playboy Italia, the Italian edition of Playboy. It was after that that she refused to go to Hollywood because she didn’t want to be a sex symbol.
After deciding to quit acting, The Godfather actress turned to entrepreneurship and founded Simo Bloom, a fashion store in Rome. She makes and sells things like shoes and handbags.
The former Italian actress had her share of an internet death hoax in 2006, when it went viral that the actress lost her life. Only 2 years later, the same prank will resurface in 2008. Following the prank, the former actress joked that if she had had roles in the cinema, she would have accepted but that it would not be possible anymore since she was now dead.
Family life
As for her family life, Simonetta Stefanelli has been married once so far. In 1989, she married Italian actor and director Michele Placido. On his own, Placido appeared in many films, while Simonetta was in some films with the 1975 erotic film as the most popular.
Stefanelli and Placido dated for five years before their marriage ended in divorce. Between them, they were lucky enough to have children, including Violante Placido, the famous Italian actress, and a singer born in 1976, before her parents married.
In 2013, Violante and her partner Massimiliano D’Epiro had a son, Vasco, who made the actress a grandmother. Michelangelo Placido, born in 1990, and Brenno Placido, also an actor, born in 1991, are the other children of the actress.