Rossana Podestà(1934-2013)

After considering such established stars as Lana Turner, Elizabeth Taylor, Rhonda Fleming, Ava Gardner and Yvonne De Carlo for the lead in Die schöne Helena (1956), director Robert Wise chose Podestà, an established actress but one who was relatively unknown outside of Italy. The problem was that she could not speak English. As she would be surrounded by British actors, and to avoid a clash of accents and dialects among the characters, Wise employed a vocal coach to help her learn her lines by rote.

Italians have different ideas of beauty from Americans. In Italy people regard the figure as the yardstick, then the face. In America it is the face first.