The sex symbol of an entire generation passed away at the age of 62, after a too long battle with cancer. Can’t say that she was my favorite Angel (where are you, Tanya?) but still, she was the one to leave her mark on popular culture. Yes, there was that poster that sold over 12,000,000 units up until this day… there was the smile and the hairdo… and can anyone remember that Charlie’s Angels pink custom van?

As I revealed in an older post, the first issue of Playboy that I ever bought was with a Farrah cover. Oddly, my favorite Farrah role will probably remain her bit part in Logan’s Run, a film that I endlessly watched in its many TV showing in the early 80s, be it in French or English. Very sad news indeed to lose such an icon.

Born on September 23, 1927, this future movie star was to arrive second at the 1947 Miss Italy Beauty Pageant. Oddly, she shared the Top 5 spaces with future actresses Lucia Bosé (who won the contest), Gina Lollobrigida, Silvana Mangano and Eleonora Rossi Drago.

She soon met and even married (in Brazil) director Riccardo Freda, who cast his gorgeous wife in many movies, as she played temptresses, princesses and assorted femmes fatales with equal ease in many exotic adventures. She was seen in many swords & sandals projects, alongside the inevitable pirate stories and the like.

Sometimes compared with Ava Gardner, Gianna Maria Canale is also remembered as Duchess Giselle du Grand, the main role in Freda’s I Vampiri, the first Italian horror film of the sound era. The project was actually completed by future fantasy specialist Mario Bava and features some blood experiments to keep Giselle alive.

Gianna Maria was also seen in Steve Reeves’ first Hercules movie, as the Queen of the Amazons, a role that was probably tailor-made for her. Many peplums followed but her career stopped in 1964. There’s a legend saying that she left her husband to have an affair with a hairdresser and consequently Freda banned all hair specialist from his sets! Another story tells that she suffered an accident that left her disfigured. She seemed to have left us for a better world early in 2009… but can even that be disputed?!?!

Yippee! This thing is still going full blast! We have three new Sirens for you today, all beautiful and magnificent! Come and meet Dita Synthetic, Deanna Deadly & Akasha D’Eville right now!

It would’ve been Marilyn’s 83rd birthday today. As Cult Sirens is soon to be producing some Pin-Ups pictures, it’s quite inevitable that this star is in our thoughts regarding a project of this kind. Niagara and The Seven Year Itch will always remain my favorite movies of hers. One of the few actresses that I owned a life size poster of in my youth…