re: "Babes from days gone by (NSFW)" thread as per request by Kafka..

Rossana Podestà (1934–2013) was a prominent Italian actress who achieved international fame during the 1950s and 1960s. She became one of the leading figures of the Peplum (sword-and-sandals) genre and classic epic cinema.

She is uniquely celebrated for starring in major cinematic adaptations of both of Homer's foundational Greek epics:

1. The Odyssey Adaptation: Ulysses (1954)

In this highly successful Italian-American production starring Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn, Podestà played Princess Nausicaa.

The Role: She portrays the Princess of Phaeacia who discovers an amnesiac Ulysses (Odysseus) washed up on the beach. She falls for him and prepares to marry him before his memories return, prompting him to resume his long journey home to Ithaca.



2. The Iliad Adaptation: Helen of Troy (1956)

Directed by Robert Wise, this lavish Hollywood epic gave Podestà her most iconic and definitive career role as Helen of Troy.

The Role: Selected from numerous international actresses for her stunning classical beauty, she played "the face that launched a thousand ships". The film retells the Trojan War from the Trojan perspective. Remarkably, because she did not speak English fluently at the time, she learned all her lines phonetically with the help of a voice coach.

Her roles in these two companion pieces cemented her legacy as the ultimate screen embodiment of Homeric beauty and mythology during Hollywood's golden age of epics.