Marla Landi

Marla Landi, Lady Dashwood (born Marcella Teresa Scarafina in 1933, Turin, Italy) is an Italian-born British film actress.

Early life 
Her major roles included Across the Bridge (1957), Dublin Nightmare (1958), First Man into Space (1959), The Murder Game (1965), and the Hammer films The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959, as Cecille Stapleton) and The Pirates of Blood River (1962). She was a Play School presenter from 1964-70. Joy Whitby, the programme's creator and earliest producer, recalled in 2013: "She spoke English with a heavy accent, but she was very loveable and children adored her." Landi also presented Parliamo Italiano. She also appeared in an episode of the TV version of Hancock's Half Hour called "The Italian Maid" in 1959 though this recording was lost (although an off-air recording of the soundtrack was recently discovered by Tristan Brittain-Dissont, Archivist of the Tony Hancock Appreciation Society). 

She was also a top photographic model and had a number of magazine covers including Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Tatler.  She later became the Fashion editor for Harper's Bazaar.
  
She then went on to set up her own successful international wig business.

Honours 
She was made a Knight of the Italian Republic for promoting the Italian language and culture in the United Kingdom.

Personal life 
In 1977 she married Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet. Together they lived at West Wycombe House in Buckinghamshire.

Filmography

References

External links
 

Category:British actresses
Category:1933 births
Category:Living people
Category:British female models
Category:British people of Italian descent
Category:English people of Italian descent
Category:Italian emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
Category:People from Turin
Category:Actresses of Italian descent
Category:BBC television presenters