by Conan Simmons – November 27, 2020 – 4:32 am
Famed Italian star and mother of actress Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi passed away yesterday, November 26 in Rome, Italy.
Born in Florence, Italy on June 19, 1950 Daria studied at the National Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome before beginning her screen acting career in 1970 making her film debut in the World War I set ‘Many Wars Ago’ starring Alain Cuny. She would then make an appearance in the 1973 comedy, ‘Property is No Longer a Theft’ before making her lasting impression on cinema in a number of Italian thrillers, the genre known as giallo.
She played the love interest to David Hemmings in Dario Argento’s giallo classic ‘Profundo Rosso a.k.a. Deep Red’ in 1975. She followed that up with a starring turn in Mario Bava’s ‘Shock’ in 1977.
That same year Daria Nicolodi wrote the screenplay and briefly appeared in the first of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy and the movie most widely considered the classic of giallo films, ‘Suspiria’ starring Jessica Harper, Udo Kier and Joan Bennett. Daria would play a bigger role in the second part of the trilogy, ‘Inferno’ in 1980.
Daria Nicolodi mostly stayed working with Dario Argento throughout the 1980’s with roles in ‘Tenebrae a.k.a. Unsane’ in 1982 costarring Anthony Franciosa and John Saxon, ‘Phenomena’ alongside Jennifer Connolly and Donald Pleasance in 1985 and Argento’s ‘Opera’, a sadistic variation of the Phantom of the Opera in 1987.
1989 saw Daria Nicolodi write another screenplay, this time for director Luigi Cozzi, for the film ‘Paganini Horror’ where she also acted on screen along with Donald Pleasance.
In 2000 her daughter, Asia Argento wrote, directed and starred in a semi-autobiographical film, ‘Scarlet Diva’ in which Daria played a variation of herself. The film is also notable for subtly calling out disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein almost twenty years before his downfall.
Daria’s final feature film role came in 2007 and the conclusion of Dario Argento’s Three Mothers Trilogy, ‘Mother of Tears’ starring Asia Argento and Udo Kier.
In the early 1970’s Daria Nicolodi had a relationship with Italian sculptor, Mario Ceroli. They had a daughter named Anna in 1973 who died in an unfortunate accident in 1994.
Though never married, Daria Nicolodi and director Dario Argento had a long relationship and one daughter together, Asia Argento.