Farewell to Catherine Spaak, refined protagonist of cinema and TV

Elegant and refined Catherine Spaak, who died today in Rome, had just turned 77 – she was born on 3 April 1945 in Boulogne-Billancourt – but after having been one of the most popular figures in our show from the mid-1960s to a few years ago, she had gone missing after she was hit by a cerebral hemorrhage two years ago. Belgian by origin, born into a family rich in prominent artists and politicians (her uncle Paul-Henri has been prime minister several times), Spaak arrived in Italy very young, making herself noticed at just 15 years old in 1960 in ‘Dolci deceptions’ by Alberto Lattuada in the role of a restless teenager who will find himself in many other subsequent films such as ‘Eighteen years in the sun’, ‘Il sorpasso’, ‘La boredom’, ‘The hot life’, ‘La parmigiana’ and ‘La wish matta’. At the age of 18, she marries Fabrizio Capucci, from whom she will have Sabrina, herself a theater actress. The following year she gets the Gold Plate for the David di Donatello. In the Italy of the sixties, Spaak also made a name for herself as a singer, conquering the top of the Hit parade, with some successful singles, driven by her participation in the most famous varieties of the time. In the television musical ‘La vedova allegra’, directed by Antonello Falqui, she meets Johnny Dorelli, whom she will marry in 1972 and with whom she will have a son, Gabriele, before her separation in 1979. In the seventies her film activity thinned out while alongside her television one a journalistic activity, collaborating with Corriere della Sera, Amica and TV Sorrisi e Canzoni. From 1985 to 1988 he conducted the first three editions of Forum within Buona Domenica on Canale 5 but his biggest television success was the talk-show Harem conducted for 15 editions on Rai 3. After the transmission ‘the angel’s dream’ conducted in 2002-2003 on LA7, his presence is found only as a guest in some programs such as’ Dancing with the stars’ or ‘L’isola dei famous’. From 1993 to 2010 she was married to the architect Daniel Rey and from 2013 to 2020 with Vladimiro Tuselli.