by Hal Erickson
biography
Yugoslav-born actress Sylva Koscina was an Italian resident from the age of 12. In films from 1955, Koscina gained international attention for her leading-lady stints in Steve Reeves' first two Hercules films. She went on to appear in so many films in so many roles that it's difficult to "type"her: she was an adventurous acrobat in Judex (1960), a socially conscious nun in The Little Nuns (1962), "herself" in Fellini's Juliet and the Spirits (1965), a lesbian assassin in Deadlier Than the Male (1967) and so on. Retiring from films in 1987, Sylva Koscina returned before the cameras in the year just prior to her death: her last appearance was in the tantalizingly titled Kim Novak is on the Phone (1994).
