Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese, born Marcella Arrighi[1] (9 March 1944 – 12 February 2025) and known professionally as Niké Arrighi, was a French visual artist and actress, known for roles in several European horror and art house films in the 1960s and 1970s in addition to work in television.
Early life
Daughter of Italian diplomat and former journalist Count Ernesto Arrighi and Australian prima ballerina and model Eleanora ("Nellie") Douglas Cox, daughter of grazier Douglas Cox, Arrighi was raised in the Vaucluse neighborhood of Sydney, Australia. Her family moved there because her father was the Italian consul. He died when she was young.[2]
Career
Arrighi began her professional career as a fashion model in Paris, then moved to London, where she studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1967 she played the parts of Corinne in The Champions ('Reply Box No.66') and a gypsy girl in The Prisoner ('Many Happy Returns'). After a ten-year career in film and television she retired in the early 1970s to return to art, which she had studied as a young woman. Specializing in copperplate etching and oil painting,[3][unreliable source?][4] she won First Prize for Graphic Art at the 1976 Hong Kong Art Biennial.
Personal life and death
In 1977 she married Prince Paolo Borghese, eldest son of the famed Junio Valerio Borghese. They lived in Hong Kong, where he was an engineer, before moving in 1984 to Italy, where she still resided at Palazzo Borghese in Artena until her death.[2] Her husband died in 1999.[5] They had a daughter, Flavia.
Arrighi died on 12 February 2025 in Rome, at the age of 80.[6] Her sister is Luciana Arrighi.[2]
Filmography
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1967 | Many Happy Returns | Gypsy Girl | Episode: The Prisoner |
1967 | The Gentle Libertine | Aimee / Mitsou | |
1968 | Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River | Portuguese Waitress | |
1968 | The Devil Rides Out | Tanith Carlisle | (AKA The Devil's Bride) |
1969 | Women in Love | Contessa | |
1971 | Countess Dracula | Gypsy Girl | |
1971 | Bubù | ||
1971 | Sunday Bloody Sunday | Party Guest #5 | |
1971 | A Season in Hell | ||
1972 | Trois milliards sans ascenseur | Minouche | |
1973 | Day for Night | Odile, la maquilleuse | |
1973 | The Last Train | Monique Maroyeur | |
1974 | The Perfume of the Lady in Black | Orchidea | |
1974 | Stavisky | Edith Boréal | (final film role) |
References
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald, 21 October 2016
- ^ a b c Cilento, Jeanne-Marie (22 September 2014). "10 Question Column: Artist Princess Niké Arrighi Borghese". Design and Art Magazine. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0037316/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm IMDB [user-generated source]
- ^ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/5963%7C117610/Nike-Arrighi/filmography.html TCM bio
- ^ Shetty, Deepika (1 October 2014). "Glamour girl turned artist". Asia One Woman. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd . The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 3 October 2014. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ "The Unmutual Website - The Prisoner Patrick McGoohan Portmeirion Home Page". theunmutual.co.uk. Retrieved 13 February 2025.
External links
- Niké Arrighi at IMDb
- Niké Arrighi discography at Discogs
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