Lisa Gastoni, a diminutive Irish-Italian actress, began her acting career in Britain in 1948 after her family settled there. Initially, she had aspirations to become an architect, but she instead pursued a career in modeling and acting, making her screen debut in 1954.
She primarily appeared in B-movies, often under contract with British Lion, with notable roles in films such as The Baby and the Battleship (1956),Three Men in a Boat (1956),Second Fiddle (1957),Menace in the Night (1957),Thunder Over Tangier (1957),and Prescription for Murder (1958). Gastoni also guest-starred in two episodes of ITV's Danger Man (1960).
In the early 1960s, she was briefly married to a physics professor. Following a second marriage to a Greek actor in 1961, Gastoni returned to Italy, where she was cast in higher-profile roles, including the legendary pirate Mary Read in Queen of the Seas (1961).
Gastoni's career continued to evolve, and she began to shed her "good girl" image to portray villainous characters, such as Milady de Winter in The Four Musketeers (1964),Lucrezia Borgia in L'uomo che ride (1966),and the wife of gangster Luciano Luttring in Wake Up and Die (1966). Her performance in Wake Up and Die earned her a Best Actress Silver Ribbon.
In the late 1960s, Gastoni received a Golden Plate at the David di Donatello Awards for her role in the drama Come Play with Me (1968). Throughout the 1970s, she continued to receive critical acclaim for her performances in films such as Amore amaro (1974),Submission (1976),and The Last 4 Days (1974).
Lisa Gastoni's career slowed down in the 1980s, but she made a comeback in the 2000s, appearing in the drama Sacred Heart (2005),for which she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the David di Donatello Awards.
