Paola came to public attention after winning the 1958 Miss Italia title, which led to her competing in the following year's Miss World contest. The publicity gained from this enabled her to embark on a short-lived, but interesting, acting career in films and television.
Her biographical details are a bit sketchy. Most websites say she was born in Rome in 1940, however IMDb alone gives the unlikely date of May 21st 1931 in Trieste and a further magazine clipping gives her birth place as Rimini - confusing! She is presumed to be still living.
A number of online sources also refer to her having a singing career and make particular reference to a song, "Bimba", being a hit in 1959, however outside the biographies I can find no online references to this recording, so I assume it must be from the film Ciao, ciao, Bambina!, released that year, which I have so far been unable to find. Her Italian Wikipedia page says she retired from the entertainment buisness in 1971, but with no reference to what work she was doing between 63-71.
On the strength of her small legacy of performances, it is a great shame she never got the opportunity to further develop her natural talent for acting.
Since she is not a very well-known face, I would not rule out the possibility that a few uncredited bit parts in films may yet turn up.
- Giallo club - Invito al poliziesco (TV series) - season 2, ep. 6: "Un giorno prima" .... Vivian (credited)
- La regina delle Amazzoni .... Amazon (credited)
- San Remo - La grande sfida .... The aspiring actress (credited)
- Tu che ne dici? .... Girl who appears from Solitario's bed (uncredited)
1961 - Le ambiziose .... Gina (credited)
- Le vergini di Roma .... Aurelia (credited)
- Then There Were Three .... Giovanna (credited)
1962 - Marco Polo .... Fatima (credited)
1963 - Les vierges (Le vergini) .... Mme. Gautier (credited as "Paola Falohi")
- Ciao, ciao bambina! (1959)