May, Leontine

[Johan Melle]

Leontine May in Il trionfo dei dieci gladiatori (1964)

Leontine May was a beautiful and exotic-looking actress who played supporting roles in a handful Italian movies during the mid 1960s.

Her most memorable role was arguably as the seductive villainess Selima in the peplum adventure Il trionfo dei dieci gladiatori (1964). She also appeared in several Eurospy movies - most of them alongside Giorgio Ardisson - but then disappeared from the limelight almost as quickly as she had appeared.

ANICA lists her real name as being Leontina Mariotti, but otherwise there are no other biographical details to be found anywhere, and unlike a lot of other starlets, Leontine doesn't appear to have done any pictorials for mens' magazines or appeared in fotoromanzi etc.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of confusion about Leontine's identity as a result of her being credited in a handful of movies made during 1970-71, but in which she doesn't actually appear. All of these films were co-productions with Spain, Greece or Germany and had few Italian actors in the cast, and it looks as if Leontine's name might have been put in the credits simply for quota reasons so there would be enough Italian actors in the films.

Complicating things even further is the sci-fi film 2+5: Missione Hydra (1966), in which one of the main female roles is played by an actress credited simply as Leontine. ANICA lists this Leontine as being the same as Leontine May, but it is in fact Leontine Snell, who is an entirely different actress. IMDb currently lists Leontine Snel and Leontine May as being the same person, resulting in even more confusion!

Filmography

---

1963

1. Il vecchio testamento .... Wife of the assassin who starts the riot (uncredited)
2. La cieca di Sorrento .... Gloriana (credited)
   
   1964
3. Il trionfo dei dieci gladiatori .... Selima (credited)
   
   1965
4. Agente 3S3: Passaporto per l'inferno .... Woman who hides Walter (credited as "Loni May")
5. Agente Z55: Missione disperata .... Tania (credited)
6. Asso di picche - Operazione controspionaggio .... Contact person (credited)
7. Il ranch degli spietati .... Mrs. Hogg (credited)
   
   1966
8. Agente 3S3: Massacro al sole .... Doña Paquita (credited)
   
   1970
9. Prima ti perdono... poi t'ammazzo (credit only)
10. Quei dannati giorni dell'odio e dell'inferno (credit only)
    
    1971
11. Ore di terrore (credit only)
12. Sei già cadavere Amigo... ti cerca Garringo (credit only)

Leontine is missing

Some movies that Leontine is reported as appearing in, but in which there's no sight of her.

• 2+5: Missione Hydra (1966) - Listed on ANICA and IMDb as playing Luisa, but the role is instead played by Leontine Snell who is credited simply as Leontine.
• Scusi, lei è favorevole o contrario? (1966) - IMDb wrongly credits Leontine with appearing in this film, but it's instead Leontine Snell.
• Goldface il fantastico Superman (1967) - Listed on ANICA and IMDb with no role given. However, Leontine is not credited in either the Italian, English or German versions, and is nowhere to be found anywhere in the film either.

[Johan Melle]

La cieca di Sorrento (1963) credited, as Gloriana . Strangely her name is spelled differently, as Leontyne, on the poster.

[Johan Melle]

Il trionfo dei dieci gladiatori (1964) credited, as Selima. This was pretty much Leontine's showiest role. She doesn't get to do much in the first half of the film, but makes for a pretty memorable and seductive villainess in the second half.

Images upgraded - Nick

[Johan Melle]

Il ranch degli spietati (1965) credited, as Mrs. Hogg. Leontine has a reasonably large role in this little-known western, but is rather too young and beautiful to be convincing as the wife of Giuseppe Addobbati!

[Johan Melle]

Agente 3S3: Passaporto per l'inferno (1965) credited as Loni May, as Woman who hides Walter. Very small role for Leontine in this Eurospy classic as a married woman who helps Giorgio Ardisson to hide from the bad guys and then goes to bed with him.

[Johan Melle]

Agente Z55: Missione disperata (1965) credited, as Tania. Another Eurospy role - this time as the bad guy's girlfriend.

[Johan Melle]

Asso di picche - Operazione controspionaggio (1965) credited, as Contact person. Leontine reunites with Giorgio Ardisson for another Eurospy movie, but despite receiving a prominent "and with" credit, she's only on screen for a few minutes. ANICA and IMDb give her the character name Alice, but I didn't catch her ever being referred to by name in the film itself.

[Johan Melle]

Agente 3S3: Massacro al sole (1966) credited, as Doña Paquita. Leontine appears alongside Giorgio Ardisson yet again - this time in a slightly larger role as a revolutionary leader, and she receives another prominent "and" billing in the credits. Unfortunately, this appears to have been Leontine's final film appearance.

[Johan Melle]

Prima ti perdono... poi t'ammazzo (La diligencia de los condenados) (1970). Four years after her previous film appearance, Leontine's name shows up in the Italian credits of this Spanish-Italian western, and again receives the coveted "and with" credit. And yet she's nowhere to be found in the film. This is a predominantly Spanish production with a mostly Spanish cast, and my hypothesis is that Leontine's name was added to the Italian credits simply to fulfill the quota obligation of Italian actors needed to receive benefits such as government funds or tax concessions etc.

[Johan Melle]

Quei dannati giorni dell'odio e dell'inferno (1970) is another film in which Leontine is credited without actually appearing. Strangely, ANICA lists this simply as an Italian-Spanish co-production, but it was also a co-production with Greece. In fact, this WW2 film is predominantly Greek as the director and the majority of the actors are Greek, but the Italian credits omit Greek director Vasilis Georgiadis and instead credit the direction to Siro Marcellini (under the pseudonym Sean Markson) and list only a couple of Italian and Spanish actors. Again, it would appear that Leontine - and maybe also some of the other actors listed on the Italian prints - have been added purely for quota reasons.