'All-Star' Cast?


I'm surprised that no one has mentioned how 99 Women has a somewhat notable cast.

Maria Schell. Later had small roles in The Odessa File and Superman, although perhaps having the central role (at least the linchpin role) in an exploitation film put a damper on her career before it could blossom.

Herbert Lom. Best known as the long-suffering Chief Inspector Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther series of farces, although he had a long career before and after this film; check him in the film noir Night and the City, for example.

Mercedes McCambridge. Veteran character actress whose (uncredited) role as a gang leader in Orson Welles's noir classic Touch of Evil may have been a precursor for later roles in risque films such as this one; McCambridge later voiced Linda Blair's possessed Regan in The Exorcist in another uncredited role. (And just to close the women-behind-bars loop, Blair later appeared in Chained Heat.)

Luciana Paluzzi. Perhaps best-known to English-speaking audiences as a Bond girl, SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpe in Thunderball; her character was the forerunner for the Famke Janssen character 30 years later in GoldenEye.

Rosalba Neri. Had several bit parts in sword-and-sandal and spaghetti-western films before this one, and subsequently appeared in a number of horror films such as the lead role in Lady Frankenstein alongside Joseph Cotten(!). So, Neri and McCambridge worked separately with the two leads from Citizen Kane.

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"Man becomes the food of the divinity he worships." - Chris Stevens

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I was really disappointed by how small Luciana Paluzzi's screen-time was. Apparently, a different actress originally played her character but the Italian producers added Paluzzi at the last minute so most of the character's scenes were cut out as a result.

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Maria Schell had had a distinguished career as a lead actress in European cinema for the 20 years leading up to 99 WOMEN.

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