Moira Orfei

Italian actress and television personality considered the queen of the Italian circus. Raised in a family who owned the circus company Circus Orfei, Moira became the symbol of circus in Italy and attained international fame. The Circus Moira Orfei itself was founded in 1960. She was photographed in various scenes as a rider, trapeze artist, acrobat, tamer of elephants and trainer of doves.

Her excessively garish image mirrors her eccentric and exuberant personality. Her face was an effigy of unchanging characteristics: heavy make-up with eyes coated with eyeliner, bright lipstick, an accentuated mole above the lip, and hair tied in a turban. She also became a film actress, acting in over forty films, from comedies to sword and sandal films (among which were many Italian crime films).

Her parents were Riccardo Orfei and Violetta Arata. She married Walter Nones and they had two children Stefano Orfei and Lara Orfei. On 4 August 2006 Moira Orfei suffered an ischemic stroke during a show in Gioiosa Ionica. The artist was still under medical care when she died on 15 November 2015 in Brescia, Italy.