ROME - Laura Antonelli, an Italian ’70s film star and icon, has died of a heart attack aged 73 in her Ladispoli home, after living a life of fame and misfortune. Her death sadly reflects the isolation to which she succumbed, with her body only being found when a cleaner came to her house Monday morning.

  Antonelli was born in Pola, in Istria (now Croatia), and left for Rome at an early age to find her fortune and stardom. When she was 25, she had her first film debut with Le sedicenni, and became immensely popular for her irresistible sex appeal. From then on, she appeared in over 40 films between the 1960s and 1990s, winning popularity first for her erotic movies and then in auteur pictures.

  She won the most success and is best known for the seventies film “Malizia”, directed by Salvatore Sameri, where she played a seducively beautiful housekeeper who becomes the object of the affections of a widower and his three sons. The film brought in six billion lire at the box office, and Antonelli won the award of Best Actress in the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Award, the Nastro d'Argento. She then went on to star in films such as “Trappolo per un lupo”,“Mio dio, come sono caduta in basso” by Luigi Comencini and “Divina creatura” by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi.

  Culture Minister Dario Franceschini has mourned her passing, describing her as “an actress of rare beauty and great talent” and remembers “her many successful roles that in the course of her rich career have won important recognitions”.

  Jean-Paul Belmondo, a French actor with whom she had a riddled relationship over the course of nine years, has announced that: “it is with great sadness that I have heard about Laura Anontelli’s death. Laura was above all adorable company and she had an exceptional charm. I have only marvellous memories of her”.

  After twenty years of stardom, Antonelli’s life took a melancholic turn when in 1991 the police discovered cocaine in her Cerverteri villa. She was became embroiled in a long battle to clear her name of convicted drug offences; her conviction for drug possession and dealing was only eventually overturned by the Italian Court of Appeals in 2006.

  The conviction took an unmeasurable toll on the actress’ life, leading a life of angst and sadness during and following the episode, and subsequently she lived the last years of her life in almost complete isolation. She was a patient several times at the mental health centre of Civitavecchia, following the legal battle. She also subjected herself to several beauty treatments, which left her disfigured.

  Actor Lino Banfi, one of her few public supporters that were left in the industry, launched a campaign in June 2010, appealing to the Berlusconi government to help support the actress in the light of her grave financial problems. However, Antonelli made it clear that she would rather not be helped by anyone, and only wanted to forgotten.

  She died alone after having long since left the public scene, Banfi stating: "her death saddens me enormously and I am still anguished that I didn't help her enough. An actress that beautiful and talented shouldn't have ended like this.”

  Antonelli will be buried in Ladispoli, most likely after the arrival of her brother Claudio from Canada on Friday, said Roberto Ussia, Ladispoli's councillor for social services.