Eufemia "Femi" Benussi (born 4 March 1945) is a Croatian-Italian retired actress. She appeared in 82 films, between 1965 and 1983, mainly in sex comedies and genre films.
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Early life
Benussi was born to Istrian Italian parents in Rovigno (present-day Rovinj, Croatia) which was then governed as part of the short-lived Italian Social Republic. She was educated in Pula and debuted on stage at the Teatro del Popolo of Rijeka.
At age 19, she declined a starring role in a play directed by Fadil Hadžić in order to go to Rome, where she was discovered by director Pasquale Festa Campanile.
Career
Benussi played the leading role in the 1965 horror film Bloody Pit of Horror, the stage name Femy Martin. The following year, she was cast by Pier Paolo Pasolini in a major role in the comedy The Hawks and the Sparrows.
Benussi was mainly active in genre films, and in the 70s she became a star of the commedia sexy all'italiana subgenre. Dissatisfied with the quality of roles she was offered, she retired from acting in the early 1980s.
After retiring, Benussi returned to live in her native Yugoslavia, but fled as a refugee during the Croatian War of Independence, and subsequently re-settled in Rome. According to Benussi, her family was targeted and her dog killed after she denounced the war crimes taking places.
