'' (1971) Before appearing in
The Godfather in 1972, Stefanelli had small supporting roles in several Italian films directed by renowned Italian directors:
La moglie giapponese (
The Japanese Wife) by
Gian Luigi Polidoro,
Non commettere atti impuri (
Do Not Commit Adultery) by
Giulio Petroni,
Homo Eroticus by
Marco Vicario, and
In nome del popolo italiano (
In the Name of the Italian People) by
Dino Risi. In 1972, she appeared in the German television film
Die Sonne angreifen (
To Attack the Sun) by
Peter Lilienthal. The same year, Stefanelli landed her breakout role as the innocent
Apollonia Vitelli-Corleone, the beautiful but doomed first wife of
Michael Corleone (
Al Pacino) in the American
crime film The Godfather, directed by
Francis Ford Coppola. Her character was featured in the 1977 miniseries
The Godfather: A Novel for Television. In 1973, she posed nude in the Italian edition of
Playboy, but later refused a career in Hollywood, in order to avoid being
typecast and required to do nudity. She explained during an interview in 1997 about the offers of Hollywood filmmakers: "They wanted nothing more than to expose my body... I refused so much work." She continued her career in Italy. In 1973, she filmed one picture in Spanish,
El mejor alcalde, el rey (
The Best Mayor, the King), directed by
Rafael Gil. The following year, Stefanelli appeared in the miniseries
Moses the Lawgiver, starring
Burt Lancaster,
Anthony Quayle and
Ingrid Thulin. She would later have roles in many Italian films, including
Peccati in famiglia (
Scandal in the Family), an erotic drama she starred in opposite her husband
Michele Placido.
Eriprando Visconti,
Walerian Borowczyk,
Franco Castellano,
Giuseppe Moccia and
Mario Caiano are some of the directors she worked with. Stefanelli took a break from acting in the mid-1970s following her marriage and the birth of her daughter,
Violante Placido, in 1976. She returned in the early 1980s to appear in
Francesco Rosi's
Tre fratelli (
Three Brothers). After appearing in Michele Placido's film
Le amiche del cuore (
Close Friends), Stefanelli ended her acting career in 1992, just one year before her daughter began her own acting career. After a hoax about her death surfaced online in 2007, Stefanelli stated that if a film project came along, she might participate in it. "But after my death, I don't know," she joked. Having quit her acting career in 1992, Stefanelli owned and operated a fashion store in
Rome called Simo Bloom, where she designed purses and shoes. == Filmography ==