Xenia Monty
Birth name Gabriella Montagna
Xénia Monty (born Gabriella Montagna in Italy) was an Italian vedette and actress who ventured into the Argentine theatre and the Folies Bergére in Paris.
Career
Her beginnings in France as a leading figure go back to the Folies Bergère theatre, where she showed her great gifts for dancing and seduction. She first conquered Hollywood and then, one by one, the countries of South America. There, she worked with other figures such as Christine Niky, May Avril and Claude Daltys. The Swan Song, The Kittens of Paris, The Fountain of Lovers, Carnival in the Tropics, The Golden Bridge and The Hell of Women were the scenes most acclaimed by the public.
In France, she excelled in the films Une Femme par Jour as Brigitte (1949), Maya (1949), Boîte de nuit as Régine (1951), and Nuits de Paris as Nicole (1951).
She then went to the Teatro Opera in Chile, which she visited three times. She also worked in the historic Bim-Bam-Bum show at Caupolicán, the first vedette to do a topless. One night, she was feted in the dressing rooms by the theatre owner, the well-remembered Buddy Day, along with all the local vedettes, the most notable actors and fashion journalists, including Marcos Correa. In addition to Xenia, other well-known vedettes passed through Bim Bam Bum, such as Nélida Lobato, Susana Giménez, Ethel Rojo, Nancy Lezica and Moria Casán.
In Argentina, she shone at the Tabarís Theater, a night venue that functioned as a cabaret in the 1930s and 1940s and later as a revue and varieté theatre. Together with figures such as Sara Rivero and Ada Kristel.3 At the Maipo Theater, she was the first star to do a total nude and in 1955, she did the work Esta si que es una bomba with Dringue Farias, Carlos Castro, Vicente Rubino, Juan Carlos Mareco and Maria Esther Gamas. At Teatro El Nacional, she shone with figures such as Susana Brunetti, Zulma Faiad, Nélida Lobato, Amelita Vargas, Blanquita Amaro, Beba Bidart and Nélida Roca. In 1963, she did the play Irma la Dulce with Claudia Madero, José María Vilches, Marcos Zucker, Osvaldo Terranova and Jorge Luz. In 1972, César Amadori chose her to be part of Gran Despiplume en el Maipo’s cast at the Teatro Maipo with N. Lobato, Jorge Porcel, Juan Carlos Altavista and Norman Brisky. In theatre, she also worked with Leotina Lais, Lola Montez and Miguel de Molina. She also made the musical revue Tiburón, along with Perla Cristal and Dolly Bioletti. She also animated Las Chicas de Pepe Antártico at Bim Bam Bum.
She was also one of the first vedettes to travel to Uruguay.
In 1955, she worked under the direction of Luis César Amadori in the film Amor Prohibido together with great actors from the Argentine national scene, such as Zully Moreno, Jorge Mistral, Santiago Gómez Cou, Susana Campos, Elsa del Campillo and Beatriz Taibo.
