Centrefold Venus of the Month 5 : October - Marilu Tolo

Marilu without the staples

From forty years ago we present Italian centrefold Marilu Tolo. Originally a fashion model (she is 5'9") she then went into acting, initially in TV as a teenager.

Many centrefold models have used their appearance in a magazine to try to launch a film career (usually unsuccessfully) but Marilu had already made 20 films in Italy when she appeared in the October 1969 Penthouse.

Marilu was pushed off the cover by the Pet of the Year, Evelyn Treacher

But she made up for it with many other covers

She only appeared as Pet of the Month in the UK edition, not the US edition, as at this stage the American magazine's Pets had not been synchronised with the UK edition, as they were later.

Marilu was born in Rome on 16th January 1944 which would have made her 25 when she posed for Penthouse and, therefore, one of the older Pets to date.

She made her first film when she was sixteen and continued to have a busy career appearing in around 70 films. She was discovered and signed by Carlo Ponti but later cancelled her contract with him as she wanted more challenging roles.

Fortunately for us many of these involved having to take her clothes off. These were mainly Italian and French productions but she did appear in a number of English language films.

Flashing her lovely Latin bush in one of her many artistic films

She appeared in a tiny part as a "nightclub wrestler" in Terence (Thunderball) Young's little known Poppies are Also Flowers (1965) which had an amazingly diverse cast which included: Trevor Howard, Rita Hayworth, Angie Dickinson, Yul Brynner, Harold (Oddjob) Sakata, Marcello Mastroianni, Omar Sharif, Jack Hawkins and Princess Grace of Monaco playing herself! This bizarre anti-drugs film was financed by the United Nations!

Her next part in an American production was in the even more bizarre film Candy (1969). In fact Candy is one of the most bizarre films of the sixties. It is an update of Voltaire’s Candide in which Marilu plays the Mexican, biker sister of Ringo Starr (also playing a Mexican with possibly the worst foreign accent ever heard in the history of the cinema!). The film also stars Charles Aznavour as a juggling, humpback art thief, Marlon Brando as an Indian Guru, Richard Burton as a beat poet, Sugar Ray Robinson as a chauffeur, James Coburn as a Spanish brain surgeon and Walter Matthau as a paratrooper!


Her next English language film was Romance of a Horse Thief 1971) also with Yul Brynner.

With Richard Burton in Bluebeard

The following year she appeared in Bluebeard (1972), starring Richard Burton, where she had a much bigger role and co-starred with Raquel Welch and Virna Lisi (of How to Murder your Wife fame).

Her next film would be Themroc (1973); famous for having no intelligible dialogue and also being the first of Channel 4's notorious "Red Triangle" films. The theory being that the red triangle on display would be a warning to those of a sensitive nature and not, of course, a conveniently badged way to build ratings for obscure but naughty foreign films.

Marilu's next major role in a US film was for the "it's not really about Aristotle Onassis" film The Greek Tycoon (1978).

In 1979 she even appeared in an episode of Charlie's Angels. She did a screen test for the part of Ursa, one of the three villains in Superman 2 (1980) which was eventually won by Sara Douglas who delivered a memorable performance in the role.

Over the next few years she made another half dozen or so films and appeared in the TV mini-series The Last Days of Pompeii (1984) which Agent Triple P remembers watching and enjoying even though it was dreadful!



She hasn't appeared in anything since 1985 but we are happy to present her in all her 35-22-36 glory here.

An older Marilu shows she can still do naughty