- Born
- Birth nameLaurette Marcia Gemser
- Height5′ 7″ (1.70 m)
- Lovely, slender, and sensual raven-haired knockout Laurette Marcia Gemser was born on October 5, 1950 in Java, Indonesia. In 1955 Gemser left Indonesia at age four and moved with her parents to the Netherlands. Laura grew up in the Dutch city of Utrecht and attended Mulo Regentesseschool high school. She studied fashion design at the Artibus Art School in Utrecht. Gemser first gained public recognition with her nude modeling in various men's magazines in Belgium and the Netherlands. The exotic dark-haired beauty moved to Italy in the mid-1970's and made her film debut as Janine in the obscure Amore libero - Free Love (1974). However, it was Laura's small, but memorable role as a masseuse in Emmanuelle II (1975) that really launched her career in racy soft-core exploitation fare. Gemser achieved her greatest enduring international cult popularity with her incredibly erotic and uninhibited portrayals of the titular hedonistic and sexually adventurous globe-trotting photojournalist in the steamy "Black Emanuelle" series that were often directed by the notorious Joe D'Amato and frequently co-starred Gemser's real-life actor husband Gabriele Tinti. Other notable parts include charismatic cult leader the Divine One in Divine Emanuelle (1981), evil sorceress Indun in Ator: The Fighting Eagle (1982), and compassionate mutant telepath Lilith in Endgame - Bronx lotta finale (1983). Outside of acting, Laura also worked on a handful of movies as a costume designer. Gemser quit the motion picture business in the early 1990's and still lives in Italy.- IMDb Mini Biography By: woodyanders
- SpouseGabriele Tinti(1976 - November 12, 1991) (his death)
- Playing a character named "Emanuelle" in a loose series of 12 films.
- Often worked with producer-director Joe D'Amato and actor Gabriele Tinti, her real-life husband.
- During filming for Black Emanuelle (1975), she fell in love with her co-star Gabriele Tinti, despite him being nearly two decades her senior. Their relationship was her primary reason for becoming an Italian citizen, and they were married in New York City a year later. His death in 1991 prompted Gemser to leave the film business soon afterwards.
- After more than a decade a sex symbol, Gemser turned to costume design for mainstream film. Ms. Gemser provided costume design and coordination for the 1990 film Troll 2.
- One popular misconception about Laura Gemser often reported in articles about the actress is that she was born Dutch, which is not true. This came from writers' confusion between Laura Gemser (star of the "Emanuelle nera" films) and Dutch-born actress Sylvia Kristel (star of the film Emmanuelle (1974)) Laura Gemser was born in Java, Indonesia.
- Spoke English onscreen in all of her films (although her voice was usually dubbed over by someone else).
- At one point, she became so closely-associated with her character "Black Emanuelle" that she was billed on-screen as "Emanuelle", or an unrelated film would have it's title changed to incorporate the name "Emanuelle" because she was appearing in it.
- When [Black Emanuelle (1975)] came out, there was a big poster with me on it, and I was naked [...]. And there was one day out, and they censored it. [...] They took it off, and so... people are curious to see now. [...] And it's only twenty years ago, or maybe. So nowadays, you see, everywhere, you see, I mean, even in TV, you see everything. [...] In those days, it was rather [scandalous].
- It's hard to make love with a [woman]. I mean, it's... it's really hard. But, you know, you get paid for it, so you do it. You just... do it!
- I saw [Black Emanuelle (1975)] because I was curious. But then... but then, I felt bad, because [...] I refused a lot of scenes. They put a stand-in [into those scenes], and I didn't know. So when I saw the movie, [...] I rather felt bad.
- [on her Emanuelle series] It seemed like [...] one long, long movie that didn't end. You know, it was always... the same story, the same things happen, and... I just think it's one [...] big movie.
- Any excuse is good to... get naked.
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