Lory Del Santo

Loredana "Lory" Del Santo (born 28 September 1958) is an Italian actress, model and beauty pageant titleholder.

Life and career

Born in Povegliano Veronese, Del Santo started her career as a valletta (presenter's assistant) in the 1975 edition of Festivalbar. In the late-1970s, she got her first film roles, mainly in sexy comedy films, and in 1980 she represented Italy at the Miss Universe competition. In the early-1980s, Del Santo became popular thanks to her participation in successful TV shows such as Antonio Ricci's Drive In and Renzo Arbore's Tagli, ritagli e frattaglie.

Del Santo was a focus of gossip columns, mainly for her relationship with Eric Clapton (who dedicated the song "Lady of Verona" to her). While he was still married to Pattie Boyd, Clapton fathered a son, Conor, who was born on 21 August 1986. Conor died on 20 March 1991, at the age of four and a half, when he fell out of an open bedroom window on the 53rd floor of a Manhattan apartment building. The death of their son was the inspiration for Clapton's songs, "Tears in Heaven" and "Circus".

Starting from early 2000s, Del Santo has taken part in several Italian reality shows, winning the third season of L'isola dei famosi. In 2006, she wrote an autobiography, Piacere è una sfida.