# Teresa Ann Savoy
**Teresa Ann Savoy** (18 July 1955 – 9 January 2017) was a British actress who spent her entire screen career in Italy, where she became known for roles in some of the most discussed erotic films of the 1970s, including *Salon Kitty* (1976) and *[Caligula](https://www.edgepedia.org/caligula-film)* (1979).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/departed-filmmakers-we-lost-2017) She was sometimes credited as Therese Ann Savoy and used the nickname Terry.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) • [3](https://www.mymovies.it/persone/teresa-ann-savoy/8101/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1955, Chelsea, London, England, UK[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) |
| Died | 9 January 2017, Milan, Italy, of cancer, aged 61[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) • [4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) |
| Film debut | *Le farò da padre* (Alberto Lattuada, 1974), as Clotilde[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) |
| Signature roles | Margherita in *Salon Kitty* (1976), Mary in *Private Vices, Public Virtues* (1976), Drusilla in *Caligula* (1979)[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) |
| Career span | Active 1974 to 1989, with a single return in *La fabbrica del vapore* (2000)[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) |
| Later recognition | Her original vocal performance was restored in *Caligula: The Ultimate Cut* (2023)[6](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut%20English%20Press%20Kit.pdf) |
## Early life and discovery
Savoy was born in [Chelsea, London](https://www.edgepedia.org/chelsea-london).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) At 16 she ran away from home and traveled to Italy, joining a hippy commune in Terrasini, Sicily, a community also frequented by the journalist Peppino Impastato.[4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) In a later interview she said she had met the Italian photographer Carlo Silvestro on the street only days before, and the two took a train for Italy; she carried her belongings in a paper bag and called her parents from Paris to reassure them.[7](https://www.liberaeva.com/2015/INTERVISTE/TeresaAnnSavoy.htm)
Her entry into film came through photography. She appeared on the cover of the October 1973 issue of the Italian adult magazine *Playmen*, and the director Alberto Lattuada saw the photographs and tracked her down.[4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) • [8](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/evento/in-ricordo-di-teresa-ann-savoy/) She had no acting training and little Italian, but she passed a screen test and was cast.[7](https://www.liberaeva.com/2015/INTERVISTE/TeresaAnnSavoy.htm)
## Film career
**Debut.** Savoy made her film debut in Lattuada's *Le farò da padre* (1974), playing Clotilde, the 15-year-old daughter of a countess, shortly after turning 18 herself.[4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) The film was a commercial success, and Italian newspapers of the time called her "the new Lolita", a label she rejected in interviews, describing herself as pathologically shy.[3](https://www.mymovies.it/persone/teresa-ann-savoy/8101/) • [7](https://www.liberaeva.com/2015/INTERVISTE/TeresaAnnSavoy.htm)
**The 1970s roles.** She then appeared in three of the era's most controversial productions. In [Tinto Brass](https://www.edgepedia.org/tinto-brass)'s *Salon Kitty* (1976) she played Margherita, a prostitute recruited into an SS-run spy brothel who exposes the scheme.[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) • [9](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Salon_Kitty/Review) In Miklós Jancsó's *Private Vices, Public Virtues* (1976), an Italian-Yugoslav coproduction presented at the Cannes Film Festival that year, she played Mary, a hermaphrodite character.[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) • [8](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/evento/in-ricordo-di-teresa-ann-savoy/) Brass then cast her as Drusilla, the emperor's sister, in *Caligula* (1979), replacing Maria Schneider, who had left the production.[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) The film, financed by Penthouse founder [Bob Guccione](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-guccione), became one of the biggest scandals in cinema history.[10](https://www.caligulaultimatecut.com/)
**Television and later work.** From the late 1970s through the 1980s she worked largely in television: the TV movie *La tigre è ancora viva: Sandokan alla riscossa!* directed by Sergio Sollima (1977), the three-part *Poco a poco* (1980), *La Certosa di Parma* (1982), and *Rose* (1989).[4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) She also appeared in *La disubbidienza* (1981), adapted from [Alberto Moravia](https://www.edgepedia.org/alberto-moravia)'s novel, alongside Stefania Sandrelli, and in Jancsó's *The Tyrant's Heart* (1981).[4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) She ended her career in 1989 and made a single comeback in Ettore Pascucci's *La fabbrica del vapore* (2000).[5](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf) • [4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/)
## Death and posthumous recognition
Savoy died of cancer in Milan on 9 January 2017, aged 61, and was survived by her husband and two children.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/) • [4](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/) The British Film Institute's Sight and Sound roll call of 2017 losses described her as a British actor who worked primarily in Italy, starring in some notorious erotic films.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/departed-filmmakers-we-lost-2017)
Her work gained a new audience after her death. In 2023, archivist Thomas Negovan produced *Caligula: The Ultimate Cut*, a new edit of the 1979 film conforming to [Gore Vidal](https://www.edgepedia.org/gore-vidal)'s original script, which premiered as an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023.[10](https://www.caligulaultimatecut.com/) The restoration salvaged and restored Savoy's original vocal performance, which had not been heard in the released version.[6](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut%20English%20Press%20Kit.pdf) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the new cut scored 66 percent, against 18 percent for the 1979 release.[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/therese_ann_savoy)
## References
1. [Teresa Ann Savoy, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0767930/)
2. [The departed: the filmmakers we lost in 2017, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/news/departed-filmmakers-we-lost-2017)
3. [Teresa Ann Savoy biografia, MYmovies.it](https://www.mymovies.it/persone/teresa-ann-savoy/8101/)
4. [Addio a Teresa Ann Savoy, è morta la lolita amata da Tinto Brass, la Repubblica](https://www.repubblica.it/spettacoli/cinema/2017/01/13/news/addio_a-155954865/)
5. [About the Cast, Caligula – The Ultimate Cut press kit, Bossa Nova](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Final%20def%20%20Press%20Kit%20-%20Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut.pdf)
6. [Caligula – The Ultimate Cut English press kit, Bossa Nova](https://bossa-nova.info/actualite/2023/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/ecrans_Caligula_Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut/Caligula%20-%20The%20Ultimate%20Cut%20English%20Press%20Kit.pdf)
7. [Intervista impossibile: Teresa Ann Savoy, LiberaEva Magazine](https://www.liberaeva.com/2015/INTERVISTE/TeresaAnnSavoy.htm)
8. [In ricordo di Teresa Ann Savoy, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia](https://www.fondazionecsc.it/evento/in-ricordo-di-teresa-ann-savoy/)
9. [Salon Kitty/Review, The Grindhouse Cinema Database](https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Salon_Kitty/Review)
10. [Caligula: The Ultimate Cut, official site](https://www.caligulaultimatecut.com/)
11. [Teresa Ann Savoy, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/therese_ann_savoy)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › English actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames S to T*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license