Marina Hedman

Bellis Marina Hedman Bellis (professionally known as Marina Hedman) is a Swedish actress whose career spans both mainstream and adult cinema. Originating from Gothenburg, Sweden, she began her professional life as a model before relocating to Italy in the mid-1960s after marrying Italian journalist Paolo Frajese. Transitioning into acting, Hedman made her debut with an uncredited role in Lucio Fulci's 1976 comedy La pretora. That same year, she appeared briefly in the erotic film Emanuelle in America, marking her first explicit scene. Over the following years, she built a diverse filmography, including roles in notable Italian productions such as Federico Fellini's City of Women and Dino Risi's Primo Amore. Hedman rose to particular prominence in the late 1970s as one of the pioneering female figures in Italian adult cinema, most famously starring in Joe D'Amato's Images in a Convent, a film noted for its provocative content and public impact. Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, she balanced supporting roles in mainstream films like First Love and Fantozzi Still Suffers with leading roles in erotic features, often credited under various stage names including Marina Lotar, Marina Frajese, and Marina Lothar. By the mid-1980s, Hedman headlined several adult film titles under her own name and notably co-starred with John Holmes in The Devil in Mr. Holmes (1987), before gradually stepping back from screen appearances in the early 1990s. Her career is distinguished by her successful crossover between adult and mainstream genres during a period when such transitions were rare, thereby expanding the scope of female agency on screen and securing her place as a significant figure in Italian cinema history.