If you remember those silly, badly-dubbed sandal-and-spear spectacles that became the rage of Italian cinema during the late 1950s and early 1960s, then you will certainly recall this torrid brunet bombshell. Invariably cast as the ambitiously evil queen or undulating dancer/temptress whose soul mission was to entrance the film's resident muscleman, Chelo Alonso's "peplum princess" prime would be surprisingly brief but her memorable moves and over-the-top histrionics were reason enough to place her on the international sex symbol pedestal and earn her cult status. While her acting contributions would certainly attract no awards, she did earn the honor of becoming "Italian Cinema's Female Discovery" early in the game.
The darkly stunning Alonso was born Isabella Garcia in Central Lugareño, Camagüey, Cuba, on April 10, 1933, to a Cuban father and Mexican mother. Attracted to dancing, she began performing seriously in Havana at age 17, and soon earned notoriety at Cuba's National Theatre for her sensual, exotic style. She took her trade to Paris in 1957 and became the toast of the Folies Bergère as an up-and-coming Josephine Baker. Billed as the "Cuban H-Bomb", she combined her native Afro-Cuban rhythms with a seductive belly-dancing style that encouraged wolf whistles wherever she toured, which would eventually include Puerto Rico, Haiti and even the United States.
It wasn't long before she slithered her way into Neopolitan action films. Bodybuilder Steve Reeves had just muscled his way into films with his mythological hero Hercules and a new genre was born, with the exotic Chelo soon proving herself a fiery fit. She first attracted attention with the film Sous le signe de Rome (1959) [Sign of the Gladiator] where her erotically-charged dance segment stole the thunder right from under the movie's top-billed sex star, Swedish siren Anita Ekberg.
From there Chelo, with her volcanic temperament, highly distinctive cheekbones and wild mane of dark hair, went on to charm a number of "ab"normally fit muscleman co-stars, including Reeves, Gordon Mitchell and Mark Forest in such obviously-titled adventure films as La vengeance du Sarrasin (1959); La terreur des barbares (1959); Le géant de la vallée des rois (1960); La terreur du masque rouge (1960); La reine des barbares (1960); and Capitaine Morgan (1960). Following her filming of Quattro notti con Alba (1962), Chelo abandoned the film scene and focused briefly on Italian TV.
By this time she had already met production manager Aldo Pomilia while both were working on the "Morgan the Pirate" film in 1960. They married a year later and she later bore him son Aldino. Any return to film after this period was minor and/or insignifant. This included an unbilled mute role in Clint Eastwood's star-making "spaghetti western" Le bon, la brute et le truand (1966). Her last film appearance was in Un tueur nommé Luke (1969)...and then she vanished.
After the death of her husband in 1986, Alonso moved to Tuscany, Italy, where she found several interests to keep her busy, including breeding cats and operating a hotel/restaurant.
