Niké Arrighi obit

NIKE ARRIGHI 1944-2025 

She was not on the list.

TUW is sad to learn that actress and artist Nike Arrighi, who fans of 'The Prisoner' will recognise as the Gypsy Girl encountered by Number Six in 'Many Happy Returns' passed away on 12th February aged 80.

A wonderful actress who also appeared in other ITC titles such as 'The Saint' and 'The Champions', she will also be fondly remembered for some of her horror film roles, which included classics such as 'Countess Dracula' and 'The Devil Rides Out'.

Nike later retired from acting in the 1970s and married a Prince, focusing her later years on her art.

She was known for roles in several European horror and art house films in the 1960s and 1970s in addition to work in television.

Daughter of Italian diplomat and former journalist Count Ernesto Arrighi and Australian prima ballerina and model Eleanora ("Nellie") Douglas Cox, daughter of grazier Douglas Cox, Arrighi was raised in the Vaucluse neighborhood of Sydney, Australia. Her family moved there because her father was the Italian consul. He died when she was young.

Arrighi began her professional career as a fashion model in Paris, then moved to London, where she studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1967 she played the parts of Corinne in The Champions ('Reply Box No.66') and a gypsy girl in The Prisoner ('Many Happy Returns'). After a ten-year career in film and television she retired in the early 1970s to return to art, which she had studied as a young woman. Specializing in copperplate etching and oil painting, she won First Prize for Graphic Art at the 1976 Hong Kong Art Biennial.

In 1977 she married Prince Paolo Borghese, eldest son of the famed Junio Valerio Borghese. They lived in Hong Kong, where he was an engineer, before moving in 1984 to Italy, where she still resided at Palazzo Borghese in Artena until her death. Her husband died in 1999. They had a daughter, Flavia.

Her sister is Luciana Arrighi.

 

Actress

Jean-Paul Belmondo in Stavisky (1974)

Stavisky

6.5

Edith Boréal

1974

 

Mimsy Farmer in The Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974)

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

6.5

Orchidea

1974

 

Romy Schneider and Jean-Louis Trintignant in The Last Train (1973)

The Last Train

6.9

Monique Maroyeur

1973

 

Day for Night (1973)

Day for Night

8.0

Odile, la maquilleuse

1973

 

Trois milliards sans ascenseur (1972)

Trois milliards sans ascenseur

5.4

Minouche

1972

 

A Season in Hell (1971)

A Season in Hell

6.5

1971

 

Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed in The Devils (1971)

The Devils

7.7

Nun (uncredited)

1971

 

Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)

Sunday Bloody Sunday

7.0

Party Guest (as Nikki Arrighi)

1971

 

Ottavia Piccolo in Bubù (1971)

Bubù

6.3

1971

 

Ingrid Pitt in Countess Dracula (1971)

Countess Dracula

5.9

Gypsy Girl

1971

 

Women in Love (1969)

Women in Love

7.1

Contessa

1969

 

It Takes a Thief (1968)

It Takes a Thief

7.5

TV Series

Duchess (as Niké Arrighi)

1969

1 episode

 

Richard Beckinsale, Freddie Fletcher, Arthur Lowe, Jack Rosenthal, and Paula Wilcox in ITV Playhouse (1967)

ITV Playhouse

7.2

TV Series

Daniela

1969

1 episode

 

Merry-Go-Round

TV Series

Princess Rosalita

1969

3 episodes

 

Alexandra Bastedo, Stuart Damon, and William Gaunt in The Champions (1968)

The Champions

7.5

TV Series

Corinne

1968

1 episode

 

Crime Buster (1968)

Crime Buster

TV Series

Denise

1968

1 episode

 

Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River (1968)

Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River

4.7

Portuguese Waitress

1968

 

The Devil Rides Out (1968)

The Devil Rides Out

6.9

Tanith Carlisle (as Niké Arrighi)

1968

 

Theatre 625 (1964)

Theatre 625

7.4

TV Series

Tania

Adela

1966–1968

2 episodes

 

Man in a Suitcase (1967)

Man in a Suitcase

7.6

TV Series

Ivanna

Angela Cunliffe (as Niké Arrighi)

1968

2 episodes

 

The Gentle Libertine

Aimee

Mitsou

1967

 

The Prisoner (1967)

The Prisoner

8.5

TV Series

Gypsy Girl

1967

1 episode

 

Dinsdale Landen in Mickey Dunne (1967)

Mickey Dunne

7.9

TV Series

Teresa Lombardi

1967

1 episode

 

William Lucas and Neil McCallum in Vendetta (1966)

Vendetta

8.0

TV Series

Simonetta Callini

1967

1 episode

 

Roger Moore in The Saint (1962)

The Saint

7.5

TV Series

Serafino Zambini

1966

1 episode

 

Ransom for a Pretty Girl

TV Mini Series

Princess Nadia

1966

6 episodes

 

Out of the Unknown (1965)

Out of the Unknown

7.5

TV Series

Airship Attendant (as Niké Arrighi)

1966

1 episode

 

Self

One + One (1968)

One + One

6.2

1968

 

Archive Footage

The World of Hammer (1990)

The World of Hammer

6.6

TV Series

Fortune Telling Gypsy Girl (archive footage)

1994

1 episode