Amanda Lear Nude

There aren’t enough words available to properly biograph Amanda Lear here on Mr. Skin—the rumors alone about this mysterious woman could fill a book, and then some. Her place of birth is either Hong Kong, Hanoi, or Transylvania. There was great speculation on whether she was born a man or a woman, a rumor she encouraged at various points, but also sought to dismiss when she posed naked for Playboy. She’s been a star in Italy, Germany, and France, and even done films in the US, like Dallas Buyers Club (2013) with Matthew McConaughey. In France, she went bare-breasted for her role as Françoise in Une femme pour moi (1993). The people Amanda has known are big in name and fame. She had a decades-long friendship with noted painter Salvador Dalí, was friends (or lovers? Rumors!) with Rolling Stone guitarist Brian Jones, David Bowie, and Bryan Ferry, who put her on the cover of the “For Your Pleasure” album by Roxy Music. In addition to acting and modeling, Amanda was also a performer of songs—rather than singing, she would use her gravelly voice to seductively speak the words in a melodic fashion. Her act was a hit in France, and, as Amanda herself once said, “In Italy I’m big because they’re all so sex-obsessed. In Germany I succeeded because they’ve been waiting for someone like Marlene Deitrich to come along ever since the war.” To further add to her mystery, in 2000, her home in France burned down while she was out of the country, her husband perishing in the fire; more rumors were created. Amanda has kept up her acting, though, and played Helena in the the French TV series Camping Paradis in 2021. Such a good story! (Hers, not the Camping thing.)