Born
and educated in Copenhagen, Brigitte Neilsen began modeling
as a teenager after literally being "spotted on the
street" because of her striking height, red hair and
amazing bone structure. For three years she traveled
throughout Europe, posing for fashion photographers and
displaying new lines of clothing in some of the
continent’s most important fashion shows. Soon, however,
Nielsen tired of the strenuous routine and constant
competition, and began searching for new challenges. On a
brief trip to Milan between auditions for television roles,
she received a telephone call from Dino De Laurentiis who
had seen her on the cover of Photo Magazine in a picture by
Marco Emili. De Laurentiis invited her to audition in Rome
for the title role in his fantasy/adventure film co-starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Red
Sonja. Over the following month, Neilsen trained for her
film debut role with swords and on horseback. Once filming
had begun, she realized that her experiences as a model had
prepared her for the rigorous filmmaking process finding
that acting is very similar to modeling.
Hoping to appear in one of Sylvester
Stallone’s upcoming blockbusters, she sent her photo to him, and
after a meeting was arranged between them, they were soon
seen everywhere together.
With Rocky IV about to go
into production, Stallone added an extra role for his
girlfriend, writing the part of the sexy Soviet especially for
Brigitte. While the role of Ludmilla Drago didn't seem to require much
working out, that didn’t stop Nielsen from
putting in as many hours in training as Sly did. In fact, she and Stallone spent almost all of their
off-camera time lifting weights, doing sit-ups and going
through other rigorous exercises in preparation for Rocky
IV.
She and the actor/director started
pumping iron at breakfast, continued after lunch and then
kept up the pace into the night. "With Sylvester,"
she said at the time, "it’s get up early, you start on the
Nautilus machines. Then sit-ups. Maybe several hours a
day."
The couple married in December,
1985, just a month after Rocky IV's premiere.
They had known each other a mere six months. They
were divorced nearly two years later, finally ending a truly
rocky marriage torn apart by scandal after scandal.
Nielsen continued film work
throughout the 1990's, appearing in such films as
976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor (1991), Galaxis
(1995) with Sam Raimi, Compelling Evidence (1995) She's
Too Tall (1998) with Corey Feldman and George Hamilton,
and Doomsdayer (2000). In recent years
she became interested in the music world, performing a duet
with the drag-queen Rupaul entitled, "You're no
lady" (2002).
Today, Brigitte
lives in Switzerland with her current husband and four
children.
