Moira Orfei
From Circopedia
Circus Owner, Performer, Actress
By Raffaele De Ritis
Moira Orfei (born Miranda Orfei in 1931) is an Italian pop culture’s icon: She bears the most famous circus name in that country (as well as in the ex-Yugoslavia territory), and can compete in fame with any Italian music or movie legend. She is probably the only circus owner in the world that, for forty years, has been able to advertise her circus with posters showing just her headshot with the single word, “Moira.” Much of her reputation is due to her long movie career during the golden age of Italian cinema. But it is also due in no small part to the quality of her circus.
The daughter of Riccardo Orfei, she trained into all basic circus disciplines in her family’s circus. By 1960, she began an amazing movie career without ever leaving the circus; she appeared in about 40 pictures, including some popular Italian comedies and a host of internationally successful Italian productions based on mythological themes, such as the Hercules, Atlas, and Samson series.
In 1961, she married the acrobat Walter Nones. One year later they formed a company together with the Austrian Swoboda sisters (of the Medrano-Swoboda circus), and they began a long career as circus owners and directors. In 1963, the Orfeis and the Swobodas parted ways, and Moira and Walter created their own Circo Moira Orfei. Their circus was quickly noticed for the elegance of both its productions and its infrastructures, and above all, for the high quality of its acts.
In 1969 they launched the monumental Circus on Ice, easily the most sophisticated version ever of any circus-on-ice show; it had both a circus ring and a skating rink, and the show included elaborate set changes, a huge variety of costumes, and an international cast of circus and variety megastars. During that period, Moira’s elephant presentations made her a circus legend, and Walter became an excellent lion trainer.
The circus split into two separate units in 1976: The traditional Circo Moira Orfei, and the circus-on-ice show. In the early 1980s, Moira and Walter began to produce other touring shows: They got the exclusive rights for the Italian tours of the Moscow Circus and for the American ice show, Holiday On Ice. Meanwhile, regular circus tours made Moira extremely popular in other Mediterranean countries. (In 1977, Moira’s circus was in Iran when the Islamic revolution began, but they managed to return safely, if not without difficulty, to Italy.)
In 1987 Walter and Moira produced the Moira+Mosca circus, which combined some of the best Soviet acts and Moira’s Italian performers and animal acts. That same year, they produced a superb seventeen-tiger act with the help of the great trainer, trainer Jean Michon. The act was presented by Walter’s brother, Massimiliano Nones, and became the first cage act(English/American) Act performed in a cage, such as lion or tiger acts. to win a Gold Clown at the International Circus Festival of Monte Carlo. Moira’s sons, Stefano and Lara, also won a Silver Clown in Monte Carlo in 1999 with two acts: a double high-schoolA display of equestrian dressage by a rider mounting a horse and leading it into classic moves and steps. (From the French: Haute école), and a display of exotic animals that included a “liberty"Liberty act", "Horses at liberty": Unmounted horses presented from the center of the ring by an equestrian directing his charges with his voice, body movements, and signals from a ''chambrière'' (French), or long whip.” presentation of antelopes with zebras, and a giraffe and a rhinoceros.
Moira quit performing in the late 1990s, but didn’t stop supervising every detail of her organization, neither did she entirely disappear from the ring: at the beginning of each performance, she still appears in the ring to greet her audience, and her entrance always prompts standing ovations and flower throwing—a spontaneous tribute to a true circus diva.
In recent years, she appeared in a few screen comedies and she became a much sought-after guest by TV talk shows. With its classy productions, its fine orchestra, its true corps-de-ballet, its large menagerie, Moira’s attention to details, and some of the world’s finest acts, Moira Orfei’s circus is one of the most respected in Europe, and the most successful circus in Italy.
Image Gallery
Moira Orfei Poster (1973)
Poster of Circo Moira Orfei (2004-2005)
Federico Fellini, Moira Orfei, and Friend
Moira Orfei in the ring of her circus
