Maria Annina Laganà Pappacena, best known as Anna Fougez (9 July 1894 – 11 September 1966), was an Italian actress and singer. Born in

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

, Italy, at 6 years old Pappacena became orphan of both her parents, and was adopted by her aunt. She was a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

, debuting as a

café-chantant (; French: lit. 'singing café'), , or is a type of musical establishment associated with the Belle Époque in France. The music was generally lighthearted and sometimes risqué or even bawdy but, as opposed to the cabaret tradition, not par ...

singer aged eight, and at 9 years old she was already a star, performing as a '' canzone napoletana'' singer in Milan, Paris and Naples. She adopted her stage name as a tribute to French singer Eugénie Fougère. Gianfranco Baldazzi. "Fougez, Anna". Gino Castaldo (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990. pp. 708-9.Doriana Legge
"Pappacena, Maria Annina Laganà, in arte Anna Fougez"
''

Enciclopedia Italiana Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...

: Dizionario biografico''. Treccani, 2014.Stefano Tomassini. "Variety Theater". ''Encyclopedia of Italian Literary Studies: A-J'', Volume 1. Taylor & Francis, 2006. pp. 1950-1. While at that time the success of variety artists was in general short and ephemeral, Fougez was a real diva for several decades, and was the most paid Italian artist of her time. Reasons for her ensuring success include her ability in choosing her repertoire and adapting it to her figure, her peculiar beauty, more elegant and very different from the other actresses of her time, her ability to readily interact with the audience, and her particular costumes, which she mostly drew by herself, and which influenced the Italian fashion of the time. She was also in good relations with Fascism, and shortly before the

March on Rome The March on Rome () was an organized mass demonstration in October 1922 which resulted in Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party (, PNF) ascending to power in the Kingdom of Italy. In late October 1922, Fascist Party leaders planned a march ...

composed and performed in front of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

the song "Fox-trot di Mussolini". Between the second half of the 1910s and the early 1920s Fougez starred in a number of silent films of good success. In 1928, together with her second husband, the French dancer René Thano, she started her own revue company, "Grande rivista italiana". In 1931, she wrote her memoirs, ''Il mondo parla ed io passo'' (i.e. "The world speaks and I pass"). In 1940, still famous, she eventually retired from showbusiness.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fougez, Anna 1894 births 1966 deaths Italian film actresses Italian stage actresses Actors from Taranto Actresses from Apulia Italian silent film actresses 20th-century Italian actresses Italian music hall performers 20th-century Italian women singers