Anna Maria Magnani (; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-winning Italian actress.
[Obituary '' Variety'', 3 October 1973, pg. 47] She was known for her explosive acting and earthy, realistic portrayals of characters.
Born in either
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
or
Alexandria
Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...
and raised in Rome, she worked her way through Rome's Academy of Dramatic Art by singing at night clubs.
During her career, her only child was stricken by
polio
Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
when he was 18 months old and remained disabled. She was referred to as "La Lupa", the "perennial toast of Rome" and a "living she-wolf symbol" of the cinema. ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' described her personality as "fiery", and drama critic
Harold Clurman said her acting was "volcanic". In the realm of Italian cinema, she was "passionate, fearless, and exciting", an actress whom film historian Barry Monush calls "the volcanic earth mother of all Italian cinema."
[Monush, Barry. ''The Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors'', Hal Leonard Corp. (2003)] Director
Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
called her "the greatest acting genius since
Eleonora Duse
Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse ( , ; 3 October 185821 April 1924), often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henr ...
".
[Johnson, Bruce]
''Miracles and Sacrilege: Roberto Rossellini, the Church, and Film Censorship''
University of Toronto Press (2008) pg. 194 Playwright
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...
became an admirer of her acting and wrote ''
The Rose Tattoo'' (1955) specifically for her to star in, a role for which she received an
Academy Award for Best Actress
The Academy Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It has been awarded since the 1st Academy Awards to an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance in a lead ...
, becoming the first Italian – and first non-native English speaking woman – to win an Oscar.
After meeting director
Goffredo Alessandrini
Goffredo Alessandrini (20 November 1904 – 16 May 1978) was an Italian scriptwriter and film director. He also acted, edited, and produced some films.
He practiced athletics (sport), athletics in his youth, and won a title of Italian Athletics ...
, she received her first screen role in ''
The Blind Woman of Sorrento'' (''La cieca di Sorrento'', 1934) and later achieved international attention in Rossellini's ''
Rome, Open City
''Rome, Open City'' (), also released as ''Open City'', is a 1945 Italian Italian neorealism, neorealist war film, war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Sergio Amidei, Celeste Negarville and Federico Fellini. Set in Rom ...
'' (1945), which is seen as launching the
Italian neorealism
Italian neorealism (), also known as the Golden Age of Italian Cinema, was a national film movement characterized by stories set amongst the poor and the working class. They are filmed on location, frequently with non-professional actors. They p ...
movement in cinema.
[ As an actress, she became recognized for her dynamic and forceful portrayals of "earthy lower-class women" in such films as '' L'Amore'' (1948), '' Bellissima'' (1951), ''The Rose Tattoo'' (1955), '' The Fugitive Kind'' (1960) and '' Mamma Roma'' (1962). As early as 1950, '']Life
Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' had already stated that Magnani was "one of the most impressive actresses since Garbo".[
]
Early years
Magnani's parentage and birthplace are uncertain. Some sources suggest she was born in Rome, others suggest Egypt.[''International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers - 3: Actors and Actresses'', St. James Press (1997)] Her mother was Marina Magnani.[ Film director ]Franco Zeffirelli
Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (; 12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019) was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post–World War II e ...
, who claimed to know Magnani well, states in his autobiography that she was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to an Italian-Jewish mother and Egyptian father, and that "only later did she become Roman when her grandmother brought her over and raised her in one of the Roman slum districts."[''Zeffirelli: An Autobiography'', Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1986) p. 78] Magnani herself stated that her mother was married in Egypt, but returned to Rome before giving birth to her at Porta Pia, and did not know how the rumor of her Egyptian birth got started. She was enrolled in a French convent school in Rome, where she learned to speak French and play the piano. She also developed a passion for acting from watching the nuns stage their Christmas plays. This period of formal education lasted until the age of 14.[
She was a "plain, frail child with a forlornness of spirit". Her grandparents compensated by pampering her with food and clothes. Yet while growing up, she is said to have felt more at ease around "more earthly" companions, often befriending the "toughest kid on the block".][ This trait carried over into her adult life when she proclaimed, "I hate respectability. Give me the life of the streets, of common people."][
At age 17, she went on to study at the ]Eleonora Duse
Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse ( , ; 3 October 185821 April 1924), often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henr ...
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome for two years.[Kobler, Joh]
"Tempest on the Tiber"
''Life'', 13 February 1950 To support herself, Magnani sang in nightclub
A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...
s and cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
s; leading to her being dubbed "the Italian Édith Piaf
Édith Giovanna Gassion (19 December 1915 – 10 October 1963), known as Édith Piaf (), was a French singer and lyricist best known for performing songs in the cabaret and modern chanson genres. She is widely regarded as France's greatest popu ...
". However, her actor friend Micky Knox writes that she "never studied acting formally" and started her career in Italian music halls singing traditional Roman folk songs. "She was instinctive" he writes. "She had the ability to call up emotions at will, to move an audience, to convince them that life on the stage was as real and natural as life in their own kitchen." Film critic David Thomson wrote that Magnani was considered an "outstanding theatre actress" in productions of ''Anna Christie
''Anna Christie'' is a Play (theatre), play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill. It made its Broadway theatre, Broadway debut at the Vanderbilt Theatre on November 2, 1921. O'Neill received the 1922 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for this work. According ...
'' and '' The Petrified Forest''.
Early acting career
In 1933, Magnani was acting in experimental plays in Rome when she was discovered by Italian filmmaker Goffredo Alessandrini
Goffredo Alessandrini (20 November 1904 – 16 May 1978) was an Italian scriptwriter and film director. He also acted, edited, and produced some films.
He practiced athletics (sport), athletics in his youth, and won a title of Italian Athletics ...
.[ The couple married the same year.
Nunzio Malasomma directed her in her first major film role in '' The Blind Woman of Sorrento'' (''La Cieca di Sorrento'', 1934).Goffredo Alessandrini directed her in '']Cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
'' (''Cavalleria'', 1936).
For director Vittorio De Sica
Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
Widely considered one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of cinema, four of the fil ...
, Magnani starred in '' Teresa Venerdì'' (1941). De Sica called this Magnani's "first true film". In it, she plays Loletta Prima, the girlfriend of De Sica’s character, Pietro Vignali. De Sica described Magnani's laugh as "loud, overwhelming, and tragic".
Italian stardom
Magnani became a major star in post-War Italian cinema, coming to international prominence in the films of Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
and other Italian directors.
''Rome, Open City'' (1945)
Magnani gained international renown as Pina in Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
's neorealist ''Rome, Open City
''Rome, Open City'' (), also released as ''Open City'', is a 1945 Italian Italian neorealism, neorealist war film, war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Sergio Amidei, Celeste Negarville and Federico Fellini. Set in Rom ...
'' (''Roma, città aperta'', 1945). In a film about Italy's final days under German occupation during World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Magnani's character dies fighting to protect her husband, an underground fighter against the Nazis
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
.
''L'Amore: The Human Voice and The Miracle'' (1948)
Other collaborations with Rossellini include '' L'Amore'' (1948), a two-part film which includes ''The Miracle'' and ''The Human Voice'' (''Il miracolo'', and ''Una voce umana''). In the former, Magnani, playing a peasant outcast who believes the baby she is carrying is Christ, plumbs both the sorrow and the righteousness of being alone in the world. The latter film is based on Jean Cocteau
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...
's play about a woman desperately trying to salvage a relationship over the telephone.
''Volcano'' (1950)
After ''The Miracle'', Rossellini promised to direct Magnani in a film he was preparing, which he told her would be "the crowning vehicle of her career". However, when the screenplay was completed, he instead gave the role for ''Stromboli
Stromboli ( , ; ) is an island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing Mount Stromboli, one of the four active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the seven Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily, and the mytho ...
'' to Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
, later Rossellini's lover. This permanently ended Magnani's personal and professional association with Rossellini.[
As a result, Magnani took on the starring role of '']Volcano
A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most oft ...
'' (1950), which was said to have been produced to invite a comparison.[ Both films were shot in similar locales of ]Aeolian Islands
The Aeolian Islands ( ; ; ), sometimes referred to as the Lipari Islands or Lipari group ( , ) after their largest island, are a volcanic archipelago in the Tyrrhenian Sea north of Sicily, said to be named after Aeolus, the mythical ruler of ...
, only 40 kilometres apart; both actresses played independent-minded roles in a neorealist fashion; and both films were shot simultaneously. ''Life'' wrote "in an atmosphere crackling with rivalry... Reporters were accredited, like war correspondents, to one or the other of the embattled camps...Partisanship infected the Via Veneto
Via Vittorio Veneto (), colloquially called Via Veneto, is one of the most famous, elegant, and expensive streets of Rome, Italy. The street is named after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto (1918), a decisive Italian victory of World War I. Federico F ...
(boulevard in Rome), where Magnaniacs and Bergmaniacs clashed frequently." However, Magnani still considered Rossellini the "greatest director she ever acted for".[
]
''Bellissima'' (1951)
In Luchino Visconti
Luchino Visconti di Modrone, Count of Lonate Pozzolo (; 2 November 1906 – 17 March 1976) was an Italian filmmaker, theatre and opera director, and screenwriter. He was one of the fathers of Italian neorealism, cinematic neorealism, but later ...
's '' Bellissima'' (1951), she plays Maddalena, a blustery, obstinate stage mother who drags her daughter to CinecittÃ
Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City) is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios were constru ...
for the 'Prettiest Girl in Rome' contest, with dreams that her plain daughter will be a star. Her emotions in the film went from those of rage and humiliation to maternal love.[
]
''The Golden Coach'' (1952)
Magnani then went on to star as Camille (stage name: Columbine) in Jean Renoir
Jean Renoir (; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. His '' La Grande Illusion'' (1937) and '' The Rules of the Game'' (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greate ...
's film '' The Golden Coach'' (''Le Carrosse d'or'', 1952). She played a woman torn with desire for three men - a soldier, a bullfighter, and a viceroy. Renoir called her "the greatest actress I have ever worked with".
American Films
''The Rose Tattoo'' (1955)
She played the widowed mother of a teenaged daughter in Daniel Mann
Daniel Chugerman (August 8, 1912 – November 21, 1991), known professionally as Daniel Mann, was an American stage, film director, film and television director.
Originally trained as an actor by Sanford Meisner, between 1952 and 1987 he direct ...
's 1955 film, '' The Rose Tattoo'', based on the play by Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the three ...
. It co-starred Burt Lancaster
Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...
, and was Magnani's first English-speaking role in a mainstream Hollywood movie, winning her the Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
for Best Actress. Lancaster, who played the role of a "lusty truck driver", said, "if she had not found acting as an outlet for her enormous vitality, she would have become a great criminal".[
Film historian John DiLeo has written that Magnani's acting in the film "displays why she is inarguably one of the half dozen greatest screen actresses of all time", and added:]"Whenever Magnani laughs or cries (which is often), it's as if you've never seen anyone laugh or cry before: has laughter ever been so burstingly joyful or tears so shatteringly sad?[DiLeo, John. ''One Hundred Great Film Performances You Should Remember, but Probably Don't'', Hal Leonard Corp. (2002)]
Tennessee Williams wrote the screenplay and based the character of Serafina on Magnani as Williams was a great admirer of her acting abilities,[ and he even stipulated that the movie "must star what ''Time'' described as "the most explosive emotional actress of her generation, Anna Magnani."][Buford, Kate. '' Burt Lancaster: An American Life'', Da Capo Press (2000), pg. 142] In his ''Memoirs'', Williams described why he insisted on Magnani playing this role:"Anna Magnani was magnificent as Serafina in the movie version of ''Tattoo''...She was as unconventional a woman as I have known in or out of my professional world, and if you understand me at all, you must know that in this statement I am making my personal estimate of her honesty, which I feel was complete. She never exhibited any lack of self-assurance, any timidity in her relations with that society outside of whose conventions she quite publicly existed... e looked absolutely straight into the eyes of whomever she confronted and during that golden time in which we were dear friends, I never heard a false word from her mouth."
It was originally staged on Broadway with Maureen Stapleton
Lois Maureen Stapleton (June 21, 1925 – March 13, 2006) was an American actress. She received numerous accolades becoming one of the few actors to have achieved the Triple Crown of Acting winning an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award ...
, as Magnani's English was too limited at the time for her to star. Magnani won other Best Actress awards for her role, including the BAFTA
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
Film Award, Golden Globes
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Januar ...
Award, National Board of Review
The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures is a non-profit organization of New York City area film enthusiasts. Its awards, which are announced in early December, are considered the first major harbinger of the film awards season that ...
, USA, and the New York Film Critics Circle Awards
The New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) is an American film critic organization founded in 1935 by Wanda Hale from the New York ''Daily News''. Its membership includes over 30 film critics from New York–based daily and weekly newspapers, ma ...
.
When her name was announced as the Oscar winner, an American journalist called her in Rome to tell her the news; he had difficulty convincing her he wasn't joking.
''Wild is the Wind''
Magnani worked again in the United States, speaking both English and Italian, in George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor ( ; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer, producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO Pictures, RKO when David O. Selzn ...
's drama '' Wild Is the Wind'' (1957), in which she played the Italian bride of sheep farmer Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...
who falls for his surrogate son Tony Franciosa
Anthony George Franciosa (né Papaleo; October 25, 1928 – January 19, 2006) was an American actor most often billed as Tony Franciosa at the height of his career. He began his career on stage and made a breakthrough portraying the brother of t ...
. Both Magnani and Quinn were nominated for Oscars for their performances.
Magnani and Quinn would later star in the less successful ''The Secret of Santa Vittoria
''The Secret of Santa Vittoria'' is a 1969 American war film distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and co-produced by George Glass from a screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Rose. It was based on the ...
'' (1969).
''The Fugitive Kind''
She then appeared in another Tennessee Williams property, the 1960 film '' The Fugitive Kind'', which originally was titled '' Orpheus Descending'' after the play on which it was based). Directed by Sidney Lumet
Sidney Arthur Lumet ( ; June 25, 1924 – April 9, 2011) was an American film director. Lumet started his career in theatre before moving to film, where he gained a reputation for making realistic and gritty New York City, New York dramas w ...
, she co-starred with Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando Jr. (April 3, 1924 – July 1, 2004) was an American actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest cinema actors of the 20th century,''Movies in American History: An Encyclopedia'' , for whom this also was a reunion with Williams, whose ''A Streetcar Named Desire
''A Streetcar Named Desire'' is a play written by Tennessee Williams and first performed on Broadway on December 3, 1947. The play dramatizes the experiences of Blanche DuBois, a former Southern belle who, after encountering a series of pe ...
'' vaulted him to stardom. In the film, she played Lady Torrance, a woman "hardened by life's cruelties and a grief that will not fade."[ It also co-starred a young ]Joanne Woodward
Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward (born February 27, 1930) is an American retired actress. She made her career breakthrough in the 1950s and earned esteem and respect playing complex women with a characteristic nuance and depth of character. ...
in one of her early roles.
In an article he wrote for ''Life'', Williams discussed why he chose Magnani for the part:"Anna and I had both cherished the dream that her appearance in the part I created for her in ''The Fugitive Kind'' would be her greatest triumph to date...She is simply a rare being who seems to have about her a little lightning-shot cloud all her own...In a crowded room, she can sit perfectly motionless and silent and still you feel the atmospheric tension of her presence, its quiver and hum in the air like a live wire exposed, and a mood of Anna's is like the presence of royalty."
The production was troubled, as Magnani and Brando did not get along. David Thomson has written:Rumors had it that Magnani (fifty-one at the time) assumed in advance that there would be a sexual encounter with Brando (thirty-six), and when that failed to materialize, she became aggressive and insecure; and that Brando believed she refrained from washing to goad him,
The movie received mixed reviews and was a failure at the box office.
Other Italian films
Magnani continued to work in Italian movies. '' ...And the Wild Wild Women'' (''Nella Città L'Inferno'', 1958) paired her as an unrepentant streetwalker with Giulietta Masina
Giulia Anna "Giulietta" Masina (; 22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress best known for her performances as Gelsomina in ''La Strada'' (1954) and Cabiria in '' Nights of Cabiria'' (1957), for which she won the Cannes Fi ...
, Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
's wife and star, in a women-in-prison film.
''Mamma Roma'' (1962)
In Pier Paolo Pasolini
Pier Paolo Pasolini (; 5 March 1922 – 2 November 1975) was an Italian poet, film director, writer, actor and playwright. He is considered one of the defining public intellectuals in 20th-century Italian history, influential both as an artist ...
's '' Mamma Roma ''(1962), Magnani is both the mother and the whore, playing an irrepressible prostitute determined to give her teenaged son a respectable middle-class life. ''Mamma Roma'', while one of Magnani's critically acclaimed films, was not released in the United States until 1995, deemed too controversial 33 years earlier. By now, she was frustrated at being typecast in the roles of poor women. Magnani in 1963 commented, "I’m bored stiff with these everlasting parts as a hysterical, loud, working-class woman".
''The Secret of Santa Vittoria'' (1969)
In one of her last film roles, ''The Secret of Santa Vittoria
''The Secret of Santa Vittoria'' is a 1969 American war film distributed by United Artists. It was produced and directed by Stanley Kramer and co-produced by George Glass from a screenplay by Ben Maddow and William Rose. It was based on the ...
'' (1969), she co-starred with Anthony Quinn
Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (April 21, 1915 – June 3, 2001), known as Anthony Quinn, was an American actor. He was known for his portrayal of earthy, passionate characters "marked by a brutal and elemental virility" in over 100 ...
, with whom she had appeared with a decade before in ''Wild is the Wind''. They played husband and wife in what ''Life'' called "perhaps the most memorable fight since Jimmy Cagney smashed Mae Clarke
Mae Clarke (born Violet Mary Klotz; August 16, 1910 – April 29, 1992) was an American actress. She is widely remembered for playing Henry Frankenstein's bride Elizabeth, who is chased by Boris Karloff in ''Frankenstein'', and for being o ...
in the face with a half a grapefruit."
In real life as well as in their reel life, Magnani and Quinn feuded in private outside view of the cameras, and their animosity spilled over into their scenes:"By the time the movie makers were ready to shoot the fight scene, the stars were ready, too.
Magnani not only went for Quinn with the pasta and with a rolling pin, but lsowith her foot; she kicked so hard she broke a bone in her right foot. She also bit him in the neck. 'That's not in the script', Quinn protested. Magnani snarled, 'I'm supposed to win this fight, remember?"[Hamblin, Dora Jane. ''Life'' magazine, 6 December 1968]
Fellini's ''Roma'' (1972)
She later played herself (within a dramatic context) in Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini (; 20 January 1920 – 31 October 1993) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. He is known for his distinctive style, which blends fantasy and baroque images with earthiness. He is recognized as one of the greatest and ...
's '' Roma'' (1972). Towards the end of her career, Magnani was quoted as having said, "The day has gone when I deluded myself that making movies was art. Movies today are made up of…intellectuals who always make out that they’re teaching something".
Acting style
According to film critic Robin Wood, Magnani's "persona as a great actress is built, not on transformation, but on emotional authenticity... hedoesn't portray characters but expresses 'genuine' emotions."[ Her style does not display the more obvious attributes of the female star, with neither her face or physical makeup being considered "beautiful", wrote Wood. However, she possesses a "remarkably expressive face," and for American audiences, at least, she represents "what Hollywood had consistently failed to produce: 'reality'". She was the atypical star, the "nonglamorous human being", as her genuine style of acting became a "rejection of glamour".][
Her most distinguished work in Hollywood is in '' Wild Is the Wind'', according to Wood. Directed by ]George Cukor
George Dewey Cukor ( ; July 7, 1899 – January 24, 1983) was an American film director and film producer, producer. He mainly concentrated on comedies and literary adaptations. His career flourished at RKO Pictures, RKO when David O. Selzn ...
, "the American cinema's greatest director of actresses," he was able to draw out the "individual essence" of Magnani's "sensitive and inward performance."[
]
Personal life
During 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 ...
's rule, Magnani was known to make jokes about the Italian Fascist Party.[
She married ]Goffredo Alessandrini
Goffredo Alessandrini (20 November 1904 – 16 May 1978) was an Italian scriptwriter and film director. He also acted, edited, and produced some films.
He practiced athletics (sport), athletics in his youth, and won a title of Italian Athletics ...
, her first film director, in 1935, two years after he discovered her on stage. After they married, she retired from full-time acting to "devote herself exclusively to her husband", although she continued to play smaller film parts.[ They separated in 1942.
Magnani had a love affair with actor Massimo Serato, by whom she had her only child, a son named Luca,][ who was born on 29 October 1942 in Rome, after her separation from Alessandrini. At the age of 18 months, Luca contracted ]polio
Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
and subsequently lost the use of his legs due to paralysis. As a result, Magnani spent most of her early earnings for specialists and hospitals. After once seeing a legless war veteran drag himself along the sidewalk, she said, "I realize now that it's worse when they grow up", and resolved to earn enough to "shield him forever from want".[
In 1945, she fell in love with director ]Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
while working on ''Roma, Città Aperta'' (''Rome, Open City
''Rome, Open City'' (), also released as ''Open City'', is a 1945 Italian Italian neorealism, neorealist war film, war drama film directed by Roberto Rossellini and co-written by Sergio Amidei, Celeste Negarville and Federico Fellini. Set in Rom ...
''). "I thought at last I had found the ideal man... ehad lost a son of his own and I felt we understood each other. Above all, we had the same artistic conceptions." Rossellini could be violent, volatile and possessive, however, and they would argue about films or out of jealousy. "In fits of rage they threw crockery at each other."[ As artists, though, they complemented each other well while working on neorealist films. The two split up when Rossellini had an affair with ]Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress.Obituary ''Variety Obituaries, Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, Bergman is often regarded as one of the most influential screen figures in cin ...
, whom he married after she conceived a child.
Magnani was mystically inclined and consulted astrologers, as well as believing in numerology. She also claimed to be clairvoyant.[ She ate and drank very little and could subsist for long periods on nothing more than black coffee and cigarettes. However, these habits often affected her sleep: "My nights are appalling," she said. "I wake up in a state of nerves and it takes me hours to get back in touch with reality."][
]
Death
On 26 September 1973, Magnani died at the age of 65 in Rome from pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
. Huge crowds gathered for the funeral. She was provisionally laid to rest in the family mausoleum
A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...
of Roberto Rossellini
Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini (8 May 1906 – 3 June 1977) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. He was one of the most prominent directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such a ...
; but then subsequently interred in the Cimitero Comunale of San Felice Circeo
San Felice Circeo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, in the Lazio region of central Italy. It was an ancient city called Circeii. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy").
It is included i ...
in southern Lazio
Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...
.
Filmography and awards
References
External links
"Archivio Anna Magnani, new web site dedicated to Anna Magnani. Biography, interviews, filmography, vintage items, books, and much more."
"Anna Magnani - book-biography"
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnani, Anna
1908 births
1973 deaths
20th-century Italian actresses
Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico alumni
Actresses from Rome
Best Actress Academy Award winners
Best Drama Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Best Foreign Actress BAFTA Award winners
David di Donatello winners
Deaths from cancer in Lazio
Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Italy
Italian film actresses
Nastro d'Argento winners
People of Calabrian descent
People of Marchesan descent
People of Romagnol descent
Silver Bear for Best Actress winners
Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners