Franca Faldini (10 February 1931 – 22 July 2016) was an Italian writer, journalist and actress.

Life and career

Born in

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, ...

into a middle-class Jewish family, Faldini was forced to flee to Tuscany because of the

Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

racial laws Anti-Jewish laws have been a common occurrence throughout the history of antisemitism and Jewish history. Examples of such laws include special Jewish quotas, Jewish taxes and Jewish "disabilities". During the 1930s and early 1940s, some law ...

. After the war, she was noticed by Ben Stahl, who pictured her in a painting called "Moment at Villa D'Este" for the magazine ''

Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentleman ...

''. She later moved to

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

, where she won a

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition in which the contestants are judged and ranked based on various physical and mental attributes. Per its name, beauty pageants traditionally focus on judging the contestants' physical attractiveness, sometimes sol ...

for aspiring actresses called "Miss Cheesecake", and made her film debut in '' Sailor Beware''. Returning to Italy, where she was initially billed as "The Italian who comes from Hollywood", Faldini started a relationship with the popular comedian

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il principe della risat ...

, also appearing in several of his films. In 1954, they had a son, Massenzio, who died a few hours after his birth. Totò dedicated a song to her, . In 1955, dissatisfied with her roles, Faldini retired from acting, making occasional returns in 1957, when she replaced on stage the injured main actress Franca Maj in a

revue A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatre, theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketch comedy, sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural pre ...

alongside Totò, and in 1998, appearing in , the last film by

Alberto Sordi Alberto Sordi (15 June 1920 – 24 February 2003) was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter. Sordi is considered one of the most important actors in the history of Italian cinema and one of the b ...

. Faldini eventually started a career as a journalist and writer, co-writing with a history of Italian cinema, , and writing several books about Totò.

Filmography

References

Sources

External links

* 1931 births 2016 deaths Actresses from Rome Writers from Rome Italian expatriate actresses in the United States 20th-century Italian women journalists Italian film actresses Italian stage actresses 20th-century Italian women writers 20th-century Italian actresses 20th-century Italian journalists Burials at the Cimitero Flaminio {{italy-writer-stub