Romina Francesca Power (born October 2, 1951) is an American and naturalized Italian actress and singer. She is the daughter of actor

Tyrone Power Tyrone Edmund Power III (May 5, 1914 – November 15, 1958) was an American actor. From the 1930s to the 1950s, Power appeared in dozens of films, often in swashbuckler roles or romantic leads. His better-known films include ''Jesse James (193 ...

and actress Linda Christian. With ex-husband Albano Carrisi, she formed the music duo Al Bano & Romina Power, which gained popularity in many parts of the world during the 1980s.

Biography

Childhood

Power is the eldest daughter of American screen idol

and his second wife, Mexican actress Linda Christian. She was named after

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, ...

, where her parents had fallen in love; her middle name is in reference to the church of Santa Francesca Romana, the site of their wedding ceremony. Initially, she grew up in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. After her parents divorced in 1956, Power and her younger sister Taryn were sent to live with their maternal grandmother in Mexico. They went to live briefly with their mother and her new husband,

Edmund Purdom Edmund Cutlar Purdom (19 December 19261 January 2009)

, but were later sent to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

s in England, Switzerland, and Italy. Among the schools Power attended was

Cobham Hall School Cobham Hall School is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day and boarding school in the English parish of Cobham, Kent, for girls only in Years 7 to 11 and co-educational in the Sixth Form . It is a Round Square (educational organis ...

in Kent, England. Later, both Power and her mother lived in a penthouse in the Roman ''quartiere'' of

Parioli Parioli () is the 2nd of Rome, identified by the initials Q. II. The toponym is also used to indicate the urbanistic area 2B of the . The name comes from Monti Parioli, a series of tufa hills, and was given to the area before its incorporatio ...

Acting career

Power began trying out for film roles at age 12. She made her screen debut at age 14 in the Italian film ''

Menage all'italiana ''Menage all'italiana'', also known as ''Menage Italian Style'', is a 1965 Italy, Italian comedy film directed by Franco Indovina. It follows the story of a bigamist who cannot resist getting married again and again. He has eight wives. Cast * U ...

'', starring alongside

Ugo Tognazzi Ottavio "Ugo" Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the most important faces of Italian comedy together with Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Marcello Mastr ...

and

Anna Moffo Anna Moffo (June 27, 1932 – March 9, 2006) was an American opera singer, television personality, and actress. One of the leading lyric-coloratura sopranos of her generation, she possessed a warm and radiant voice of considerable range and agili ...

. Power subsequently appeared in several films, achieving notoriety for acting in roles that highlighted her

sex appeal Sexual attraction is attraction on the basis of sexual desire or the quality of arousing such interest. Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual's ability to attract other people sexually, and is a factor in sexual selection or m ...

. In December 1966, her role in the film '' How I Learned to Love Women'' came under attack from the Italian public and government, as well as the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Ludovico Montini, brother of

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

, and other

Christian Democratic Christian democracy is an ideology inspired by Christian social teaching to respond to the challenges of contemporary society and politics. Christian democracy has drawn mainly from Catholic social teaching and neo-scholasticism, as well ...

senators charged that Power was forced to rehearse "lewd scenes for the film countless times." The

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

newspaper, ''

L'Osservatore Romano ''L'Osservatore Romano'' is the daily newspaper of Vatican City which reports on the activities of the Holy See and events taking place in the Catholic Church and the world. It is owned by the Holy See but is not an official publication, a role ...

'', called the film's moral content dubious and opined that minors should have been banned from viewing it. In 1969, her starring role in the film '' Marquis de Sade: Justine'' resulted in its banning in Italy and in the seizure of all prints. In an interview Power gave in 1966, she said that despite her

typecasting In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

she did not regard herself as a "

Lolita ''Lolita'' is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The protagonist and narrator is a French literature professor who moves to New England and writes under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert. He details his obsession ...

." In a later interview in 1970, Power expressed regret for having let her mother choose sexually suggestive film roles for her.

Musical fame

In 1975, Power and her husband Albano "Al Bano" Carrisi founded the singing duo

Al Bano and Romina Power Al Bano and Romina Power are an Italian-American pop music duo formed in 1975 by then-married couple Italian tenor Albano Carrisi and American singer Romina Power, the daughter of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood actor Tyrone Power. They h ...

, which became a sensation in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

. They released multiple albums in different languages and achieved 7th place for Italy in both the

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

and

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

s. Their biggest hits included "

Felicità "Felicità" (; Italian for "Happiness") is a song by Italian-American duo Al Bano and Romina Power, released in 1982. It was an international commercial success and remains arguably their best-known song. Song information The duo participated wi ...

", "

Sharazan "Sharazan" is a song by Italian duo Al Bano and Romina Power, released in 1981. It was an international commercial success and remains one of their best-known hits. Meaning of the word They are told to say that Sharazan means "Dreamland", what w ...

", and "

Ci sarà CI or Ci may refer to: Business terminology * Commercial invoice * Competitive intelligence * Confidential information * Continual improvement * Corporate identity * Customer intelligence, a discipline in marketing Businesses and organisations ...

Later years

In 2005, Power was a judge in the Italian TV show '' Ballando con le Stelle''. Between 2006 and 2007, she organized exhibitions of her paintings, mainly in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. At the same time she dedicated herself to directing her film ''Upaya''. In 2007, Power moved back to the United States, buying a house in

Sedona, Arizona Sedona ( ) is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino and Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 United States Census, ...

. According to an interview she gave to the Italian press at the time, she felt to be perceived by the Italian public merely as a performer of "Il ballo del qua-qua" (a song for children), and that she found it difficult to establish herself in Italy as a painter and writer. Power also stated that she was disturbed by the intrusive attention of the local press, which published multiple articles speculating about her private life and the disappearance of her daughter Ylenia. Shortly after Power's relocation in 2008, her mother Linda Christian was diagnosed with

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

. Power went to live in her mother's house in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

, where she remained until her mother's death on July 22, 2011. In a November 2009 interview she gave to Italian TV she stated she had considered, at least for some time, a possible return to Italy. In the fall of 2012 her album ''Da lontano'' was released, containing songs written in 1999. In the summer of 2013, Power and Carrisi reunited for a concert performance in Moscow.

Personal life

Stanislas "Stash" Klossowski de Rola, the eldest son of the painter

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his ima ...

, proposed marriage to Power when she was 15 and he was 23. She accepted and her mother approved, provided that he wait until Power turned 18 and was allowed to develop artistically first. Klossowski de Rola introduced Power to

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and through her associatio ...

, and

Syd Barrett Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett (6 January 1946 – 7 July 2006) was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Until his departure in 1968, he was Pink Floyd's frontman and primary songwriter, ...

, with whom she later became friends. The couple later postponed their wedding indefinitely. In 1969, Power announced her engagement to Albano Carrisi. Upon their engagement, Carrisi persuaded Power to refrain from accepting any more risqué film roles and restricted the presence of her mother on set. They married on July 26, 1970. Power and Carrisi separated in 1999. Their divorce was finalized in 2012. They have four children: * Ylenia Maria Sole (born November 29, 1970), their eldest daughter who went missing in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana in January 1994 ( declared dead ''in absentia'' in 2014). * Yari Marco Carrisi (born April 21, 1973) * Cristèl Chiara Carrisi (born December 25, 1985), who appeared in Italian reality TV show '' La Fattoria 2'' ('' The Farm''). * Romina Yolanda Carrisi (born June 1, 1987), who appeared in the 2005 edition of Italian reality TV show ''Isola dei Famosi'' (a version of ''Survivor'') with her father. Power is a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

who speaks five languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French and

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

. She is a follower of

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism is a form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet, Bhutan and Mongolia. It also has a sizable number of adherents in the areas surrounding the Himalayas, including the Indian regions of Ladakh, Gorkhaland Territorial Administration, D ...

Filmography

Films

Television

Discography

Solo

* ''12 canzoni e una poesia'' (1969) * ''Ascolta, ti racconto di un amore'' (1974) * ''Con un paio di Blue-Jeans'' (1974) * ''Da lontano'' (2012)

With Al Bano

* ''Atto I'' (1975) * ''1978'' (1978) * ''Aria pura'' (1979) * ''Sharazan'' (1981) (Spanish) * ''

'' (1982) * ''Felicidad'' (1982) (Spanish) * ''Che angelo sei'' (1982) * ''Que ángel será'' (1983) (Spanish) * ''The

Golden Orpheus Golden Orpheus (, ''Zlatniyat Orfey'') was an international vocal competition and song contest, held annually from 1965 to 1999 in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria. The festival program included a Bulgarian song competition, an international vocal competi ...

Festival 1984'' (1984) * ''Effetto amore'' (1984) * ''Sempre sempre'' (1986) * ''Siempre siempre'' (1986) (Spanish) * ''Libertà!'' (1987) * ''Libertad'' (1987) (Spanish) * ''Fragile'' (1988) * ''Fragile'' (1988) (Spanish) * ''Fotografia di un momento'' (1990) * ''Fotografía de un momento'' (1990) (Spanish) * ''Weihnachten bei uns zu Hause'' (1990) (also known as ''Corriere di Natale'') * ''Navidad ha llegado'' (1991) (Spanish) * ''Vincerai'' (1991) * ''Vencerás'' (1991) (Spanish) * ''Notte e giorno'' (1993) * ''El tiempo de amarse'' (1993) (Spanish) * ''Emozionale'' (1995) * ''Amor sagrado'' (1995) (Spanish) * ''Ancora... Zugabe'' (1996) * ''The Very Best – Live aus Verona'' (2015) * ''Raccogli l'attimo'' (2020)

Bibliography

* ''Al Bano & Romina Power: '' (Rizzoli, 1989) * ''Cercando mio padre'' (Gremese, 1998) * ''Ho sognato Don Chisciotte'' (Bompiani, 2000) * ''Kalifornia (It's Here Now)'' (Arcana, 2004) * ''Upaya'' (Fazi Editore, 2005) * ''Ti prendo per mano'' (Mondadori, 2015) * ''Karma Express'' (Mondadori, 2017)

References

External links

Romina Power – Official site
(bilingual)
Official YouTube Channel
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Romina Actresses from Los Angeles American expatriates in Italy American women singers American film actresses American people of Dutch descent American people of English descent American people of French descent American people of French-Canadian descent American people of German descent American people of Irish descent American musicians of Mexican descent American people of Spanish descent American socialites American television actresses American women film producers Film producers from California French-language singers of the United States Eurovision Song Contest entrants Hispanic and Latino American actresses People educated at Cobham Hall School Power family Sanremo Music Festival winners Singers from Los Angeles Spanish-language singers of the United States Living people 21st-century American women American actresses of Mexican descent Tibetan Buddhists from the United States 1951 births 21st-century American Buddhists