Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 1950s and '60s. She won the David di Donatello for Best Actress three times – for '' The Verona Trial'' (1963), ''The Witches'' (1967), and '' The Scientific Cardplayer'' (1972) – and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress twice. Raised in poverty 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 ...

, Mangano trained as a dancer and worked as a model before winning a Miss Rome beauty pageant in 1946. This led to work in films; she achieved success in '' Bitter Rice'' (1949) and went on to forge a successful career in films, working with many notable directors like

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 ...

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 ...

Alberto Lattuada Mario Alberto Lattuada (; 13 November 1914 – 3 July 2005) was an Italian film director. Career Lattuada was born in Vaprio d'Adda, the son of composer Felice Lattuada. He was initially interested in literature, becoming, while still a studen ...

, and

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 ...

. Her career continued well into her 50s, with supporting roles in

David Lynch David Keith Lynch (January 20, 1946 – January 16, 2025) was an American filmmaker, visual artist, musician, and actor. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Lynch was often called a "visionary" and received acclaim f ...

's ''

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'' (1984) and

Nikita Mikhalkov Nikita Sergeyevich Mikhalkov (; born 21 October 1945) is a Russian filmmaker and actor. He made his directorial debut with the Red Western film ''At Home Among Strangers'' (1974) after appearing in a series of films, including the romantic com ...

''Dark Eyes'' (1987). Mangano was the wife of international film producer

Dino De Laurentiis Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into f ...

and had four children with him, including Veronica De Laurentiis and Raffaella De Laurentiis.

Early life

Born in Rome to an Italian father and an English mother (Ivy Webb from

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

), Mangano lived in poverty during World War II. Trained for seven years as a dancer, she supported herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, Mangano won the Miss Rome beauty pageant, and through this, she obtained a role in a Mario Costa film. One year later, she became a contestant in the Miss Italia contest. The contest that year became a springboard for a pool of potential actresses, including the winner Lucia Bosé, Mangano, and several other future stars of Italian cinema such as

Gina Lollobrigida Luigia "Gina" Lollobrigida (4 July 1927 – 16 January 2023) was an Italian actress, model, photojournalist, and sculptor. She was one of the highest-profile European actresses of the 1950s and 1960s, a period in which she was an international ...

, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gianna Maria Canale.

Career

Mangano's earliest connection with filmmaking occurred through her romantic relationship with actor

Marcello Mastroianni Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni (26 September 1924Come da lui stesso dichiarato a 1'10" dquesta intervista/ref> – 19 December 1996) was an Italian actor. He is generally regarded as one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20t ...

. This led her to a film contract, though it took some time for Mangano to ascend to international stardom with her performance in '' Bitter Rice'' (''Riso Amaro'', Giuseppe De Santis, 1949). She signed a contract with Lux Film in 1949, and later married producer

. Although she never had an international career to match her contemporaries

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

and

, Mangano remained a favorite star between the 1950s and 1970s, appearing in '' Anna'' (

, 1951), ''

L'oro di Napoli ''The Gold of Naples'' ( ) is a 1954 in film, 1954 cinema of Italy, Italian anthology film directed by Vittorio De Sica. It was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. In 2008, the film was included on the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Acti ...

'' (

, 1954), ''

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'' (

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, 1955), '' Teorema'' (

, 1968), '' Death in Venice'' (

, 1971), '' The Scientific Cardplayer'' (

Luigi Comencini Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007) was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre. His daughters Cristina Comencin ...

, 1972), and '' Ludwig'' (Luchino Visconti, 1973). She played the lead role in the 1967 anthology film '' The Witches,'' which featured segments directed by Pasolini, Visconti, De Sica, and

Mauro Bolognini Mauro Bolognini (28 June 1922 – 14 May 2001) was an Italian film and stage director. Early years Bolognini was born in Pistoia, in the Tuscany region of Italy. After earning a master's degree in architecture at the University of Florence, Bol ...

. She collaborated four times with Pasolini and Visconti. Over the course of her career, Mangano won the David di Donatello for Best Actress three times and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress twice. Her final film role was in

for ''Dark Eyes'', for which received a Nastro d'Argento nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Although it was sung by Flo Sandon's, Silvana Mangano was credited on the record label of " El Negro Zumbón", which is from the soundtrack of the film '' Anna'' (1951) and was a hit song in 1953. A clip of the opening of this performance is featured in the film ''

Cinema Paradiso ''Cinema Paradiso'' (, , ) is a 1988 Coming-of-age film, coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Set in a small Sicilian town, the film centres on the friendship between a young boy and an aging projectionist ...

'' (1988).

Personal life

It is claimed that she had an affair with Mohammad Reza Shah of Iran during the late 1940s. Married to film producer

from 1949, the couple had four children: Veronica, Raffaella, Francesca, and

Federico Federico (; ) is a given name and surname. It is a form of Frederick (given name), Frederick, most commonly found in Spanish language, Spanish, Portuguese language, Portuguese and Italian language, Italian. People with the given name Federico Ar ...

. Veronica's daughter Giada De Laurentiis is the host of '' Everyday Italian'' and '' Giada at Home'' on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

. Raffaella co-produced with her father on Mangano's penultimate film, ''

'' (

, 1984). Federico died in an airplane crash in 1981 in Alaska. De Laurentiis and Mangano separated in 1983, and Mangano began divorce proceedings in 1988. Following surgery on 4 December 1989 that left her in a coma, Mangano died of lung cancer in Madrid, Spain, on 16 December 1989.

Legacy

In 2000, the city of

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, ...

named a street in the Valleranello district after Mangano.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Front Cover of ''Life'' Magazine, 11 April 1960
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangano, Silvana 1930 births 1989 deaths Deaths from lung cancer in Spain Italian film actresses Italian people of English descent Italian expatriates in Spain Actresses from Rome People of Sicilian descent David di Donatello winners Nastro d'Argento winners 20th-century Italian actresses De Laurentiis family Italian expatriate actresses in the United States