The Contessa's Secret
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''The Contessa's Secret'' (, ) is a 1954 French-Italian film starring
Yvonne De Carlo Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film star and sex symbol in the 1940s a ...
as
Virginia Oldoini, Countess of Castiglione Virginia Oldoini Rapallini, Countess of Castiglione (23 March 1837 – 28 November 1899), better known as La Castiglione, was an Italian aristocrat who achieved notoriety as a mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France. She was also a significan ...
.


Plot


Cast

*
Yvonne De Carlo Margaret Yvonne Middleton (September 1, 1922January 8, 2007), known professionally as Yvonne De Carlo, was a Canadian-American actress, dancer and singer. She became a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film star and sex symbol in the 1940s a ...
as Virginia Oldoini *
Georges Marchal Georges Marchal (10 January 1920 – 28 November 1997) was a French actor. Born Georges Louis Lucot in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, the strikingly handsome Marchal was discovered in the early-1940s by director Jean Grémillon. By the ear ...
as Lucio Falengo *
Paul Meurisse Paul Meurisse (; 21 December 1912 – 19 January 1979) was a French actor who appeared in over 60 films and many stage productions. Meurisse was noted for the elegance of his acting style, and for his versatility. He was equally able to pl ...
as
Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
*
Rossano Brazzi Rossano Brazzi (18 September 1916 – 24 December 1994) was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He was known for playing roles that typified the suave, romantic leading man archetype, both in his native country and in Hollywood. ...
as
Count Cavour Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri (; 10 August 1810 – 6 June 1861), generally known as the Count of Cavour ( ; ) or simply Cavour, was an Italian politician, statesman, businessman, economist, and nobl ...
* Lucienne Legrand as
Empress Eugénie The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
*
Lea Padovani Lea Padovani (28 July 1920 – 23 June 1991) was an Italian film actress. She appeared in 60 films between 1945 and 1990. She starred in the film '' Black Dossier'' which was entered into the 1955 Cannes Film Festival. Partial filmography * '' ...
as Princess Princess Mathilde Bonaparte *
Georges Lannes Georges Lannes (27 October 1895 – 8 July 1983) was a French film actor who appeared in more than a hundred films during his career including '' André Cornélis'' (1927).Goble p.50 Selected filmography * '' The Mysteries of Paris'' (1922) * '' ...
as Mocquart *
Michel Etcheverry Michel Etcheverry (16 December 1919 – 30 March 1999) was a French actor. First a teacher, he was fired in 1941 for refusing to make the Maréchal children sing, here we come! . He began his career in the theater as a stage manager, then joined ...
as Pietri *
Tamara Lees Tamara Lees (14 December 1924 – 22 December 1999), born as Diana Helena Tamara Mapplebeck, was an Austrian-born English film actress. She appeared in 48 films between 1947 and 1961. Filmography References External links * 1924 bi ...
as Princess of Metternich * Claude Boissol as Nigra * Lisette Lebon as Luisa *
Alberto Bonucci Alberto Bonucci (; 19 May 1918 – 5 April 1969) was an Italian film actor and director. He appeared in 53 films between 1950 and 1967. Partial filmography * ''Variety Lights'' (1950) - Night Club Comic * ''Fugitive in Trieste'' (1951) * ''Tot ...
as Castiglione *
Roldano Lupi Roldano Squassoni, known professionally as Roldano Lupi (8 February 1909 – 14 August 1989) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 60 films between 1942 and 1967. He was born in Milan, Italy and died in Rome, Italy. Selected filmography ...
as Orsini *
Pierre Flourens Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (13 April 1794 – 6 December 1867), father of Gustave Flourens, was a French physiologist, the founder of experimental brain science, and a pioneer in anesthesia. Biography Flourens was born at Maureilhan, near Bézi ...
as M. de Nieuwerkerke *
Charles Bouillaud Charles Bouillaud (11 May 1904 – 12 June 1965) was a French actor. Selected filmography {{DEFAULTSORT:Bouillaud, Charles 1904 births 1965 deaths French male stage actors French male film actors French male television actors 20th-cen ...
as Un indicateur


Production

De Carlo signed on for the film in late December 1953. The film was to be shot entirely in French with no English version, which no Hollywood star had done before. It was originally called ''Castiglione'' and
Raf Vallone Raffaele Vallone (17 February 1916 – 31 October 2002) was an Italian actor and footballer. One of the top male Italian stars of the 1950s and 1960s, he first became known for his association with the neorealist movement, and found success in ...
and Georges Marchall were meant to co-star. Filming had to be brought forward earlier than planned so De Carlo could make a film with
Cornel Wilde Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited ap ...
. The film was shot in France in March 1954. De Carlo did not enjoy working for the producers . "I was very much put out when they gave me a stand in for a French dialogue coach," she said. "I thought I deserved better than that, particularly as I studied day and night to perfect myself in the reading of the lines. That was only one of numerous irksome things which not only I but other people had to put up with in that French production." She later claimed the film was the first time a Hollywood actress did the lead in a film for which there was no English language version. "It was a distinction that made me feel proud."


See also

* ''
The Countess of Castiglione ''The Countess of Castiglione'' () is a 1942 Italian historical film directed by Flavio Calzavara and starring Doris Duranti, Andrea Checchi and Renato Cialente. The film portrays the life of the nineteenth-century Italian aristocrat Virginia Oldo ...
'' (1942)


References


External links

* 1954 films 1950s historical films Italian historical films French historical films Films set in the 1850s Films directed by Georges Combret Cultural depictions of Napoleon III Cultural depictions of Italian people 1950s Italian films 1950s French films {{historic-film-stub