GIULETTA MASINA Biography - Actors and Actresses

 
 

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GIULETTA MASINA

Name: Giulietta Masina                                                               
Born: 1921 San Giorgio di Piano                                                       
Died: 1994 Rome                                                                       
                                                                                     
Born in San Giorgio di Piano (BO) in 1921, Giulietta Masina spent part of her         
teenage years living with a widowed aunt in Rome, where she cultivated a passion     
for the theatre and studied for a degree in Philosophy. She began her career on       
the radio with the programme Terzoglio (1942), which brought her great success       
with the adventures of the newlyweds Cico and Pallina from scripts written by         
Federico Fellini. The following year she married Fellini and became the               
inspirational muse for many of his films. She made her cinema debut in "Without       
pity (Senza pietą)" (1948), directed by Alberto Lattuada, but really established     
her reputation with the next few films: "Behind closed shutters (Persiane chiuse)"   
(1950), directed by Luigi Comencini, "Variety lights (Luci del varietą)" (1951),     
which also marked Fellini's debut as director (the film credits both Fellini and     
Lattuada), and "The greatest love (Europa '51)" (1952), directed by Roberto           
Rossellini. Her artistic partnership with her husband really took off with the       
Oscar-winning La strada (1954), followed by "The swindlers (Il bidone)" (1955)       
and the widely acclaimed "Nights of Cabiria (Le notti di Cabiria") (1957), which     
again won an Oscar and brought her the award for Best Female Performance at the       
Cannes Film Festival. Over the following years, she played many memorable roles       
in such films as Fortunella (1958), directed by Eduardo De Filippo, "Nella cittą     
l'inferno" (1958), directed by Renato Castellani, and later in "Juliet of the         
Spirits (Giulietta degli spiriti)" (1965) and "Ginger e Fred (Ginger and Fred)"       
(1985), both directed by Fellini.                                                     
From 1966 to 1969 she hosted the immensely popular radio show Lettere aperte a       
Giulietta Masina and starred in the television series "Eleonora" (1972), by           
Tullio Pinelli, directed by Silverio Blasi, and "Camilla" (1976), directed by         
Sandro Bolchi, based on the novel by Fausta Cialente, "Un inverno freddissimo" (1966).
She died in Rome in 1994, just a few months after the death of her husband.