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Magnificent Magnani

© Tracy Scarpino

Anna Magnani was one tough chick. She made a career of playing courageous women and strong mothers. She was the "people's actress" in a way, the woman that many Italian women could relate to. She had an offbeat, earthy beauty that made her more accessible than other actresses. From the beginning, she had a difficult life. Born in Rome in 1908, she was abandoned by her single mother and raised by her maternal grandmother. Later, her only son contracted polio. She devoted her life to his care. She was married once, but it ended in annullment.

Her career took off when she made Roberto Rossellini's Open City (with whom she had an affair for many years until he met Ingrid Bergman). But before that she had already made twelve films and had a highly acclaimed stage career. In Open City, Magnani played Pina, a pregnant woman engaged to be married who is shot to death in the middle of a street by the Nazis.

My favorite Magnani film is Pier Paolo Pasolini's Mamma Roma. She plays an aging prostitute living in Rome. Her son (who looks a lot like Leonardo diCaprio) moves in with her and tries to deal with his confusing adolescence.

Her other films include Wild Is the Wind, Bellissima, and L'Amore, among many others.

She wasn't limited to Italian films. In 1955 she starred with Burt Lancaster in the screen version of Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress. Tennessee Williams, a friend of Magnani's, wrote the play with her in mind.

Her last film was Fellini's Roma, his homage to his hometown, with cameos by Marcello Mastroianni and Gore Vidal.

She died of pancreatic cancer a year later.

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