Valentina Cortese | |
|---|---|
 Cortese inThe Jester's Supper (1942) | |
| Born | Valentina Elena Cortese Rossi di Coenzo (1923-01-01)1 January 1923 Milan, Kingdom of Italy |
| Died | 10 July 2019(2019-07-10) (aged 96) Milan, Italy |
| Other names | Valentina Cortesa |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1941–1993 |
| Spouses | |
| Children | Jackie Basehart |
Valentina Elena Cortese Rossi di Coenzo (1 January 1923 – 10 July 2019), sometimes credited asValentina Cortesa,[1][2] was an Italian film and theatre actress.[3][4][5] Her screen career spanned over 100 productions across over five decades, from 1941 until 1993. Cortese won theBAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for both anAcademy Award and aGolden Globe for her performance in the filmDay for Night (1973). In 2013, she received the FrenchOrder of Arts and Letters.
Over the course of her career, Cortese worked with many important Italian and international directors, includingMichelangelo Antonioni,Federico Fellini,Franco Zeffirelli,François Truffaut,Joseph L. Mankiewicz andTerry Gilliam.[3] She was also active on stage, particularly in the company ofGiorgio Strehler. CriticMorando Morandini described her as "one of the last divas of Italian theatre.... a mix of floral liberty, subdued decadence, belatedD'Annunzio-ism and neurotic modern sensibility."[6]
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Cortese was born onNew Year's Day inMilan. Her parents were Olga Cortese and Napoleone Rossi di Coenzo, of noble origins.[7][8] Cortese's father abandoned her mother shortly before her birth, and she was raised by her mother in the countryside, before being sent toTurin to live with her maternal grandparents in 1930.[3][4][5]
After meeting conductorVictor de Sabata in 1940, then married with children and 31 years her senior, she quit high school and followed him to Rome, where she enrolled at (and later graduated from) the National Academy of Dramatic Arts (Accademia d'arte drammatica).[4]
She first appeared on stage before receiving a contract atScalera Film in 1941[4] and giving her film debut with a small role inL'orizzonte dipinto.[5]
Cortese's first important film roles were inRoma Città Libera (1946),Les Misérables andThe Wandering Jew (both 1948).[3] 1948 also saw the end of her relationship with de Sabata.[4] Her appearance in the British productionThe Glass Mountain (1949) led to numerous roles in international productions, includingJules Dassin'sThieves' Highway (1949), chosen by her then-partner Dassin over the originally castShelley Winters,[9] andRobert Wise'sThe House on Telegraph Hill (1951).[3] In 1951, she married her co-star onThe House on Telegraph HillRichard Basehart, with whom she returned to Italy.[3] Cortese continued to appear in national and international productions; the most notable of this era include Joseph Mankiewicz'sThe Barefoot Contessa (1954) and Michelangelo Antonioni'sLe Amiche (1955).[3] For the latter, she received theNastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress.[10]
In 1960, Cortese and Basehart divorced, and Basehart returned to the US, leaving in her custody their only child,Jackie.[3] In the following years, she worked for directors as diverse asMario Bava (The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 1963),Bernhard Wicki (The Visit, 1964), Federico Fellini (Juliet of the Spirits, 1965),Robert Aldrich (The Legend of Lylah Clare, 1968) andJoseph Losey (The Assassination of Trotsky, 1972).[3] For her performance in François Truffaut'sDay for Night (1973) she received theBAFTA Award,[11] theNational Society of Film Critics Award[12] and theNew York Film Critics Circle Award,[13] and was nominated for theAcademy Award which ultimately went toIngrid Bergman.[3][4][14] In her acceptance speech, Bergman remarked that she felt Cortese should have won the award.[15]
While her later films were mostly of lesser artistic interest, Cortese was continuously successful on stage,[3] working withGiorgio Strehler, with whom she had a long-lasting relationship,[3][4] Franco Zeffirelli,[3][4]Luchino Visconti[3] andPatrice Chéreau.[5] In 1980, she married industrialist Carlo De Angeli.[4] Her last film was Zeffirelli's 1993Sparrow.[3]
In 2017, Francesco Patierno documented her life in the filmDiva!, based on her 2012 autobiographyQuanti sono i domani passati ("How many tomorrows have gone by").[3]
Cortese died on 10 July 2019, aged 96.[3][16]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1941 | L'orizzonte dipinto | ||
| The Actor Who Disappeared | |||
| The Hero of Venice | Alina | ||
| First Love | Nerina Redi | ||
| 1942 | Girl of the Golden West | Madge / Juanita | |
| The Jester's Supper | Lisabetta | ||
| The Queen of Navarre | Eleonora d'Austria | ||
| Soltanto un bacio | Maria Renda / Luisa Renda | ||
| Orizzonte di sangue | Lidia | ||
| Fourth Page | Valentina | ||
| Happy Days | Marianna | ||
| 1943 | 4 ragazze sognano | Enrichetta Dorlence | |
| La carica degli eroi | |||
| 1945 | No Turning Back | Valentina | |
| The Ten Commandments | Segment: “Non nominare il nome di Dio invano” | ||
| Chi l'ha visto? | Luisella | ||
| 1946 | Rome, Free City | La ragazza | |
| A Yank in Rome | Maria / La maestrina | ||
| 1947 | Bullet for Stefano | Barbara | |
| The Courier of the King | Louise de Renal | ||
| 1948 | Les Misérables | Fantine /Cosette | |
| The Wandering Jew | Esther | ||
| Crossroads of Passion | Maria Pilar | ||
| 1949 | The Glass Mountain | Alida | |
| Black Magic | Zoraida | ||
| Thieves' Highway | Rica | ||
| Malaya | Luana | ||
| 1950 | Women Without Names | Anna Petrovic | |
| Shadow of the Eagle | Elizabeth, Princess Tarakanova | ||
| 1951 | The Rival of the Empress | Principessa Tarakanova | |
| The House on Telegraph Hill | Victoria Kowelska | ||
| 1952 | Secret People | Maria | |
| 1953 | Lulu | Lulù | |
| Jealousy | Agrippina | Voice, Uncredited | |
| The Walk | Lisa | ||
| 1954 | Angels of Darkness | Vally | |
| Marriage | Natalia Stefanovna Chubukova | ||
| Avanzi di galera | Moglie di Luprandi | ||
| The Barefoot Contessa | Eleanora Torlato-Favrini | ||
| 1955 | Adriana Lecouvreur | Adriana Lecouvreur | |
| Le Amiche | Nene | ||
| Il conte Aquila | Teresa Casati | ||
| 1956 | Faccia da mascalzone | ||
| Magic Fire | Mathilde Wesendonk | ||
| The Rocket from Calabuch | Eloisa | ||
| 1957 | Dimentica il mio passato | ||
| Kean: Genius or Scoundrel | Fanny | Uncredited | |
| 1958 | Amore a prima vista | — | |
| Love and Troubles | Marisa | ||
| 1961 | Square of Violence | Erica Bernardi | |
| Barabbas | Julia | ||
| 1962 | Axel Munthe, The Doctor of San Michele | Eleonora Duse | |
| 1963 | The Girl Who Knew Too Much | Laura Craven-Torrani | |
| 1964 | The Visit | Mathilda Miller | |
| 1965 | The Possessed | Irma | |
| Juliet of the Spirits | Valentina | ||
| 1966 | Black Sun | Maria | |
| 1968 | The Legend of Lylah Clare | Countess Bozo Bedoni | |
| Listen, Let's Make Love | Lallo's Mother | ||
| Oh, Grandmother's Dead | Ornella | ||
| 1969 | The Secret of Santa Vittoria | Gabriella | Uncredited |
| 1970 | Give Her the Moon | Madeleine de Lépine | |
| First Love | Mother | ||
| The Love Mates | Eva | ||
| 1971 | The Boat on the Grass | Christine | |
| The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire | Mrs. Sobiesky | ||
| 1972 | Chronicle of a Homicide | Luisa Sola | |
| Brother Sun, Sister Moon | Pica di Bernardone | ||
| The Assassination of Trotsky | Natalia Sedova Trotsky | ||
| 1973 | Day for Night | Séverine | |
| 1974 | Appassionata | Elisa Rutelli | |
| Tendre Dracula | Uncredited | ||
| The Kiss of Death | Elizabeth Blixen | ||
| Don't Hurt Me, My Love | Sabina Foschini | ||
| 1975 | Dracula in the Provinces | Olghina Franchetti | |
| Kidnap Syndicate | Grazia Filippini | ||
| Son tornate a fiorire le rose | Sabina Foschini | ||
| 1976 | Nick the Sting | Regina, Nick's mother | |
| The Big Operator | The Widow | ||
| 1977 | Nido de viudas | Dolores | |
| 1978 | Tanto va la gatta al lardo... | Vilma / Leonilde Bosco Casagrande | |
| 1979 | Satan's Wife | Elena Merrill | |
| 1980 | When Time Ran Out | Rose Valdez | |
| 1982 | La ferdinanda: Sonate für eine Medici-Villa | Caterina de Dominicis | |
| 1987 | Monte Napoleone | Madre di Guido | |
| Tango blu | Rachele Cigno | ||
| 1988 | Young Toscanini | Uncredited | |
| The Adventures of Baron Munchausen | Queen Ariadne / Violet | ||
| 1991 | Buster's Bedroom | Serafina Tannenbaum | |
| 1993 | Sparrow | Mother Superior | Final film role |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Jesus of Nazareth | Herodias |
Media related toValentina Cortese at Wikimedia Commons
