Clara Calamai
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Clara Calamai | |
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![]() Calamai in The Jester's Supper (1942) | |
Born | |
Died | 21 September 1998 Rimini, Italy | (aged 89)
Other names | Clara Mais |
Occupation | Actress |
Spouse(s) | Leonardo Bonzi (19 May 1945 - 9 November 1959) (annulled) |
Clara Calamai (7 September 1909 – 21 September 1998) was an Italian actress.
She was one of the most famous and popular Italian actresses in the 1930s and 1940s, sharing the limelight with actresses such as Alida Valli, Valentina Cortese, and rivals, Doris Duranti, Luisa Ferida and Isa Miranda. She was a charming and versatile actress who starred in both dramas and comedies of the telefoni bianchi style.
Career[]
Calamai's first acting role was in the 1938 war film Pietro Micca, directed by Aldo Vergano.
In The Jester's Supper (1942) an adaptation of a Sem Benelli's work, directed by Alessandro Blasetti) Calamai caused a sensation by appearing in a very brief topless scene. The scene is commonly credited with being the first time that an actress had appeared topless in an Italian sound film,[1][2] although Vittoria Carpi showed a bare breast for a moment in the 1941 film La corona di ferro (The Iron Crown), which was also directed by Blasetti. Calamai stated in a later interview that the original script did not have the character revealing herself this way and did not want to do the scene, but felt compelled by the director to do it and gave in when she was promised a closed set.[2] Nevertheless, many people reportedly saw the film many times because of the topless scene.
Her most remembered role was in the film Luchino Visconti's Ossessione (1943), in which she played Giovanna, the ill-fated female protagonist. [3]
Calamai was offered the role in L'adultera (The Adulteress, 1946, directed by Duilio Coletti), after Anna Magnani had to turn it down, and Calamai was awarded the Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon) in 1946 for best actress for her performance in the film.
She played a prostitute in Luchino Visconti's Le notti bianche (1957) and appeared in Le streghe (1967).
After years of retirement, she returned in 1975 to appear in the horror film Profondo rosso (Deep Red, directed by Dario Argento) as the eccentric matriarch, Marta.
Personal life[]
On 19 May 1945 she married explorer, and documentary film maker Count Leonardo Bonzi with whom she had two daughters. The marriage was annulled in November 1959, and she lived with Captain of Aviation Valerio Andreoni. Calamai died of a stroke in Rimini on 21 September 1998.
Partial filmography[]
- Pietro Micca (1938, directed by Aldo Vergano) - La contessa de Lassere
- (1938, directed by Gennaro Righelli)
- They've Kidnapped a Man (1938, directed by Gennaro Righelli)
- Ettore Fieramosca (1938, directed by Alessandro Blasetti) - Fulvia
- I, His Father (1939, directed by Mario Bonnard) - Renata
- The Fornaretto of Venice (1939, directed by Duilio Coletti) (doppiata da Tina Lattanzi) - Olimpia Zeno
- (1939, directed by Oreste Biancoli) - Lilli
- The Silent Partner (1939, directed by Roberto Roberti) - La moglie di Prado
- (1940, directed by Gian Paolo Rosmino) - La canzonettista
- Boccaccio (1940, directed by Marcello Albani) - Giannina, falso Boccaccio
- Captain Fracasse (1940, directed by Duilio Coletti) (doppiata da Tina Lattanzi) - Iolanda De Foix
- Goodbye Youth (1940, directed by Ferdinando Maria Poggioli) - Elena
- (1940, directed by Gennaro Righelli) - Agnese, l'istitutrice
- Caravaggio (1941, directed by Goffredo Alessandrini) - Madonna Giaconella
- (1941, directed by Hans Hinrich) - Bianca
- (1941, directed by Camillo Mastrocinque) - Clara Ferri
- Light in the Darkness (1941, directed by Mario Mattoli) - Amelia Gioiosi
- (1941, directed by Giacomo Gentilomo) - Federica Usticky
- Pirates of Malaya (1941, directed by Enrico Guazzoni) - Ada
- The Adventuress from the Floor Above (1941, directed by Raffaello Matarazzo) - Biancamaria Rossi
- The Jester's Supper (1942, directed by Alessandro Blasetti) - Ginevra
- The Queen of Navarre (1942, directed by Carmine Gallone) - Isabella del Portogallo
- (1942, directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia) - Adriana
- (1942, directed by Camillo Mastrocinque) - La baronessa Emilia Carpineti
- Ossessione (1943, directed by Luchino Visconti) - Giovanna Bragana
- (1943, directed by ) - Matilde Spina / Frida
- A Little Wife (1943, directed by Giorgio Bianchi) - Isa
- Farewell Love! (1943, directed by Gianni Franciolini) - Laura Acquaviva
- The Materassi Sisters (1944, directed by Ferdinando Maria Poggioli) - Peggy
- (1945, directed by Giorgio Bianchi) - Paola De Marchi
- Due lettere anonime (1945, directed by Mario Camerini) - Gina
- The Adulteress (1946, directed by Duilio Coletti) - Velca
- The Tyrant of Padua (1946, directed by Max Neufeld) - Tisbe
- (1946, directed by Giorgio Bianchi) - Carla
- Last Love (1947, directed by Luigi Chiarini) - Maria, la canzonetista
- When the Angels Sleep (1947, directed by ) - Elena
- Prelude to Madness (1948, directed by Gianni Franciolini (doppiata da Lydia Simoneschi) - Elena Leonardi
- Romanticismo (1949, directed by Clemente Fracassi) - Giuditta Ansperti
- Sicilian Uprising (1949, directed by Giorgio Pàstina) - Elena Di Caltabellotta
- Il moschettiere fantasma (1952, directed by ) - Marina Venier
- Carne inquieta (1952, directed by ) - Marchesa di Francavilla
- Le notti bianche (1957, directed by Luchino Visconti) - La prostituta
- Afrodite, dea dell'amore (1958, directed by Mario Bonnard) - Stenele
- Tom Jones (1960, TV Mini-Series)
- Le streghe (1967, directed by Luchino Visconti) - Ex-actress (segment "Strega Bruciata Viva, La")
- Profondo rosso (1975, directed by Dario Argento) - Marta
- (1975, directed by ) - Michele's Mother (final film role)
References[]
- ^ Il Mereghetti - Dizionario dei Film 2008, p. 556
- ^ Jump up to: a b Forgacs, David (2002). "Sex in the Cinema". In Reich, Jacqueline; Garofalo, Piero (eds.). Re-viewing Fascism: Italian Cinema, 1922-1943. Indiana University Press. pp. 159–61. ISBN 0-253-34045-4.
- ^ "The Dying Diva: Violent Ends for Clara Calamai in Ossessione and Profondo Rosso". Forum Italicum: A Journal of Italian Studies. 42 (2): 296–312. 2008. doi:10.1177/001458580804200204. S2CID 164517587. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
External links[]
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- 1909 births
- 1998 deaths
- Nastro d'Argento winners
- People from Prato
- 20th-century Italian actresses