Anna Magnani

Born: 1908-03-07

Anna Magnani (pronounced: mahn-YANEE; 7 March 1908 – 26 September 1973) was an Italian stage and film actress. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, along with four other international awards, for her portrayal of a Sicilian widow in The Rose Tattoo. Born in Rome to an Egyptian father and an Italian mother, she worked her way through Rome's Academy of Dramatic Art by singing at night clubs. During her career, her only child was stricken by polio when he was 18 months old and remained crippled. She was referred to as "La Lupa," the "perennial toast of Rome" and a "living she-wolf symbol" of the cinema. Time magazine described her personality as "fiery", and drama critic Harold Clurman said her acting was "volcanic". In the realm of Italian cinema, she was "passionate, fearless, and exciting," an actress that film historian Barry Monush calls "the volcanic earth mother of all Italian cinema." Director Roberto Rossellini called her "the greatest acting genius since Eleonora Duse. Playwright Tennessee Williams became an admirer of her acting and wrote The Rose Tattoo specifically for her to star in, a role for which she received her first Oscar in 1955. After meeting director Goffredo Alessandrini she received her first screen role in La cieca di Sorrento (The Blind Woman of Sorrento) (1934) and later achieved international fame in Rossellini's Rome, Open City (1945), considered the first significant movie to launch the Italian neorealism movement in cinema. As an actress she became recognized for her dynamic and forceful portrayals of "earthy lower-class women" in such films as The Miracle (1948), Bellissima (1951), The Rose Tattoo (1955), The Fugitive Kind (1960), with Marlon Brando and directed by Sidney Lumet, and Mamma Roma (1962). As early as 1950, Life magazine had already stated that Magnani was "one of the most impressive actresses since Garbo". Description above from the Wikipedia article Anna Magnani, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia​


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Rome, Open City

as Pina
Released: 1945-10-08

During the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944, the leader of the Resistance is chased by the Nazis...

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Roma

as Anna Magnani
Released: 1972-03-16

A virtually plotless, gaudy, impressionistic portrait of Rome through the eyes of one of its...

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The Fugitive Kind

as Lady Torrance
Released: 1960-04-14

Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run...

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Mamma Roma

as Mamma Roma
Released: 1962-09-22

After years spent working as a prostitute in her Italian village, middle-aged Mamma Roma has...

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Bellissima

as Maddalena Cecconi
Released: 1952-01-04

Film director Blasetti is looking for a little girl for his new movie. Along with other mothers,...

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The Secret of Santa Vittoria

as Rosa
Released: 1970-01-02

During World War II, Italian villagers hide their wine from the German army.

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Love

as The woman (segment "Una voce umana") / Nannina (segment "Il miracolo")
Released: 1948-11-02

L'Amore ('Love') is a 1948 Italian drama anthology film that consists of two parts, The Human...

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The Golden Coach

as Camilla
Released: 1952-12-05

A viceroy, a nobleman and a bullfighter court a comedy-troupe actress in 18th-century Peru.

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The Rose Tattoo

as Serafina Delle Rose
Released: 1955-12-12

A grieving widow embarks on a new romance when she discovers her late husband had been cheating...

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Cinéma et Réalité

as Self
Released: 1967-01-01

In this documentary, giants of italian cinema such as Rossellini, De Sica, Fellini and Zavattini...

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My Dad Is 100 Years Old

as Pina (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: 2006-12-06

A tribute to Isabella Rossellini's father

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The Bandit

as Lidia
Released: 1946-10-05

Among others, Ernesto returns to Turin after the war from a German POW camp; his household...

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The Passionate Thief

as Gioia 'Tortorella' Fabbricotti
Released: 1960-10-12

On New Year's Eve, a young woman and an out-of-work actor complicate a pickpocket's plans to ply...

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We Are Cinema

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2021-12-16

An Italian documentary about Italian cinema.

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Vittorio D.

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2009-09-17

A documentary about Vittorio de Sica with clips of his films and testimonials from friends and...

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Girlfriend in a Coma

as Maddalena Cecconi (archive footage) (uncredited)
Released: 2012-11-26

Girlfriend in a Coma is a documentary that exposes the dire situation of Italian politics and...

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Before Him All Rome Trembled

as Ada
Released: 1946-10-02

An opera singer hides an American soldier in his house in Nazi-occupied Rome.

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Made in Italy

as Adelina (segment "5 'La Famiglia', episode 3")
Released: 1965-12-22

A group of Italians take a flight to Sweden: among them there are the tourists, and the immigrants.

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Peddlin' in Society

as Gioconda Perfetti
Released: 1946-12-21

Thanks to wartime smuggling Gioconda Perfetti, a roman fruit vendor, becomes very rich. She...

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Wild Is the Wind

as Gioa
Released: 1957-12-11

A widowed Nevada rancher goes to Italy and marries the sister of his deceased wife and brings...

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Volcano

as Maddalena Natoli
Released: 1950-02-02

An exiled Italian prostitute shields her sister from a deep-sea diver on an island volcano.

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Tre donne - La sciantosa

as Flora Torres
Released: 1971-09-26

La Sciantosa is part of a project created by writer/director Alfredo Gianetti for the Italian...

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Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2021-05-16

Cinecitta is today known as the center of the Italian film industry. But there is a dark past....

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Tennessee Williams: Orpheus of the American Stage

as Serafina Delle Rose / Lady Torrance (archive footage)
Released: 1994-12-19

A study of Tennessee Williams's life and work as a whole, ranging from his youth in Mississippi...

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Down with Misery!

as Nannina Straselli
Released: 1945-12-27

The two drivers Giovanni and Gaetano are friends. Gaetano, bold and ruthless, thrives in the...

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We, the Women

as Anna (segment "Anna Magnani")
Released: 1953-10-27

Five portraits of actresses in their "common" life, seen as women rather than movie stars.

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Hell in the City

as Egle
Released: 1959-01-29

A young girl comes to prison and experiences the entire prison subculture. The inmates she...

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Teresa Venerdì

as Loletta Prima
Released: 1941-11-24

A comedy of errors where floundering pediatrician Pietro takes a job as an orphanage health...

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Angelina

as Angelina Bianchi
Released: 1947-11-12

A rowdy woman is so forceful that she outdoes her husband in a loud cry against speculators who...

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The Peddler and the Lady

as Elide
Released: 1943-06-24

Peppino, a fishmonger on Campo de' Fiori, a famous Roman marketplace, works alongside Elide, a...

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The Treasure of His Youth: The Photographs of Paolo Di Paolo

as Self - Actress (archive footage)
Released: 2021-10-23

The life of the legendary Italian photojournalist Paolo Di Paolo through his photographs, which...

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Assunta Spina

as Assunta Spina
Released: 1948-03-10

Assunta, a commoner of Naples, is scarred by her lover Michele for jealousy.

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Josefa's Loot

as Josefa
Released: 1963-08-22

Justin, a lyricist by trade, and his friend Pierre, a composer, lead a bohemian life in Paris....

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1870

as Teresa Parenti
Released: 1972-01-07

Rome, 1870. Opponents of the church power are being sent to prison. Some of the exhausted...

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Once Upon a Time... 'Rome, Open City'

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2006-05-27

Television documentary about the making of Roberto Rossellini's 1945 film "Rome, Open City".

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Quei due

as Pierotta
Released: 1935-01-01

Adventures of two provincial actors looking for anyway done with something to eat. They are...

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Full Speed

as Emilia - la cameriera
Released: 1934-12-31

A meek professor is swept over his feet by a very vivacious girl.

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The Automobile

as Anna
Released: 1971-10-10

An ex-prostitute, feeling an emptiness in her life, decides to fill it by buying a car.

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The Last Wagon

as Mary Dunchetti
Released: 1943-12-01

Toto (Aldo Fabrizi), a Roman coachman with an old fashioned horse-drawn carriage who objects to...

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Variety carousel

as uncredited
Released: 1955-02-08

A painter gives his daughter a television set for her 18th birthday. On the evening of the...

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Tre donne - 1943: Un incontro

as Jolanda
Released: 1971-10-03

This vehicle for the great actress Anna Magnani was one of the four made for Italian television...

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Luck Comes from Heaven

as Zizì
Released: 1942-03-26

The merchant Giovanni Illes is tracked down by the debtors, but cannot pay his debts. To save...

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My Name Is Anna Magnani

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1980-09-30

Traces the life of Anna Magnani, her creations, her successes, her triumphs, her boycotted...

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Red Shirts - Anita Garibaldi

as Anita Garibaldi
Released: 1952-08-15

The story of Giuseppe Garibaldi's 1849 campaign to free Italy from Austrian domination.

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Quand Jean devint Renoir

as Camilla (archive footage)
Released: 2017-04-30

The fascinating story of a man destined to be only a son of and who sought all his life to...

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Il Fiore sotto gli Occhi

as Maria Comasco, l'attrice
Released: 1944-11-28

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Princess Tarakanova

as Marietta, la cameriera
Released: 1938-03-23

A film about the story of princess Élisabeth Tarakanova.

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Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema

as Self
Released: 1985-01-01

A documentary about the Italian cinema as art form and industry.

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Barbra Streisand: The Movie Album

as Gioia (archive footage)
Released: 2003-10-14

Bonus DVD accompanying the special edition CD "The Movie Album". The DVD contains Barbra...

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The War of the Volcanoes

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2012-09-02

In 1948, a fan letter arrived for director Roberto Rossellini from Ingrid Bergman, one of...

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The Awakening

as suor Letizia
Released: 1956-10-17

Directed by the incredibly prolific Mario Camerini, Suor Letizia was released in...

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Woman Trouble

as Linda Bertoni
Released: 1948-10-17

Driven by the constant quarrels with his wife and humiliated by a rich Milanese industrialist...

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Luchino Visconti: Between Truth and Passion

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2016-11-15

Forty years after his death, this documentary pays tribute to one of the major filmmakers of...

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Unkown Men of San Marino

as Liana, la prostituta
Released: 1948-01-16

A mysterious man, who had lost his memory, arrives in San Marino among other refugees during the...

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30 Seconds of Love

as Gertrude Siriani, la sorella zitella di Tullio
Released: 1936-10-24

A married woman hits a pedestrian with her car who requests that she must perform a particular...

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La vita è bella

as Virginia
Released: 1943-05-26

Count Alberto has lost his wealth at the gaming table, he wants to commit suicide but is stopped...

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The Passion of Anna Magnani

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 2019-05-20

The destiny of legendary actress Anna Magnani through archive footage, often unpublished.

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Finalmente soli

as Ninetta
Released: 1942-03-17

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Rossellini Under the Volcano

as Maddalena Natoli (archive footage)
Released: 1998-01-01

A documentary about Roberto Rossellini and the making of his 1950 film "Stromboli."

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La fuggitiva

as Wanda Reni
Released: 1941-11-02

In the absence of the biological mother, too busy pursuing her theatrical career, we see the...

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Revenge

as Adele Vicarelli
Released: 1946-04-21

A man comes home from the war and finds both his plant and his family destroyed.

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Rossellini Through His Own Eyes

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1993-05-01

Made up almost entirely of archival interviews with Italian film director Roberto Rossellini...

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Quartetto pazzo

as Elena
Released: 1945-08-22

Elena invites her former husband Roberto to her country house with the aim of winning him back...

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L'avventura di Annabella

as La mondana
Released: 1943-03-31

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Cavalleria

as Fanny
Released: 1936-10-23

Umberto Solaro loses the love of his life Speranza, a noble but poor girl who has been forced to...

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Bellissime

as (archive footage)
Released: 2004-01-08

Documentary consisting of archival footage that depicts the evolving conditions of Italian women...

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Anna Magnani - Recitare la verità

as (archive footage)
Released: 2008-03-07

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The Blind Woman of Sorrento

as Anna, la sua amante
Released: 1934-04-30

Drama set in the nineteenth century in Sorrento in southern Italy. It is an adaptation of the...

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Das Mädchen der Strasse

as uncredited
Released: 1928-02-02

A homeless girl is taken in by an engineer. They fall in love.

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Anna Magnani

as uncredited
Released: 1953-10-31

On the way to a singing engagement, Anna Magnani and a taxi driver have an argument over whether...

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What's My Line?

as Self - Mystery Guest
First aired: 1950-02-02

Four panelists must determine guests' occupations - and, in the case of famous guests, while...

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Cinépanorama

as Self
First aired: 1956-02-04

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The Oscars

as Self
First aired: 1953-03-19

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The...

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The Ed Sullivan Show

as Self (archive footage)
First aired: 1948-06-20

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June...

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Un film et son époque

as Self (archive footage)
First aired: 2003-05-17

TV Show page