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1-50 of 59
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Daniela Giordano was born on November 7, 1946 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Giordano attended school in Milan, Italy, where she lived with her family for ten years before returning to Palermo at age fourteen. Daniela was the winner of several local beauty pageants in her home town of Palermo and, in the wake of winning the 1966 Miss Italia contest at age nineteen, finished in second place in the 1967 Miss Europe contest. Giordano went on to work as a model prior to acting in her first movie in 1967. Among the notable directors that Daniela acted in films for are Mario Bava, León Klimovsky, Alfonso Brescia, Luigi Cozzi, Sergio Martino, and Paul Naschy.- She never found the international cross-over fame destined for Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, and most American audiences would not recognize her name, but voluptuous, visually stunning Eleonora Rossi Drago certainly made male hearts pulsate in Europe with her scores of princesses and temptresses throughout Italian cinema of the 1950s and 1960s. She eventually earned respect as a fine actress and elevated her status in the films of Luigi Comencini and Michelangelo Antonioni, among others. But for the most part, she gamely played the sex card in a career that stretched a bit past two decades.
She was born Palmira Omiccioli (some sources also list Palmina as her first name, near Genoa, Italy (Columbus' birthplace) on September 23, 1925, the daughter of a sea captain. She married at the age of 17 and bore a daughter Fiorella but the marriage (to a gentleman named Rossi) did not last. She then found work as a department store mannequin and began actually designing couture clothing herself. An arresting beauty, she started competing in beauty contests and wound up in fourth place in the "Miss Italy" pageant. Gina Lollobrigida came in third. The attention lured her to films.
She moved to Rome and in 1949 began receiving small movie roles while using her married name of Rossi. Her first two big breaks came with Behind Closed Shutters (1951) [Behind Closed Shutters] with Massimo Girotti, a melodrama about prostitution, and the highly controversial Sensualita (1952) [Sensuality] in which Marcello Mastroianni and Amedeo Nazzari violently quarrel over her affections. The earlier picture was directed by Luigi Comencini and considered a strong success. The highly impressed Comencini went on to cast Eleonora as a female lead in his next film La tratta delle bianche (1952) [The White Slave Trade or Girls Marked for Danger], another tawdry melodrama about prostitution that co-starred Vittorio Gassman and also showcased the up-and-coming Sophia Loren.
It was obvious that Rossi-Drago had the makings of a bosomy sex goddess but she constantly strove to better her acting reputation in classier material. In 1955 she won critical notice on stage as Helena in Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" opposite Marcello Mastroianni as Astrov. Her finest hour in films came about that same year with the release of Antonnini's The Girlfriends (1955) [The Girlfriends], in which she starred in the rags-to-riches story of a humble girl who becomes a respected owner of a fashion salon and the social class struggle therein. Among her other standout roles in the 1950s were Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957), again opposite Vittorio Gassman, who also directed, and the award-winning Italian/French co-production Violent Summer (1959), in which she played a married woman approaching middle age who surrenders herself to a younger man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) during the summer of '43 and height of fascism. The film earned her the "Silver Ribbon" award, voted for by Italian film journalists, and the "best actress" award at the Mar del Plata Film Festival in Argentina.
In order to work continuously, however, she was forced to take on provocative roles of lesser quality -- roles that usually emphasized her physical attributes or enhanced the scenery around her. While Sophia Loren had a Carlo Ponti to promote her internationally, Rossi-Drago was less fortunate. By the 1960s she was relegated to such unmemorable adventures, horrors and sword-and-sand spectacles as David and Goliath (1960) [David and Goliath] with Orson Welles playing King Saul; The Carpet of Horror (1962) [The Carpet of Horror]; and Sword of the Conqueror (1961) [Sword of the Conqueror] opposite a raping and pillaging Jack Palance. Elsewhere, she was pretty much overlooked in the epic ensemble as Lot's wife in John Huston's mammoth failure The Bible in the Beginning... (1966).
Things did not improve into the decade and after appearing with Helmut Berger in the critically-panned retelling of Dorian Gray (1970) and Pier Angeli in the pedestrian Sergio Bergonzelli giallo In the Folds of the Flesh (1970) [In the Folds of the Flesh], she decided to call it quits. Blending back inconspicuously into mainstream society, she married Sicilian businessman Domenico La Cavera in 1973, and eventually retired to Palermo, Italy. She died at age 82 of a brain hemorrhage on December 2, 2007, and was survived by her second husband and daughter. - Enzo Andronico was born on 13 May 1924 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor, known for Isabella, Duchess of the Devils (1969) and Emergency Squad (1974). He died on 26 September 2002 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Franco Indovina was born in 1932 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for L'Avventura (1960), Giuochi particolari (1970) and Menage all'italiana (1965). He died on 5 May 1972 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Luigi Maria Burruano was born on 22 April 1945 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for One Hundred Steps (2000), Il ritorno di Cagliostro (2003) and Liberi (2003). He died on 10 September 2017 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Additional Crew
- Actress
- Writer
Letizia Battaglia was born on 5 March 1935 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. She was an actress and writer, known for Palermo Shooting (2008), Belluscone. Una storia siciliana (2014) and Excellent Cadavers (2005). She was married to Franco Stagnitta. She died on 13 April 2022 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Mario Pupella was an Italian actor, theatre director and art director who was born Castelvetrano, Sicily, in 1945. He debuted at a very young age in "Henry the fifth" by Luigi Pirandello, and then became main actor and director in many theater plays by Plauto, Terenzio, Ben Jonson, Molière and several big authors from the 1900s. In cinema, he debuted as the protagonist of the film "Angela" by Roberta Torre. He also took part in two seasons of the tv series "L'onore e il rispetto" by Salvatore Samperi, playing the role of don Patrono. In "La siciliana ribelle" by Marco Amenta he was the antagonist of the judge Borsellino. He also played the role of Don Mimì in the film "La matassa" with Ficarra and Picone. In 2012, he was co-star in Carlo Fusco's film "Vento di Sicilia".
- Gregorio Napoli was born in August 1934 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor, known for La rabbia (2008), Sud Side Stori (2000) and Il ritorno di Cagliostro (2003). He died on 2 April 2010 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Tenor Michelangelo Verso, born in Palermo (Sicily) in 1920, studied with tenor Salvatore Pollicino in Palermo, with Maestro Punzo in Naples and with tenor Giovanni Martinelli in New York. He started singing in various Eiar and Rai Radio programs in Italy, winning several awards. In 1942 he won a scholarship for acting at the "Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia" (C.S.C.) of Rome and in 1950 he was chosen winner of the International Contest of Perfection for Lyric Singers at the Accademia Internazionale Chigiana of Siena where he studied with soprano Ines Alfano Tellini. His operatic repertoire included: Rigoletto, La Bohème, La Traviata, Cavalleria Rusticana, Lucia di Lammermoor and Elisir d'Amore. He made his operatic debut in Palermo in 1949 with "Il Barbiere di Siviglia". In that same year his mentor and idol, Beniamino Gigli, invited him to participate in a benefit concert that Gigli had organized at the Teatro Massimo of Palermo for the poor. Michelangelo Verso recorded records for Cetra, Fonit, Columbia and other labels and was the first singer who was invited in 1951 by the Cetra record company of Turin to record the Sicilian song "Vitti 'na crozza" (composed by Francesco Li Causi) which became an anthem for the Sicilians. In 1952 he was engaged by Furio Rendine to participate at the Neapolitan song festival "La Piedigrotta" where he was awarded for his interpretation of "Campane Napulitane" (which soon after was recorded and released with other songs sung by him on Fonit records) and where the local critics quoted him as the new Caruso for having sung in public without a microphone. In 1953 he sang in concert with soprano Maria Caniglia in Monreale in the presence of Cardinal Carpinio. On the transatlantic liner Andrea Doria during his journey to New York, he was invited to sing in concert with the orchestra on board conducted by Maestro Bandel. Once arrived in New York, where he established, he did extensive Radio and TV work for WHOM, WEVD, CBS, and NBC. He was put under contract by the Pittsburgh Opera for the lyric season 1953/54 to sing the leading tenor role as the Count of Almaviva in the "Barber of Seville" together with baritone Cesare Bardelli as Figaro. In 1955 he established himself in Mexico where he performed with Josephine Baker at Teatro Iris and acted and sang together with Gloria Aguiar in the movie "Invitacion a Italia" sponsored by Good Year Oxo. His voice was also used in a Mexican film "Locos peligrosos" (1957) starring Tin-Tan (Germán Valdés), Luis Aguilar, Yolanda Varela and Paco Malgesto. He sang at the Teatro Bellas Artes of Mexico D.F. in concert with baritone Carlo Morelli and recorded several Long Playing records for the Columbia record company. In Cuba (Havana) in 1955 at TV Canal 4 he performed in the same program with Edith Piaf and at the "Tropicana Nightclub" he was in the same show with Maurice Chevalier and Nat King Cole. During the following years he toured and sang in several countries of North and Latin America, performing mainly for Radio and TV. In 1961 he returned to Europe where he toured and performed in Italy, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus. In that same year he made records with PhonoType, Zephir and Rifi record companies and participated in 1962 in the Sicilian Songcontest in Castellamare del Golfo where he won the first and second award with two new Sicilian songs "Carritteri 'nnammuratu" and "Saridda" which soon after were recorded and released by the Fonola record company of Milan. In Germany he was invited to sing for the AFN and for the NATO and in the Netherlands, where he established himself for many years, he performed in several concerts, TV and Radio shows. In 1984 he was invited by the soprano Rina Gigli, the daughter of Beniamino, to come to Recanati to give a homage to her father in a concert in which also tenor Ferruccio Tagliavini participated. Returning to his birthplace Palermo, Michelangelo Verso performed in many TV-shows and benefit concerts for UNICEF and made three Beniamino Gigli memorial documentaries for local TV. In 1990 he was awarded in Rome with a Golden Plate from O.I.P.E.C. "Omaggio a Beniamino Gigli" for his world-wide artistic merits and tributes and in 1998 he was nominated Honorary Member by the English Mario Lanza fan club "Friends of Mario Lanza". In 2003, three years before he died, he was awarded with a Silver Commemorative Plate by the town Council of Palermo engraved with the following: "Lifetime Achievement Award to Michelangelo Verso, clear and robust voice appreciated around the world by the public and the critics"
- Paolo Borsellino was born on 19 January 1940 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was married to Agnese Piraino Leto. He died on 19 July 1992 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Rita Barbanera was born on 4 December 1968 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. She was an actress, known for Aclà (1992) and Altri uomini (1997). She was married to Tony Sperandeo. She died on 27 April 2001 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- King Constantine was born on 2 August 1868 in Athens, Kingdom of Greece. He was married to Sophia of Prussia. He died on 11 January 1923 in Palermo, Sicily, Kingdom of Italy.
- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Rosa Balistreri was born on 21 March 1927 in Licata, Sicily, Italy. She was an actress and composer, known for Il prefetto di ferro (1977), Seduction (1973) and Delitto d'amore (1974). She died on 20 September 1990 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
Leonardo Sciascia was born on 8 January 1921 in Racalmuto, Sicily, Italy. He was a writer, known for Mafia (1968), Illustrious Corpses (1976) and Bronte: cronaca di un massacro che i libri di storia non hanno raccontato (1972). He was married to Maria Andronico. He died on 20 November 1989 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Ernesto Di Fresco was born on 28 January 1929 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a producer, known for Un gioco per Eveline (1972). He died on 16 November 2002 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Actor
- Writer
Franco Scaldati was born on 13 April 1943 in Montelepre, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Kaos (1984), The Star Maker (1995) and I briganti di Zabut (1998). He died on 1 June 2013 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Renato Pinciroli was born on 22 January 1905 in Costigliole d'Asti, Piedmont, Italy. He was an actor, known for L'Avventura (1960), Divorce Italian Style (1961) and More Than a Miracle (1967). He died on 2 September 1976 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Fortunato Cirrincione was an actor, known for Toto Who Lived Twice (1998), Il ritorno di Cagliostro (2003) and L'Opè incatenato (2004). He died on 7 February 2008 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi di Lampedusa was born on 11 February 1934 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is known for Prove per una tragedia siciliana (2009), Manolo: The Boy Who Made Shoes for Lizards (2017) and L'infanzia di Orlandino - Antonio Pasqualino e l'opera dei pupi (2011). He died on 10 May 2023 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Vincenzo Agostino died on 21 April 2024 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Ennio Groggia was an actor, known for I promessi sposi (1967), Tomorrow We Dance (1982) and Don Luigi Sturzo (1981). He died on 21 March 1992 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Duc de Montpensier was born on 6 February 1869 in Twickenham, Middlesex, England, UK. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Jaripeo y fiestas en Jalapa (1910). He was married to Maria Dorothea of Austria. He died on 28 March 1926 in Palermo, Sicily, Kingdom of Italy.- Giovanni Alamia was born on 2 January 1951 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor, known for La scorta (1993), The Star Maker (1995) and Una storia semplice (1991). He died on 17 February 2000 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Giovanni Onorato was born on 7 February 1910 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor, known for Ettore Fieramosca (1938), Le due tigri (1941) and La forza del destino (1950). He died on 23 February 1960 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Luigi Natoli was born on 14 April 1857 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a writer, known for I cavalieri dalle maschere nere (I beati paoli) (1948) and Il principe ribelle (1947). He died on 25 March 1941 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Giovanni Martorana was born on 2 July 1962 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor, known for Malena (2000), Sins (2012) and The Best of Youth (2003). He died on 21 December 2018 in Monreale, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Actor
- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
Tommaso Caporrimo was an actor and production manager, known for Toto Who Lived Twice (1998), Lo zio di Brooklyn (1995) and Il cacciatore (2018). He died on 3 April 2020 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Giuseppe Quatriglio was born on 30 October 1922 in Catania, Sicily, Italy. He died on 25 March 2017 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Cesare Meano was born on 22 December 1899 in Turin, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Frontiere (1934), La zia smemorata (1940) and La nascita di Salomè (1940). He died on 24 November 1957 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Paolo Viola was born in 1948. He was an actor, known for Viuuulentemente mia (1982) and L'Agnese va a morire (1976). He died on 12 November 2005 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Rita Borsellino was born on 2 June 1945 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. She was a director, known for Lundi investigation (2003), CityZen (2015) and A Sicilian Odyssey (2009). She was married to Renato Fiore. She died on 15 August 2018 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Gaspare Cucinella was an actor, known for The Best of Youth (2003), One Hundred Steps (2000) and Il cavaliere Sole (2008). He died on 9 February 2016 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Stage actor, plays with Giovanni Grasso, Tommaso Marcellini, Turi Pandolfini, Michele Abbruzzo, Rosina Anselmi, and others. In 1928 he formed his own company. On the big screen made his debut in 1943 and until 1960 acted in forty films, directed by Pino Mercanti, Zampa, Germi, Coletti, Pastina and several others. He got one time the lead role in the episode "La giara" of the film "Questa è la vita", adapted from a novel by Luigi Pirandello. He was married with the stage actress Rita Alaimo (1894-1964).
- Ilva Ligabue was born on 23 May 1928 in Bagnolo in Piano, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She was an actress, known for Classic Archive: Verdi - Messa da Requiem (2013), Don Giovanni (1958) and Music 625 (1964). She died on 19 August 1998 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Giuseppe Greco was a writer and director, known for La mafia dei nuovi padrini (2005), I Grimaldi (1997) and Vite perdute (1992). He died on 12 February 2011 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Pietro Giordano was an actor, known for Lo zio di Brooklyn (1995), Il ritorno di Cagliostro (2003) and Cani (1992). He died on 26 January 2017 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Lucio Flamma was born on 14 November 1896 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was an actor, known for After Six Days (1920), The Beauty Shoppers (1927) and La gabbia dorata (1922). He was married to Trilby Clark and Trilby Gwendolyn. He died on 4 July 1967 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Piersanti Mattarella was born on 24 May 1935 in Castellamare del Golfo, Sicily, Italy. He died on 6 January 1980 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Salvatore Rizzuto Adelfio died on 26 August 2013 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Lucio Tasca D'Almerita was born on 9 January 1940 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He died on 25 July 2022 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Raymond Roussel was born on 20 January 1877 in Paris, France. He was a writer, known for Impressions d'Afrique (1977). He died on 14 July 1933 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Cinematographer
Marco Sacchi was born on 19 February 1955 in Isernia, Molise, Italy. Marco was a cinematographer, known for Incontro con Francesco Rosi (1981). Marco died on 25 May 2016 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.- Simona Mafai was born on 5 July 1928 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She died on 16 June 2019 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Carlo Alberto Dalla Chiesa was born on 27 September 1920 in Saluzzo, Piedmont, Italy. He died on 3 September 1982 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Nino Vaccarella was born on 4 March 1933 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He died on 23 September 2021 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Danilo Dolci was born on 28 June 1924 in Sesana, Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy [now Sezana, Slovenian Littoral, Slovenia]. He died on 30 December 1997 in Partinico, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Aurelio Pes was a writer, known for Stupor mundi (1997). He died on 8 December 2020 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Giorgio Libassi was an actor, known for Cinema Paradiso (1988), The Star Maker (1995) and Un gioco per Eveline (1972). He died on 16 February 2010 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Joseph Petrosino was born on 30 August 1860 in Salerno, Campania, Italy. He died on 12 March 1909 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.
- Pupino Samonà was born in 1925. He was an actor, known for Autopsy (1975), Giordano Bruno (1973) and La colonna infame (1973). He died on 15 September 2007 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy.