Pier Angeli
| Pier Angeli | |
|---|---|
pictured in 1957
|
|
| Born |
Anna Maria Pierangeli 19 June 1932 Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy |
| Died | 10 September 1971 (aged 39) Beverly Hills, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Accidental barbiturate overdose |
| Resting place | Cimitière des Bulvis in Rueil Malmaison, France |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1950–1971 |
| Spouse(s) |
Vic Damone (m. 1954–58) (divorced) (1 child) Armando Trovajoli (m. 1962–69) (divorced) (1 child) |
| Children | Perry Rocco Luigi Farinola Damone (1955-2014) Howard Andrew Rugantino (b. 1963) |
| Relatives | Marisa Pavan (sister) |
Pier Angeli (19 June 1932 – 10 September 1971) was an Italian-born television and film actress. Her American cinematographic debut was in the starring role of the 1951 film Teresa, for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Young Star of the Year - Actress. She had one son with Vic Damone, her husband from 1954 to 1958.
Born Anna Maria Pierangeli in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. Her twin sister is the actress Marisa Pavan. Angeli made her film debut with Vittorio De Sica in Domani è troppo tardi (1950), after being spotted by director Léonide Moguy and De Sica. She was discovered by Hollywood, and MGM launched her in her first American film, Teresa (1951). Directed by Fred Zinnemann, this film also saw the joint debuts of Rod Steiger and John Ericson. Reviews for her performance in the film compared her to Greta Garbo, and she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year – Actress. Under contract to MGM throughout the 1950s, she appeared in a series of films, including The Light Touch with Stewart Granger. Plans for a film of Romeo and Juliet with her and Marlon Brando fell through when a British-Italian production was announced.
Her next few films were respectable but unexciting: The Story of Three Loves (1953) with Kirk Douglas; Sombrero, in which she replaced an indisposed Ava Gardner; and Flame and the Flesh (1954), in which she lost her man to Lana Turner. After discovering Leslie Caron, another continental ingénue, MGM lent Angeli out to other studios. She went to Warner Bros. for The Silver Chalice, which marked the debut of Paul Newman, and she made Mam'zelle Nitouche with the French comic actor Fernandel. For Paramount, she was in contention for the role of Anna Magnani's daughter in The Rose Tattoo, but the role went to her twin sister, Marisa Pavan, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role. Angeli was lent out again, to Columbia, for Port Afrique (1956). She returned to MGM for Somebody Up There Likes Me as Paul Newman's long-suffering wife (James Dean had originally been expected to play the starring role, which went to Newman after Dean's death). She then appeared in The Vintage (1957) with Mel Ferrer and John Kerr, and finished her contract in Merry Andrew, starring Danny Kaye. She appeared with Vic Damone as a guest on the June 17, 1956 episode of What's My Line?.
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