Pina Menichelli
| Pina Menichelli | |
|---|---|
Pina Menichelli in The Fire (1916)
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| Born |
Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli 10 January 1890 Castroreale, Italy |
| Died | 29 August 1984 (aged 94) Milan, Italy |
| Occupation | Actress in Italian silent films |
| Years active | 1912–1924 |
| Partner(s) | Libero Pica (1908–1924) Baron Carlo Amato (1924–?) |
Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli (10 January 1890 – 29 August 1984), known as Pina Menichelli, was an Italian actress and silent film star. After a career in theatre and a series of small film roles, Menichelli was launched as a film star when Giovanni Pastrone gave her the lead role in The Fire (1916). Over the next nine years, Menichelli made a series of films, often trading on her image as a diva and on her passionate, decadent eroticism. Menichelli became a global star, and one of the most appreciated actresses in Italian cinema, before her retirement in 1924, aged 34.
Since her death, restorations of Menichelli's surviving films have been shown at important film festivals, and her filmography has been re-assembled and re-evaluated by film historians.
Giuseppa Iolanda Menichelli was born on 10 January 1890 in Castroreale, a small village in the province of Messina, Sicily. Her parents, Cesare and Francesca Malvica, were both touring theatre actors, who performed in Sicilian language. The Menichellis were part of a dynasty of performers, which included Nicola Menichelli, an important eighteenth century comedian. Her older sister Lilla, younger sister Dora and brother Alfredo all became actors. Pina Menichelli was educated at the Sacre Cuore Catholic School in Bologna.
Being part of a family of touring actors, Menichelli started acting as child. Her first important role was in 1907 in a theatre company run by Irma Gramatica and Flavio Andò, which toured Argentina in 1908. Menichelli married and took up residence in Buenos Aires in 1909.
After her return to Italy in 1912, Menichelli acted in around thirty-five films made by Cines of Rome in 1913–1915. Menichelli initially had parts in action-adventure films (Le mani ignote, Zuma and Il banchiere), before gaining supporting roles in several films based around famous actresses, such as Hesperia (Olga Mambelli), Soava Gallone and Gianna Terribili-Gonzales. Menichelli received positive reviews for her performances in In Contrasto (1913), Il siero del dottor Kean (1913) and La barca nuziale (1913). Menichelli played Cleopatra in Cajus Julius Caesar (1914), but all her scenes were cut from the final film.
In the Napoleonic war epic Scuola d'eroi (1914), Menichelli had a cameo as a drummer girl. Legend has it that her performance struck Giovanni Pastrone, the director of Cabiria, who cut a frame from the film reel and ordered that the unknown actress be brought to Itala Films of Turin. However, reviews of her last films at Cines suggest that Menichelli was well on her way to film stardom before her move to Itala Films. Menichelli had graduated to starring roles in feature films, and her performances were generally positively reviewed, earning her favourable comparisons with Lyda Borelli and Francesca Bertini, the two most famous Italian film actresses of the time. One reviewer noted Menichelli's, "uncommon talent," in Alla Deriva (1915). Commenting on La casa di nessuno (1915), another reviewer remarked, "The public like Menichelli, and that's enough. I could say that I like her too."
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