SILVANA MANGANO

SILVANA MANGANO



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0542146/

Silvana Mangano (21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian actress.

Raised in poverty during World War II, Mangano trained as a dancer and worked as a model before winning a "Miss Rome" beauty pageant in 1946. This led to work in films; she achieved a notable success in Bitter Rice (1949) and continued working in films for almost four more decades.

Mangano was married to the film producer Dino De Laurentiis from 1949 until her death after surgery for lung cancer, and they were the parents of four children.

Early life
Born in Rome to an Italian father and an English mother, Mangano lived in poverty caused by the Second World War. Trained for seven years as a dancer, she was supporting herself as a model.

In 1946, at age 16, Mangano won the "Miss Rome" beauty pageant and through this she obtained a role in a Mario Costa movie. One year later she became a contestant in the Miss Italia contest. Potential actress Lucia Bosé became "The Queen", among Mangano and several other future stars of Italian cinema such as Gina Lollobrigida, Eleonora Rossi Drago and Gianna Maria Canale.

Film career
Mangano's earliest connection with filmmaking occurred through her romantic relationship with actor Marcello Mastroianni. This led her to a movie contract, though it would take some time for Mangano to ascend to international stardom with her performance in Bitter Rice (Riso Amaro, Giuseppe De Santis, 1949). Thereafter, she signed a contract with Lux Films, in 1949, and later married Dino De Laurentiis, on the verge of becoming a known producer.

Though she never scaled the heights of her contemporaries Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, Mangano remained a favorite star between the 1950s and 1970s, appearing in Anna (Alberto Lattuada, 1951), The Gold of Naples (L'oro di Napoli, Vittorio De Sica, 1954), Mambo (Robert Rossen, 1955), Theorem (Teorema, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1968), Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia, Luchino Visconti, 1971), and The Scientific Cardplayer (1972).

Personal life
Married to Bitter Rice producer Dino De Laurentiis, Mangano had four children: Veronica, Raffaella, Francesca, and Federico. Veronica's daughter Giada De Laurentiis is host of Everyday Italian on the Food Network. Raffaella coproduced with her father on Mangano's next-to-last film, Dune (David Lynch, 1984). Federico died in a airplane crash in 1981 in Alaska.

Following surgery on 4 December 1989 that left her in a coma, Mangano died of lung cancer in Madrid, Spain, during the late night/early morning hours between 15 and 16 December 1989.

Filmography
Le jugement dernier (1945)
L'elisir d'amore (1946)
Il delitto di Giovanni Episcopo (1947)
Gli uomini sono nemici (1948)
Riso amaro (1949)
Il lupo della Sila (1949)
Black Magic (1949)
Il Brigante Musolino (1950)
Anna (1951)
Il più comico spettacolo del mondo (1953)
Mambo (1954)
L'oro di Napoli (1954)
Ulysses (1954)
Uomini e lupi (1956)
La tempesta (1958)
This Angry Age (1958)
La grande guerra (1959)
Crimen (1960)
5 Branded Women (1960)
Il giudizio universale (1961)
Barabbas (1962)
Il processo di Verona (1963)
La mia signora (1964)
Il disco volante (1964)
Io, io, io... e gli altri (1965)
Scusi, lei è favorevole o contrario? (1966)
Le streghe (1967)
Edipo Re (1967)
Capriccio all'italiana (1968)
Teorema (1968)
Scipione detto anche l'africano (1971)
Morte a Venezia (1971)
Il Decameron (1971)
D'amore si muore (1972)
Lo scopone scientifico (1972)
Ludwig (1972) - Cosima Wagner
Gruppo di famiglia in un interno (1974) - Marchesa Bianca Brumonti
Dune (1984) - Rev. Madre Ramallo
Oci ciornie (1987)
Although performed by Flo Sandon's, Silvana Mangano was credited on the label of the recording of "El Negro Zumbon," known as "Anna" in the U.S.A., which is from the soundtrack of the motion picture Anna (1951 film) and was a hit song in 1953.

Anna, a former sexy nightclub dancer who has become a hospital nurse, is on the verge of taking the veil. One day, She recognizes Andrea, her former fiancé, among the patients. Her troubled past suddenly comes back to her. Though engaged to Andrea, she was attracted to Vittorio, the owner of the nightclub where she performed as a singer and dancer. After Vittorio attempted to rape her, Andrea killed him. Following this tragedy. Anna decided to go into a convent. Andrea, who has been acquitted, now tries to persuade Anna to come back to him but at this very moment it is announced that a train has been derailed. Anna then understands that she must dedicate herself to her new vocation.