Italian Cinema is celebrating the 100th birthday of Anna Magnani one of the greatest actresses of all time with a whole year of events.
She was born in Rome on 7th March 1908 and had a very troubled childhood.
Raised by her grandmother in the slums of the city she learned as a child that life could be very difficult.
After playing in several Italian movies she rose to international stardom with her role in Roberto Rossellini’s neorealist masterpiece Rome, Open City.
Anna Magnani maybe did not have the beauty of other more glamorous actresses such as Sophia Loren or Gina Lollobrigida but her fiery personality and earthy passion took the world by storm.
Her role in Bellissima, a movie directed by Luchino Visconti which tells the story of a stage mother who drags her child to a beauty contest, is simply unforgettable and makes one go through a rollercoaster of emotions.
Anyway the turning point in her career came in 1955 when she played an Italian-American widow in The Rose Tattoo, a movie based on the play Tennessee Williams wrote for her; the success was so great that Anna Magnani won an Oscar as best actress.
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