Clara Calamai

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Clara Calamai

Clara Calamai (born September 7, 1909 in Prato , † September 21, 1998 in Rimini ) was an Italian film actress .

Life

Clara Calamai was born in 1909 in the Tuscan city of Prato as the daughter of the station master Priamo Grazzini. She herself stated 1915 as her year of birth throughout her life. In her youth, due to an unhappy love affair, she attempted suicide, which she barely survived. Because of her beauty, she was discovered for the film by producer Eugenio Fontana and made her debut in 1938 under the pseudonym Clara Mais in Pietro Micca by Aldo Vergano . She took acting lessons and played in about 30 films by 1946, including many costume films. She became one of the most famous actresses in the Italian cinema of Telefoni Bianchi and was often determined to be of the femme fatale type in her roles .

A scene in the film La cena delle beffe by Alessandro Blasetti in 1941 caused a sensation in which she can be seen for a brief moment with her bare chest, the first representation of its kind in Italian cinema. The scene is also built into the well-known closing sequence of the film Cinema Paradiso .

Clara Calamai played her best-known role in Ossessione , the first film by Luchino Visconti (1942), in which she stood in for Anna Magnani, who was initially supposed to be pregnant . For this film, which anticipated neorealism, Visconti changed the calamai's diva image by letting her play a simple housewife alongside Massimo Girotti without make-up.

Her career flattened in the 1950s, and Clara Calamai only appeared in a few films, including again with Visconti in White Nights in the role of a prostitute. She then retired into private life, but then played a role in Dario Argento's Profondo rosso in 1975 . Clara Calamai was married to the pilot, explorer and documentary filmmaker Count Leonardo Bonzi .

Awards

1946: Nastro d'Argento , Award of the Italian Film Critics for her portrayal in L'adultera as best female lead actress. The film has not been preserved.

Filmography (selection)

literature

  • Clara Calamai. L'ossessione di essere diva. curato da Italo Moscati, Marsilio 1996, ISBN 88-317-6422-5 .

Web links

Commons : Clara Calamai  - Collection of Images
personal data
SURNAME Calamai, Clara
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian actress
DATE OF BIRTH September 7, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH Prato
DATE OF DEATH September 21, 1998
Place of death Rimini