Anna Magnani Antidiva without make-up, was the absolute interpreter of neorealism, embodying the character of the explosive and brash commoner, but at the same time free and generous, capable of bringing to the stage the genuine values of a rarefied Italy in black and white.
Born in Rome under the sign of Pisces, Magnani took her great passion from the Trastevere heart of the Eternal City. Raised by her grandmother, she soon went to boarding school, then left to chase her mother to Alexandria in Egypt, but the relationship never took off.
Anna Magnani very early began to sing in Roman cabarets and nightclubs and at the same time she studied at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome. First he worked in Niccodemi's theatrical company and then moved on to the magazine. He soon became one of the most requested names in Italian light theater, but with difficulty, not being a sex bomb, thanks only to his immense talent.
He worked with Vittorio De Sica, Aldo Fabrizi and with Totò, with whom he starred in numerous successful magazines.
Al Cinema she arrived late, she was not valued by those around her and who instead should have immediately seen what a great talent she was. The same handsome and elusive husband was never supportive, not even in raising her beloved son Luca; he remained an opaque and evanescent figure.
Finally,antidiva also exploded in Cinema international with Campo de 'Fiori in 1943 and with the Last wheelchair.
The consecration, however, came together with his great love for Roberto Rossellini with the neorealist film Rome open city (1945).
In this film Magnani revealed herself as an extraordinary dramatic actress in the part of Pina, a Roman commoner killed by the Germans while trying to reach the truck where her companion Francesco is taken away from whom she is expecting a child; a milestone in world cinema.
At that time little Luca, her son, fell ill and it was Rossellini's love and quickness of mind that saved him by moving him to Switzerland, and she loved him even more.
Rossellini, however, betrayed her and she in response threw a plate of spaghetti on his head; however he never forgot his great love and challenged him when he went to shoot the film Vulcano on the island of the same name. Instead, she landed on Stromboli, an island facing to shoot another film, trying to keep an eye on it!
In 1951 another huge success arrived with the memorable film Bellissima by Luchino Visconti, a work that earned her a well-deserved Silver Ribbon.
In this film Anna Magnani is memorable, eclectic, biting, managing to go from tragedy to laughter in a fraction of a second, completely stealing the attention of the spectators.
1955 is the year in which he won the Academy Award for his interpretation in Daniel Mann's "The Tattooed Rose", with Burt Lancaster, based on the novel by Tennessee Williams.
Lover of animals ante litteram, and of nature when it was not in fashion, especially of the sea and a little of speed, she was different from her colleagues, because she did not wear heels, she wore dark circles with ease, some informal clothes and went away around disheveled and smiling!
The characters exalted by her fiery and passionate temperament, she also capable of touching and unpredictable sweetness, made her indelibly enter the hearts of people who have never forgotten her.
Eventually hospitalized in a heart-disease clinic, Rossellini is next to her, elderly and repentant of having betrayed her, still in love sleeping on a chair. They found each other and his presence calmed and reassured her.
The last appearance was in a film by Fellini, taking his leave behind a large door and shortly after he left us on tiptoe, creating a void that nothing and no one has ever managed to fill.
