Masina, Giulietta

(1921-1994)

   Actress. An accomplished and versatile actress who appeared in some 30 films in a career that spanned five decades, Masina is nevertheless probably best remembered for the roles she played in the films of her husband, Federico Fellini. After achieving some popularity on the radio in the early 1940s playing the main female character in a comic program written by the then unknown Fellini, Masina made her screen debut in Alberto Lattuada's Senza pieta (Without Pity, 1948) in a strong supporting role that earned her the Nastro d'argento. Two years later she received her second Nastro for her performance as Melina Amour, the plainer variety actress abandoned by her man for the more beautiful Carla Del Poggio in Luci del varieta (Variety Lights, 1950). After a minor role in Roberto Rossellini's Europa '51 (The Greatest Love, 1952) and a fleeting appearance as a prostitute named Cabiria in Fellini's Lo sceicco bianco (The White Sheik, 1952), she came to international prominence as the endearing waif, Gelsomina, in La strada (1954), with the film winning the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and Masina being nominated for the BAFTA award for Best Actress. Three years later her captivating performance as the warm-hearted prostitute in Le notti di Cabiria (The Nights of Cabiria, 1957) brought her a third Nastro d'argento as well as the Best Actress prize at Cannes. In the following years she appeared in a number of films by other directors, including alongside Anna Magnani in Renato Castellani's prison drama Nella citta l'inferno (Hell in the City, 1958), but her most memorable subsequent performances were undoubtedly those Fellini elicited from her in Giulietta degli spiriti (Juliet of the Spirits, 1965) and Ginger e Fred (Ginger and Fred, 1986). Her final appearance on the big screen was as Bertille, a 70-year-old mother attempting to bring her family together for a last meal, in Jean-Louis Bertucelli's Aujourd'hui peut-etre (A Day to Remember, 1991).