Vitti, Monica

(1931-)

(Born Maria Luisa Ceciarelli.) Actress. Although outside Italy Vitti is probably best remembered for her intensely dramatic roles in the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, in Italy she has always been better known as a comic actress, a talent that quickly came to the fore at the Rome Academy of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 1953. Her first (uncredited) film role was in Ridere, Ridere, Ridere (Laugh, Laugh, Laugh, 1954), a series of comic sketches directed by Edoardo Anton. While pursuing her career on the stage with the Sbragia-Lisi-Ronconi company she met Antonioni, who used her voice to dub Alida Valli in his Il grido (The Cry, 1957). There followed the major Antonioni films L'avventura (The Adventure, 1960), La notte (The Night, 1961), L'eclisse (The Eclipse, 1962), and Il deserto rosso (The Red Desert, 1964), intense portraits of ennui and alienation in which Vitti became the perfect mouthpiece for Antonioni himself.

   After more stage work, which included a 1964 production of Arthur Miller's After the Fall, directed by Franco Zeffirelli, she moved decisively to film comedy, from then on starring in a host of commedie all'italiana including Mario Monicelli's La ragazza con la pistola (Girl with a Pistol, 1968), Amore mio aiutami (Help Me My Love, 1969), in which she acted with and was directed by Alberto Sordi, and Dino Risi's Noi donne siamo fatte cost (That's How We Women Are, 1971). At the same time she worked with international directors, appearing in, among others, Joseph Losey's Modesty Blaise (1966), Miklos Jancso's La pacifista (The Pacifist, 1970), and Luis Bunuel's Le fantdme de la liberte (The Phantom of Liberty, 1974).

   After returning briefly to work with Antonioni in Il mistero di Oberwald (The Oberwald Mystery, 1981), she retired from cinema during the 1980s except for two films directed by her then partner, Roberto Russo, Flirt (1983) and Francesca e mia (Francesca Is Mine, 1986), preferring during this period to concentrate on theater, which included appearing in a female version of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple (1987), directed by Franca Valeri. In 1990 she turned to directing herself in Scandalo segreto (Secret Scandal, 1990), for which she won Golden Globes for both acting and direction. Soon thereafter she published an autobiography, Sette sottane (Seven Underskirts, 1993), which won the Fregene Prize for biography, and a novel, Il letto e una rosa (The Bed Is a Rose, 1995).

   During a long and distinguished career Vitti won five David di Donatello awards and three Nastri d'argento. In 1995 she received a Golden Lion at the Venice Festival for her lifetime achievement.