Valli, Alida (1921-2006)

Valli, Alida

ACTOR (ITALY)

BORN 31 May 1921, Pola (now Pula, Croatia) - DIED 22 Apr 2006, Roma, Lazio
BIRTH NAME Altenburger, Alida Maria Laura
GRAVE LOCATION Roma, Lazio: Cimitero Monumentale del Verano, Piazzale del Verano, 1 (Nuovo Reparto, section 85, Cappella 3 Piano Terra, row 1, grave 20 (loculo) )

Alida Valli was the granddaughter of Baron Luigi Altenburger. She went to Rome when she was fifteen years old and there she entered the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, living with her uncle Ettore Tolomei. In 1934 she had debuted in the movie "Il cappello a tre punte" and her part in "Mille lire al mese" (1939) was her first success. For her part in Mario Soldati's "Piccolo mondo antico" (1941) she won a Best Actress award in Venice. During the Second World War she played in several movies and in 1944 she married the composer Oscar de Mejo.

After the war she went to Hollywood, where David Selznick signed her. She starred in Hitchcock's "The Paradine Case" (1947) and in 1949 she was in "The Third Man". She wanted to divorce her husband in 1949 but they came back together and had two children. But her disloke of Selznick and her accent didn't help her and in the early 1950s she returned to Europe where she played in French and Italian movies. In 1954 she was in Visconti's "Senso". In 1956 she left the movie scene to concentrate on the theatre but in the 1960s she appeared in several movies. Her career lasted until 2002.

Images

The niche of Alida Valli at the Cimitero Monumentale al Verano, Rome.
Picture by Androom (24 Jan 2010)