Eleonora Rossi Drago | Stars of world cinema!

8 February 2021

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Profiles of stars from world cinematography! Eleonora Rossi Drago (1925 – 2007) Famous Italian actress of the 50s, whose nickname was Palmira Omiccioli, was born in Quinto al Mare, on September 23, 1925. She achieved great fame in the fifties and sixties for her acting skills and charm, directed by such caliber directors as Luigi Comencini, Alessandro Blasetti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Giuseppe De Santis, Pietro Germi, Giuliano Montaldo, Roberto Rossellini and Valerio Zurlin. She also worked for television, acting in several television dramas, including Fathers and Sons in 1958. She was born in an elegant suburb of Genoa to a father from the Marche area and a Spanish mother. Her father was a merchant marine commander who begrudgingly gave her permission to hastily marry in October 1942 because she had become pregnant at the age of seventeen. The wedding was postponed for 3 days due to a furious Anglo-American bombardment taking place in Genoa. A few months later, moved to Cuneo, she gave birth to her only daughter Fiorella but in 1944 her husband Cesare Rossi Drago joined the partisan forces in Italy. After the war ended her husband decided to emigrate to Argentina but Eleonora refused to follow him. The couple separated in January 1947 and she remained in Genoa with her young daughter Fiorella. Initially, Eleonora works as a model and designer, and then makes her debut as an actress in the "Piccolo Teatro" company in the Ligurian capital. In the summer of 1947, she took part in the Miss Italy contest and was considered among the favorites, but, according to the rules, she was excluded from the title race when it was discovered that she was married and a mother. She later moved to Rome where she made her film debut with Edgar G. Ulmer and Giuseppe Maria Scotese's I pirati di Capri (1949), appearing under her married name Eleonora Rossi Drago. In the first years of her career, she mainly participated in "genre" films, playing conventional roles. An opportunity for an artistic breakthrough presents itself to her when she attends director Giuseppe De Santis's selection auditions for the film "There is no peace under the olive tree", but the role is entrusted to Lucia Bosè. Later she will be able to highlight her expressive qualities in films such as "Persiane chiuse", "Sensualita", "Le amiche", "Donne sole" and "La strada lunga un anno", but very often the actress is dubbed. To improve her photogenicity, she undergoes rhinoplasty surgery that leaves her unhappy and will be repeated twice, never losing her innate class of a sophisticated woman with an elegant bearing. Newspapers nicknamed her the "Duchess of Italian Cinema" and focused on her romantic relationships with colleague Amedeo Nazzari, Prince Alfonso di Borbone and Duke Cesare D'Acquarone who was later murdered in Acapulco. Indeed, Eleonora Rossi Drago was not free to remarry, because she separated from her husband only in June 1956. Six months earlier, for a few weeks, she returned to the theater with Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" directed by Luchino Visconti and interpretation by Rina Morelli, Paolo Stoppa and Marcello Mastroianni. After the film "Imbroglio" (1959) by Pietro Germi she plays two other important roles in "Summer Violence" (1959) by Valerio Zurlini and in "Tiro al piccione" (1961) by Giuliano Montaldo, passing through the characterization of a acting in a role with the famous actor Nino Manfredi in the film "L'impiegato" (1960) by Gianni Puccini. In 1960, thanks to the intense and unparalleled interpretation of the troubled Roberta Parmesan in the film "Estate violenta", she won the "Silver Ribbon" and an award at the Mar del Plata festival as the best leading actress. Having reached the peak of her career at the age of 35, Eleonora no longer finds great professional opportunities. He plays in many episodic films such as "Il disco volante (1964) by Tinto Brass, "L`idea fissa" (1964) by Gianni Puccini, "Se permetette parliamo di donne" (1964) by Ettore Scola and in commercial films of the French collaboration and Spanish, German, Yugoslav products. She also records a series of poems and short theatrical texts on phonograph records. The last role in a high-budget film will be in 1966 that of Lot's wife in the international film "The Bible" by John Huston, but her television activity will be remembered as an interpreter of famous dramas, in particular "Citadel ” of 1964. On the small screen, she also appeared as a guest in musical variety shows and advertising spots for a popular sparkling wine. At the age of 41, neglected by the cinema, she accepts the engagement of a well-known weekly for a serial photo-novel in the role of the proud Queen Mary Stuart. Desperate for a professional reissue, in 1968 she returned to the theater in the role of a charming 40-year-old lesbian, together with Olga Villi, but Brunello Rondi's comedy, entitled "Shocking", remained on stage for only a few days. In her last films, Rossi Drago is forced to accept secondary roles in very strong stories and in 1970, at the age of 45, her film career ends with Sergio Bergonzelli's Nelle pieghe della carne. As the Italian comedy moved from narration and description of characters to the sketch with harsh tones and sexy aesthetics, the sophisticated expression and noble features of Eleonora Rossi Drago no longer aroused the interest of directors and producers. As the actress grew older, she faced isolation from the professional side and fell into a deep state of depression due to the fading of her physical beauty. In November 1971, a few weeks after becoming a grandmother, she tried to commit suicide by gas, but was saved by the Sicilian engineer Domenico La Cavera, who married her in 1973 in Palermo and survived her. With her second marriage, Rossi Drago finally finds peace and leaves the world of entertainment without regret, with a small exception: in 1989 she collaborated, together with Claudia Cardinale and Claudio Gora, in the documentary of John Jeremy – in the texts of Ennio De Concini and Alfredo Giannetti – dedicated to jazz figure Ben Webster, "The Brute and the Beautiful". The actress died at the age of 82 on December 2, 2007 at her home in Palermo, possibly of a cerebral hemorrhage.