Valentina Cortese died this morning in her home in Milan – she was 96. The great Italian actress had been confined to a wheelchair for several years but was still receiving friends in her beautiful house in Piazza Sant’Erasmo. Her first important film role was in the 1948 Italian film Les Misérables with the young Marcello Mastroianni (she played […]
Valentina Cortese
Milan celebrates one of its most-loved actresses as she turns 80
Giulia Lazzarini, one of Giorgio Strehler’s favourite actress, and for decades a constant presence on the stage of Milan’s famed Piccolo Teatro, is 80 and, rightly, it was at the Piccolo Teatro that her birthday was celebrated this week. Looking ten-years younger, she is continuing to work on stage, and will play the mother in […]
Valentina Cortese becomes a Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Italian actress Valentina Cortese was awarded France’s highest honour in recognition of her contribution to the arts, the Commandeur dans l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, during a ceremony on Monday. The award ceremony took place in Milan’s French Institute, and was preceded by the projection of photographs and film clips by by Antonio Zanoletti, […]
Actress Valentina Cortese radiant in haute couture at 90
Great Italian actress Valentina Cortese turned 90 this year. Style has always been part of her life (she is the sort of actress who is theatrical offstage as well as on) and the diva quality in her manner and dress belongs to the glamorous era of Taylor and Burton, and the jet-set. But Cortese is […]
Boris Bilinsky: costume and set designer for ballet, opera and film and legendary graphic artist
Boris Bilinsky was born in Odessa in 1900, but left Russia in 1920, escaping from the aftermath of the Revolution. He settled in Berlin where he was still able to collaborate with Russian theatres, but in 1923 he moved to Paris and worked with the Studio Albatros, a production company in Montreuil. Albatros had only been set up […]
Anna Anni, costume designer for Orson Welles and Franco Zeffirelli, has died at 84
After designing costumes for two Orson Welles projects in 1953, Anna Anni worked for more than 50 years at the top. Maria Callas, Monserrat Caballè, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Carla Fracci, Rudolf Nureyev, Anna Magnani, Valentina Cortese e Fanny Ardant all wore her costumes. A designer obsessed with detail, and one of the first to rediscover techniques for creating […]
