Pier Angeli

Pier Angeli (19 June 1932 – 10 September 1971) was an Italian-born television and film actress.

Her American cinematographic debut was in the starring role of the 1951 film Teresa, for which she won a Golden Globe Award. Twenty years later, she had been chosen to play a part in The Godfather, but died before filming began.

She had romantic relationships with actors Kirk Douglas and James Dean before going on to marry Vic Damone.

Spouses

Vic Damone (m. 1954–58)
Armando Trovaioli (m. 1962–69)

Partners 

• Kirk Douglas (early-1950s)
• James Dean (c. 1954)

Children - 2

Marisa Pavan (sister)

Early life and career

Born Anna Maria Pierangeli in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. Her twin sister is the actress Marisa Pavan. Angeli made her film debut with Vittorio De Sica in Domani è troppo tardi (1950), after being spotted by director Léonide Moguy and De Sica. She was discovered by Hollywood, and MGM launched her in her first American film,Teresa (1951). Directed by Fred Zinnemann, this film also saw the joint debuts of Rod Steiger and John Ericson. Reviews for her performance in the film compared her to Greta Garbo, and she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star Of The Year – Actress. Under contract with MGM throughout the 1950s, she appeared in a series of films, including The Light Touch with Stewart Granger. Plans for a film of Romeo and Juliet with her and Marlon Brando fell through when a British-Italian production was announced.

Her next few films were respectable but unexciting: The Story of Three Loves (1953) with Kirk Douglas; Sombrero, in which she replaced an indisposed Ava Gardner; andFlame and the Flesh (1954), in which she lost her man to Lana Turner. After discovering Leslie Caron, another continental ingénue, MGM lent Angeli out to other studios. She went to Warner Bros. for The Silver Chalice, which marked the debut ofPaul Newman, and she made Mam'zelle Nitouche with the French comic actor Fernandel. For Paramount, she should have had the role of Anna Magnani's daughter in The Rose Tattoo, but because motherhood interfered, the role went to her twin sister, Marisa Pavan, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the role. Angeli was lent out again, to Columbia, for Port Afrique (1956). She returned to MGM for Somebody Up There Likes Me as Paul Newman's long-suffering wife (James Dean had originally been expected to play the starring role, which went to Newman after Dean's death). She then appeared in The Vintage (1957) with Mel Ferrer and John Kerr, and finished her contract in Merry Andrew, starring Danny Kaye.

Pier Angeli in Per mille dollari al giorno (1964)

During the 1960s and until 1970, Angeli returned to live and work in Britain and Europe. Few of her films during that period were notable, despite a strong performance opposite Richard Attenborough in The Angry Silence (1960). She was reunited with Stewart Granger for Sodom and Gomorrah (1963), in which she played Lot's wife. She had a brief role in the war epicBattle of the Bulge (1965). 1968 found Angeli in Israel, top billed in Every Bastard a King, about events during that nation's recent war, but steady work was eluding her. It seemed as if her acting career might revive when she was picked to play a role in The Godfather, but she died soon before filming.

Personal life and death

According to Kirk Douglas' autobiography, he and Angeli were engaged in the 1950s after meeting on the set of the film The Story of Three Loves (1953).

For a short time, Angeli also had a romantic relationship with James Dean; however, under pressure from her domineering mother, she broke off the relationship and went on to marry singer and actor Vic Damone (1954–1958). Her marriage to Damone ended in divorce, followed by highly publicized court battles for the custody of their one son, Perry Farinola Damone. Her second marriage was to Italian composer Armando Trovaioli (1962–1969), with whom she had another son (Andrew).

At the age of 39, despondent and lonely, Angeli was found dead in her home at 355 S. McCarty Dr. in West Los Angeles, of an accidental barbiturate overdose. She is interred in the Cimetière des Bulvis, in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, France.

She was later portrayed by Valentina Cervi in the 2001 TV movie James Dean, which depicted her relationship with Dean.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role Notes 1950 Domani è troppo tardi Mirella English title: Tomorrow Is Too Late 1951 Domani è un altro giorno Luisa   1951 Teresa Teresa Russo   1952 The Light Touch Anna Vasarri   1952 The Devil Makes Three Wilhelmina (Willie) Lehrt   1952 The Million Dollar Nickel Herself Short subject 1953 The Story of Three Loves Nina Burkhardt Segment: "Equilibrium" 1953 Sombrero Eufemia Calderon   1954 Mam'zelle Nitouche Denise de Flavigny/Nitouche Alternative titles: Oh No, Mam'zelle Santarellina 1954 Flame and the Flesh Lisa   1954 The Silver Chalice Deborra   1956 Meet Me in Las Vegas Cameo Uncredited 1956 Port Afrique Ynez   1956 Somebody Up There Likes Me Norma   1957 The Vintage Lucienne   1957 The Midnight Story     1958 Merry Andrew Selena Gallini   1959 SOS Pacific Teresa Alternative title: S.O.S. Pacific 1960 I moschettieri del mare Consuelo/Gracia English title: Musketeers of the Sea 1960 The Angry Silence Anna Curtis   1960 Estoril y sus fiestas Herself Short subject 1961 L'ammutinamento Polly English title: White Slave Ship Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1962 The Last Days of Sodom and Gomorrah Ildith Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1964 Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117 Lila English titles: Panic in Bangkok Shadow of Evil 1965 Missione mortale Molo 83 Hélène Blanchard English title: M.M.M. 83 1965 Berlino – Appuntamento per le spie Paula Krauss English title: Berlin, Appointment for the Spies 1965 Battle of the Bulge Louise   1966 Per mille dollari al giorno Betty Benson English title: For One Thousand Dollars Per Day Credited as Annamaria Pierangeli 1968 Rose rosse per il führer Marie English title: Red Roses for the Führer Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1968 Caccia ai violenti Mrs. Benton English title: One Step to Hell 1968 Kol Mamzer Melech Eileen English title: Every Bastard a King 1969 ¡Viva América! Bambi Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1969 Addio, Alexandra Alexandra Alternative title: Love Me, Love My Wife Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1970 Nelle pieghe della carne Falesse/Ester English title: In the Folds of the Flesh Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1970 Quell'amore particolare Cecilia Credited as Anna Maria Pierangeli 1971 Octaman Susan Lowry   Television Year Title Role Notes 1958 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Bernadette Soubirous 1 episode

Awards and nominations

Awards Year Award Category Title of work Result 1951 Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists Best Actress (Migliore Attrice) Domani è troppo tardi Won 1952 Golden Globe Award Most Promising Newcomer – Female Teresa Won 1955 Golden Globe Award World Film Favorite – Female   Nominated 1961 BAFTA Awards Best Foreign Actress The Angry Silence Nominated