Valentina Elena Cortese Rossi di Coenzo (1 January 1923 – 10 July 2019), sometimes credited as Valentina Cortesa, was an Italian film and theatre actress. Her screen career spanned over 100 productions across over five decades, from 1941 until 1993. Cortese won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for her performance in the film Day for Night (1973). In 2013, she received the French Order of Arts and Letters.

Over the course of her career, Cortese worked with many important Italian and international directors, including Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, Franco Zeffirelli, François Truffaut, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Terry Gilliam. She was also active on stage, particularly in the company of Giorgio Strehler. Critic Morando Morandini described her as "one of the last divas of Italian theatre.... a mix of floral liberty, subdued decadence, belated D'Annunzio-ism and neurotic modern sensibility."

Early years

Cortese was born on New Year's Day in Milan. Her parents were Olga Cortese and Napoleone Rossi di Coenzo, of noble origins. Cortese's father abandoned her mother shortly before her birth, and she was raised by her mother in the countryside, before being sent to Turin to live with her maternal grandparents in 1930.

After meeting conductor Victor de Sabata in 1940, then married with children and 31 years her senior, she quit high school and followed him to Rome, where she enrolled at (and later graduated from) the National Academy of Dramatic Arts (Accademia d'arte drammatica).

Career She first appeared on stage before receiving a contract at Scalera Film in 1941 and giving her film debut with a small role in L'orizzonte dipinto.

Cortese's first important film roles were in Roma Città Libera (1946), Les Misérables and The Wandering Jew (both 1948). 1948 also saw the end of her relationship with de Sabata. Her appearance in the British production The Glass Mountain (1949) led to numerous roles in international productions, including Jules Dassin's Thieves' Highway (1949), chosen by her then-partner Dassin over the originally cast Shelley Winters, and Robert Wise's The House on Telegraph Hill (1951). In 1951, she married her co-star on The House on Telegraph Hill Richard Basehart, with whom she returned to Italy. Cortese continued to appear in national and international productions; the most notable of this era include Joseph Mankiewicz's The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and Michelangelo Antonioni's Le Amiche (1955). For the latter, she received the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress.

In 1960, Cortese and Basehart divorced, and Basehart returned to the US, leaving in her custody their only child, Jackie. In the following years, she worked for directors as diverse as Mario Bava (The Girl Who Knew Too Much, 1963), Bernhard Wicki (The Visit, 1964), Federico Fellini (Juliet of the Spirits, 1965), Robert Aldrich (The Legend of Lylah Clare, 1968) and Joseph Losey (The Assassination of Trotsky, 1972). For her performance in François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973) she received the BAFTA Award, the National Society of Film Critics Award and the New York Film Critics Circle Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award which ultimately went to Ingrid Bergman. In her acceptance speech, Bergman remarked that she felt Cortese should have won the award.

While her later films were mostly of lesser artistic interest, Cortese was continuously successful on stage, working with Giorgio Strehler, with whom she had a long-lasting relationship, Franco Zeffirelli, Luchino Visconti and Patrice Chéreau. In 1980, she married industrialist Carlo De Angeli. Her last film was Zeffirelli's 1993 Sparrow.

In 2017, Francesco Patierno documented her life in the film Diva!, based on her 2012 autobiography Quanti sono i domani passati ("How many tomorrows have gone by").

Death Cortese died on 10 July 2019, aged 96.

Filmography Features Year Title Role Notes1941 L'orizzonte dipinto The Actor Who Disappeared The Hero of Venice Alina First Love Nerina Redi 1942 Girl of the Golden West Madge / Juanita The Jester's Supper Lisabetta The Queen of Navarre Eleonora d'Austria Soltanto un bacio Maria Renda / Luisa Renda Orizzonte di sangue Lidia Fourth Page Valentina Happy Days Marianna 1943 4 ragazze sognano Enrichetta Dorlence La carica degli eroi 1945 No Turning Back Valentina The Ten Commandments Segment: “Non nominare il nome di Dio invano” Chi l'ha visto? Luisella 1946 Rome, Free City La ragazza A Yank in Rome Maria / La maestrina 1947 Bullet for Stefano Barbara The Courier of the King Louise de Renal 1948 Les Misérables Fantine / Cosette The Wandering Jew Esther Crossroads of Passion Maria Pilar 1949 The Glass Mountain Alida Black Magic Zoraida Thieves' Highway Rica Malaya Luana 1950 Women Without Names Anna Petrovic Shadow of the Eagle Elizabeth, Princess Tarakanova 1951 The Rival of the Empress Principessa Tarakanova The House on Telegraph Hill Victoria Kowelska 1952 Secret People Maria 1953 Lulu Lulù Jealousy Agrippina Voice, Uncredited The Walk Lisa 1954 Angels of Darkness Vally Marriage Natalia Stefanovna Chubukova Avanzi di galera Moglie di Luprandi The Barefoot Contessa Eleanora Torlato-Favrini 1955 Adriana Lecouvreur Adriana Lecouvreur Le Amiche Nene Il conte Aquila Teresa Casati 1956 Faccia da mascalzone Magic Fire Mathilde Wesendonk The Rocket from Calabuch Eloisa 1957 Dimentica il mio passato Kean: Genius or Scoundrel Fanny Uncredited 1958 Amore a prima vista — Love and Troubles Marisa 1961 Square of Violence Erica Bernardi Barabbas Julia 1962 Axel Munthe, The Doctor of San Michele Eleonora Duse 1963 The Girl Who Knew Too Much Laura Craven-Torrani 1964 The Visit Mathilda Miller 1965 The Possessed Irma Juliet of the Spirits Valentina 1966 Black Sun Maria 1968 The Legend of Lylah Clare Countess Bozo Bedoni Listen, Let's Make Love Lallo's Mother Oh, Grandmother's Dead Ornella 1969 The Secret of Santa Vittoria Gabriella Uncredited1970 Give Her the Moon Madeleine de Lépine First Love Mother The Love Mates Eva 1971 The Boat on the Grass Christine The Iguana with the Tongue of Fire Mrs. Sobiesky 1972 Chronicle of a Homicide Luisa Sola Brother Sun, Sister Moon Pica di Bernardone The Assassination of Trotsky Natalia Sedova Trotsky 1973 Day for Night Séverine 1974 Appassionata Elisa Rutelli Tendre Dracula Uncredited The Kiss of Death Elizabeth Blixen Don't Hurt Me, My Love Sabina Foschini 1975 Dracula in the Provinces Olghina Franchetti Kidnap Syndicate Grazia Filippini Son tornate a fiorire le rose Sabina Foschini 1976 Nick the Sting Regina, Nick's mother The Big Operator The Widow 1977 Nido de viudas Dolores 1978 Tanto va la gatta al lardo... Vilma / Leonilde Bosco Casagrande 1979 Satan's Wife Elena Merrill 1980 When Time Ran Out Rose Valdez 1982 La ferdinanda: Sonate für eine Medici-Villa Caterina de Dominicis 1987 Monte Napoleone Madre di Guido Tango blu Rachele Cigno 1988 Young Toscanini Uncredited The Adventures of Baron Munchausen Queen Ariadne / Violet 1991 Buster's Bedroom Serafina Tannenbaum 1993 Sparrow Mother Superior Final film role

Partial Television Credits

Year Title Role Notes 1977 Jesus of Nazareth Herodias

References

External links