Comedy Classic Mariangela Melato

One of Italy’s most adored comedy actresses, she is best known for her doomed love affairs in Lina Wertmüller’s 1970s films on social class and politics.

Mariangela Melato was born in Milan in 1941 to a Milanese mother and a German father who emigrated to Italy from Nazi Germany. When she was a teenager, she studied acting under Esperia Sperani, a fellow Milanese who rose to fame during the silent film era.

Melato began her acting career with small parts in television and film, but her breakout role came in Wertmüller’s 1972 “The Seduction of Mimi.” The story of a Sicilian worker cursed with bad timing, Mimi (Giancarlo Giannini) is forced to relocate to Torino. When he sees Fiorella (Melato) selling sweaters for a street vendor, it’s love at first sight. Before long, Fiorella becomes Mimi’s vivacious and talkative mistress and gives birth to their son.

Meanwhile, Mimi finds trouble at every turn and is transferred back to Sicily, where his wife is waiting for him along with a different set of problems. He gets into trouble and ends up serving time for a murder he didn’t commit. Upon his release, he is met with three women and three children, all fighting over him, forcing him to choose between them.

At first, producers were concerned about casting Giannini and Melato in the lead roles because they were relatively unknown to Italian audiences. But the two had such strong chemistry, Wertmüller also cast them in her 1973 follow-up.

Described as an anti-Fascist drama, “Love and Anarchy” is the story of a freckle-faced farmer named Tunin (Giannini) who plans to assassinate Benito Mussolini to avenge the death of his friend, who himself was killed while attempting to murder the dictator. On his way to commit the deed, he makes a pit stop at a notorious Roman brothel. There, he meets the anarchist prostitute Salomè (Melato). She is all too happy to assist him as she seeks to avenge the murder of her former boyfriend, who was beaten to death by Mussolini’s police. They go to the Roman countryside with another prostitute to strategize. Tunin and Salomè fall in love, and on the day they plan to carry out the assassination, the two women decide not to wake him in an attempt to protect him. When he realizes he overslept, he flies into a rage, which Mussolini’s police overhear and then take him into custody.

“Swept Away” from 1974 was the most successful of the three Wertmüller films in which the two co-starred. In it, Melato played Raffaella, a pretentious upper-class Milanese woman yachting with her friends, and Giannini played Gennarino, a Sicilian crew worker on the yacht. Fueled by the differences in their political beliefs, the two butt heads. When a raft carrying the two away from the yacht breaks down and they’re stranded on a remote island, turmoil turns to love, but things change after they are rescued and brought back to reality.

In Ruiz’s 2015 documentary, “Lina Wertmüller: Behind the White Glasses,”

Melato talks about her special bond with Wertmüller. “I undeniably owe a lot to Lina for having insisted on using me in a time when nobody knew who I was, and even after meeting me, nobody cared to work with me,” she said. “She was very stubborn but good to us and believed in our potential, mine and Giancarlo Giannini’s when no director wanted us. And I owe her for giving me female roles different from those in other Italian movies.”

In 1976, Melato won a Golden Globe for her role opposite Marcello Mastroianni in Elio Petri’s political thriller “Todo modo,” and in the early 1980s, she appeared in two American films, “Flash Gordon” and “So Fine.” She continued work in Italian cinema throughout the ’80s, teaming up again with Wertmüller in the 1986 comedy “Summer Night With Greek Profile, Almond Eyes and Scent of Basil.” In the ’90s, she worked predominantly in television until her death in 2013 at the age of 71 from pancreatic cancer.

Melato remains a beloved personality in Italy and an inspiration to aspiring actresses. Most of the aforementioned films are available online. Click on the titles for direct links.

Comments

The Legend of Alberto Sordi - Rome's Eternal Son

′′They will always judge you, whether you behave well or if you behave badly. So screw it and live as you want but above all don't listen to anyone.′′ - Alberto Sordi By giving his fellow Italians something to laugh about during tumultuous times, he emerged as his generation’s King of Comedy. One of Italy’s best-loved personalities, Alberto Sordi played a pivotal role in Italian cinema from the end of World War II to the postwar economic boom of the 1950s. During those tumultuous years, he gave his countrymen a hearty laugh when they might have otherwise cried. Former Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi perhaps said it best: “Alberto Sordi interpreted the feelings of Italians, especially in their most difficult and tough moments.” Born in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome in 1920, Sordi grew up in a creative household. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father, a professional musician for the Rome Opera House. A young Sordi joined the children’s choir o...

Alessandro Gassmann: Born to Act

Alessandro Gassmannin his directorial debut "Razzabastarda" Alessandro Gassmann is the son of the iconic Italian actor/director Vittorio Gassman and French actress Juliette Mayniel. He was born in 1965 and grew up around cinema royalty. He made his cinema debut in 1982 at the age of 17 in his father's autobiographical film, "Di padre in figlio." He went on to study his craft under his father's direction at the Theatre Workshop of Florence. Vittorio Gassman was very active in theater and seemed just as comfortable on stage as he did in front of the camera. Known for his powerful interpretations of Dante's "Inferno" and "Paradiso," it is no surprise that he nurtured his son's acting aspirations on stage before he launched his career in television and film. One of Gassmann's strong qualities, which he undoubtedly inherited from his father is his incredible range and ease in going from genre to genre. He can play ...

Luminous Legacies: Yoichi Ohira’s Murano Glass at Magazzino Italian Art

A new exhibition in Cold Spring, New York, is bringing the luminous legacy of Murano glassmaking into focus through the work of Japanese artist Yoichi Ohira. “Yoichi Ohira: Japan in Murano” is on view at Magazzino Italian Art until February 2027. The exhibit showcases the work of Ohira, who became a leading figure in the design of Venetian glassworks on the island of Murano. The exhibition features works that highlight the uniqueness of Ohira’s art across the decades of his career. Ohira’s earliest Murano works blend Venetian glass techniques with his own style. These pieces show balanced shapes, clear surfaces, and striking color combinations. His Venezia e l’Oriente (Venice and the Orient) decanters reflect Venice’s ties to the East, creating vases inspired by Marco Polo’s tales with a modern twist. The exhibition shows Ohira’s respect for Murano’s glass masters, displaying objects alongside preparatory drawings that map ideas to the final works of art. It also explores ho...

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration. Nicknamed a “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as the actress who moved him most, Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times. Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...

In Conversation with Talia Shire

She has immortalized two of the most memorable characters in American cinema and now she’s promoting her new film that mirrors issues facing the working class. Talia Shire became a household name in the 1970s with her role as Connie Corleone in "The Godfather" and Adrian Balboa in "Rocky"– two characters that went on to experience tremendous growth in the sequels of both films. Shire and her brother, collaborator and director Francis Ford Coppola grew up in a family that embraced the arts. Their father Carmine Coppola was a renowned flutist and composer. He often took his children on the road when he performed. So there was always that creative energy and sense of adventure present in their childhood and adolescent years. “What you have to understand is that Francis is probably the greatest writer. He and Mario (Puzo) did Shakespeare and the Greeks. So people who love "The Godfather" are really listening to literature. He went on and did what ...

Italian Cinema Today

Search This Blog