born March 7, 1908, Rome, Italy

died September 26, 1973, Rome

Italian actress, best known for her forceful portrayals of earthy, working-class women.

Born out of wedlock, Magnani never knew her father and was deserted by her mother. She was reared by her maternal grandparents in a Roman slum. She briefly attended the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome before joining a touring repertory company. As an entertainer in Roman nightclubs, she specialized in bawdy street songs and in vaudeville. She made her film debut in La cieca di Sorrento (1934; The Blind Woman of Sorrento). When she appeared in Roberto Rossellini's classic Neorealist film Roma città aperta (1945; Open City), she achieved international renown. Representative of her many roles, in which she often portrayed emotions that ranged from mental torment and deep grief to exuberant comedy, were the dynamic housewife in L'onorevole Angelina (1947), who led a fight against black-marketeering in postwar Italy; a shepherdess in Il miracolo (1948; The Miracle), who was seduced by a stranger she imagined to be a saint; an aggressive stage mother in Bellissima (1951); the robust widow of a truck driver in The Rose Tattoo (1955), her first Hollywood film, for which she won the Academy Award for best actress; and the wife of an Italian mayor in The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969).