Entertenment News | Italy's Pioneering Comic Actor, Franca Valeri, Dies at 100
Get latest articles and stories on Entertenment at LatestLY. Franca Valeri, an elegant, ironic and versatile actor who pioneered female comic roles in Italy's post-war years and helped the nation laugh at its foibles, has died at 100.
Rome, Aug 9 (AP) Franca Valeri, an elegant, ironic and versatile actor who pioneered female comic roles in Italy's post-war years and helped the nation laugh at its foibles, has died at 100.
The Corriere della Sera newspaper quoted her daughter, Stefania Bonfadelli, an opera singer, as saying that Valeri died Sunday in her sleep at her home in Rome, nine days after her 100th birthday.
Also Read | Sushant Singh Rajput's Brother-in-Law Slams An Article That Claim Bihari Families Are 'Toxic'.
Milanese by birth but Roman by adoption, Valeri will be honored with a wake Monday at a theater in the Italian capital, Rome's City Hall announced.
Beloved by Italians, especially for her roles in the 1950s to the 1970s, first on radio, then on TV and in movies, Valeri was recently toasted by many celebrities and in interviews as her 100th birthday approached.
President Sergio Mattarella sent a condolence message, praising Valeri as a “versatile and popular actress who will remain in the hearts of Italians for her great talent and her extraordinary likability.”
Valeri was a sophisticated, intelligent comic interpreter of post-war Italian society and often wrote the scripts or monologues for her performances, especially on stage.
Signature roles featured comic scenes in which she appeared solo, holding a phone, real or imaginary, including as "Signorina Snob,” a role for which she drew upon her Milanese bourgeois roots.
Another popular comic character she created poked fun at Roman middle-class vulgarities.
After decades in which comic roles in Italy were virtually the exclusive province of men, Valeri held her own against top male comic actors, starring against Toto' and Alberto Sordi.
Of the six films she made with Sordi, arguably her most popular role came in “Il Vedovo” (The Widower), a 1959 hit directed by Dino Risi.
Valeri also worked with other leading Italian directors, including Federico Fellini and Mario Monicelli. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)