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Lucía Bosé

Italian Actress, She died in Madrid on 23 March 2020, at the age of 89 from COVID-19

Loved her in La signora senza camelie

An underrated film, a modernist masterpiece carried by Bosé's great performance.

Agreed - in particular she carries that devastating final shot so beautifully. It's easy to remember this as an 'early melodrama' by Antonioni, but it, and especially Bosè, are really very subtle and (in a good way) under-played.

[edited to correct the accent, thanks whaleallright]

Absolutely. This really became apparent the second time I saw it in a theater, looking up on a big screen with a packed audience. It really sank in that she was watching herself (as a star or becoming a star) the way we were watching her. Completely organic to the plot, none of this called attention to itself, but the remove she felt looking at herself, or rather at her public image, was almost surreal.

Great observation - it links back to her anguished account of watching herself on the screen and saying "It's me, it's me", although I think what she's actually saying there is "Sono io, sono io", which surely means "I am me" or "I am I"? What's amazing is that she suffers such a profound identity crisis, but plays it in a wry, almost matter-of-fact tone - even when she does break down in anguish, there's a kind of weariness there (the score captures this very well), as if she's sighing philosophically in the midst of her sobs, detached even from her own agony.

[Wanted to post this in the MoC thread, but my computer kept warning me of a potential phishing attack from moviespads.com, whatever that is...]

She had a number of very interesting later roles too, including in Agustí Villaronga's 1989 Moon Child and Francesco Rosi's 1987 adaptation of the Gabriel García Márquez story Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

I am particularly interested in tracking down the early 70s horror film she starred in with Farley Granger, Something Creeping In The Dark.

Sad news. She was one of the loveliest European actresses of the 1950s. It's rather unfortunate her time as a leading lady wasn't longer, but family life was reportedly her priority. Weirdly enough, TCM ran Death of a Cyclist early Monday morning. Hosts Alicia Malone and Eddie Muller had some thoughtful words about Bosè and her directors Bardem and Antonioni, among other topics.

Aside from her work as an actress (which includes a role in Marguerite Duras's Nathalie Granger) she recorded a strange and rather wonderful LP with Spanish early-music pioneer Gregorio Paniagua.

It's on YouTube in full:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8kEy78jj1U

(Also, FWIW, there should be an accent grave on the "e" in her last name, as so: Lucia Bosè.)

Many of those early Miss Italia winners and contestants became well known in Italy and abroad. In 1947 alone there were four contestants who later went on to Italian entertainment fame: Lucia Bosè (the winner that year), Gianna Maria Canale (second place), Gina Lollobrigida (third), and Eleonora Rossi Drago (fourth).

In latter years she was known for her striking electric blue hair colour...

Last year there was published (in Italian) Roberto Liberatori's biography 'Lucia Bosè', which she cooperated with...

She lent this quote to the back....

Non mi piace guardarmi alle spalle. Ho vissuto momenti deliziosi e ho anche sofferto molto, però entrambe, allegria e tristezza le prendo per buone. In fondo le risa e il pianto di quiei giorni hanno formato la persona che sono oggi.

Other early LB titles, worth checking out...

Non c'è pace tra gli ulivi - Giuseppe de Santis (1950)

Le ragazze di piazza di Spagna - Luciano Emmer (1952)

Gli sbandati - Francesco Maselli (1955)

Many of those early Miss Italia winners and contestants became well known in Italy and abroad. In 1947 alone there were four contestants who later went on to Italian entertainment fame: Lucia Bosè (the winner that year), Gianna Maria Canale (second place), Gina Lollobrigida (third), and Eleonora Rossi Drago (fourth).

Fifth place in that same edition of Miss Italia was Silvana Mangano.

Back to Lucia.. I love the history of how she was discovered by Luchino Visconti himself in the Galli pastry shop in Milan, where she was serving Marron Glacé as a saleswoman. The Maestro predicted that she would end up working in the cinema. “You are a cinematic animal,” he snapped - And he was rarely wrong-
It was Visconti who recommended Lucia to Giuseppe di Santis, who would give him his first role in “Non c’è pace tra gli ulivi” (1950), It was Visconti, too, who convinced Antonioni to hire her as Paola Molon in “Story of a Love Affair” (1950).
Later Luchino become godfather of Lucía's son Miguel, future actor and Pop Singer.
It's weird that despite such a close relationship she never participated in a film directed by Visconti.
Looking back to the Maestro filmography and his characters, Lucia could have been a great option as the mother of Tadzio in "Death in Venice"

colinr0380 wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 8:45 pm I am particularly interested in tracking down the early 70s horror film she starred in with Farley Granger, Something Creeping In The Dark.

Something Creeping in the Dark is available on Amazon Prime, and there are a couple of DVD editions in print. (I see you're located in the U.K., so you might want to try here.)

Watched Cronaca di un amore for the first time in tribute tonight. Great film and a lovely leading role for someone so young.

Yes, that was quite a lineup for the Miss Italia contest of 1947...

Lollobrigida went on to star in a comedy film Miss Italia, directed by Duilio Coletti in 1950...

The same Lollo was legally contracted to play Clara Manni in La signora senza camelie, but pulled out (claiming to not identify with the character- "Non sono Clara Manni" - she was starting to develop airs & graces at this stage)… This prompted a high profile dispute played out in the courts & the popular press through 1951-1953... Result was Bosè was drafted in to play the part, and a superb job she made of it... Lollo & Antonioni eventually made up in 1954 (the year when she made the cover of Time magazine), but never did get round to working together... Now, it is impossible to imagine anyone other than Bosè as Clara Manni...

ellipsis7 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 7:31 am Yes, that was quite a lineup for the Miss Italia contest of 1947...

Lollobrigida went on to star in a comedy film Miss Italia, directed by Duilio Coletti in 1950...

The same Lollo was legally contracted to play Clara Manni in La signora senza camelie, but pulled out (claiming to not identify with the character- "Non sono Clara Manni" - she was starting to develop airs & graces at this stage)… This prompted a high profile dispute played out in the courts & the popular press through 1951-1953... Result was Bosè was drafted in to play the part, and a superb job she made of it... Lollo & Antonioni eventually made up in 1954 (the year when she made the cover of Time magazine), but never did get round to working together... Now, it is impossible to imagine anyone other than Bosè as Clara Manni...

Watched that at the weekend! A bit middling. Never had any sort of DVD release, so don't feel guilty about hunting it down online.

I'm on a bit of an early Bosè binge, making my way through everything she did in Italy before heading off to Spain. On IMDb, and in a lots of other places presumably parroting IMDb, she is listed as appearing in Le due verità (1951/2), but as can be seen on Youtube, she is neither listed in the credits nor appears anywhere in the film. Does anyone own a biography on her to see what is said about this film?

Like so many others at this time, she rarely only did her own voice work in films. Only Parigi è sempre Parigi (good comedy), Roma ore 11 (neorealist masterpiece) and Sinfonia d'amore (completely unavailable) do not have a dubbing credit associated with her role.

In Roberto Liberatori's fine recent biography Lucia Bosè (2019) - written with her cooperation - he writes that she reluctantly turned down the possibility of playing the part of a woman with a split personality in Le due verità directed by Antonio Leonviola, the lead role of Maria Luce in which she was substituted by Anna Maria Ferrero in the final film. So in the appendix to this book Le due verità does not appear in her filmography.

However in an earlier monograph, Lucia Bosè - Vita Cinema Luce a cura di Massimo Causo & Alberto La Monica (2006), Le due verità is included in her filmography, presumably compounding the IMDb error. However while listing her in the cast of this film, she is the only actor not identified with a particular character, making it unclear why she is there.

ellipsis7 wrote: Mon Apr 20, 2020 2:48 pm In Roberto Liberatori's fine recent biography Lucia Bosè (2019) - written with her cooperation - he writes that she reluctantly turned down the possibility of playing the part of a woman with a split personality in Le due verità directed by Antonio Leonviola, the lead role of Maria Luce in which she was substituted by Anna Maria Ferrero in the final film. So in the appendix to this book Le due verità does not appear in her filmography.

However in an earlier monograph, Lucia Bosè - Vita Cinema Luce a cura di Massimo Causo & Alberto La Monica (2006), Le due verità is included in her filmography, presumably compounding the IMDb error. However while listing her in the cast of this film, she is the only actor not identified with a particular character, making it unclear why she is there.

This is exactly the sort of information I was hoping to tap into! Thank you very much. It's certainly not the most glamorous role for a leading woman, so can understand her hesitation.

Do you own both of these books? I couldn't find anything online when searching.

Not at all... Yes, I own both.

The Liberatori biog is here on Amazon.it - 2 copies available currently... The other, you might have to look further afield - I see there's actually a new copy available from Libreria Bortoloso...