Mariangela Melato obit

Actress Mariangela Melato has died

She was not on the list.

She was an Italian cinema and theater actress. She began her stage career in the 1960s. Her first film role was in Thomas e gli indemoniati (1969), directed by Pupi Avati. She played in many memorable films during the 1970s, a period which was considered her golden age, and she received much praise for her roles in films like The Seduction of Mimi (1972), Love and Anarchy (1973), Nada (1974), Swept Away (1974), Todo modo (1976), Caro Michele (1976) and Il gatto (1978). Melato also starred in several English-language productions as well, notably Flash Gordon (1980). She died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.

Born in Milan, the daughter of a Triestino traffic policeman and a seamstress, Melato from a young age studied painting at the Academy of Brera, drawing posters and working as a window dresser at La Rinascente to pay for her acting lessons with Esperia Sperani. A striking, blonde actress, she began her stage career in 1960, entering the stage company of Fantasio Piccoli and debuting as an actress in the play Binario cieco.

From 1963 to 1965 she worked with Dario Fo in Settimo: ruba un po' meno and La colpa è sempre del diavolo, then in 1967 she worked with Luchino Visconti in The Nun of Monza. In 1968, her final theater breakthrough with Orlando furioso by Luca Ronconi.

The seventies were the golden decade for Melato; she starred in memorable film roles including the school teacher in Nino Manfredi's commedia all'italiana Between Miracles (1971) and the female leads in Elio Petri's The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) and Vittorio De Sica's Lo chiameremo Andrea (We'll Call Him Andrew, 1972).

Then Melato received much praise for her role as Giancarlo Giannini's Milanese mistress in The Seduction of Mimi (1972), directed by Lina Wertmüller. This was to be the start of a very successful working relationship between Wertmüller, Melato and Giannini that continued with Love and Anarchy (1973), in which Melato played an anarchist prostitute, and finally with Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August (1974). Melato's critically acclaimed comedic performance in this film as a spoiled, unsympathetic aristocrat is one of her more internationally known roles.

For the remainder of the 1970s, Melato worked with some of Europe's most renowned directors, including Claude Chabrol in Nada (1974), Elio Petri in Todo modo (1976) and Luigi Comencini in Il gatto (1978). She also worked on television; playing the role of Princess Bithiah, in the miniseries Moses the Lawgiver (1974), also released in a theatrical version.

After attaining international success, Melato starred in several American productions, playing one of her most famous parts as the villainess General Kala in Flash Gordon (1980), and co-starring with Ryan O'Neal in the comedy So Fine (1981).

Unable to find real success in the United States and Hollywood, she returned to Italy, and appeared in a number of comedies and dramas. She also reunited with Lina Wertmüller for the filming of Summer Night (1986), but gradually she appeared in fewer films, and more on the stage, notably as the lead in The Miracle Worker.

She made her film debut in 1969 with Pupi Avati's Thomas e gli indemoniati. She died in Rome, Italy.

Selected filmography

 

    Let's Have a Riot (1970)

    L'Invasion (1970) - Valentina

    Thomas e gli indemoniati (1970) - Zoe

    Io non scappo... fuggo (1970)

    The Swinging Confessors (1970) - Prostitute

    Basta guardarla (1971) - Marisa do Sol

    Between Miracles (1971) - Maestrina

    The Working Class Goes to Heaven      (1971) - Lidia

    Cometogether (1971)

    Incontro (1971)

    La violenza: quinto potere       (1972) - Rosaria Licata

    The Seduction of Mimi               (1972) - Fiorella Meneghini

    Execution Squad          (1972) - Sandra

    Lo chiameremo Andrea            (1972) - Maria Antonazzi

    Il generale dorme in piedi        (1972) - Lola Pigna

    Love and Anarchy (1973) - Salomè

    Nada (1974) - Veronique Cash

    Moses the Lawgiver    (1974) - La fille du maire

    Policewoman (1974) - Giovanna 'Gianna' Abbastanzi

    Swept Away   (1974) - Raffaella Pavone Lanzetti

    Faccia di spia (1975) - Tania

    Di che segno sei?         (1975) - Marietta 'Claquette'

    The Guernica Tree       (1975) - Vandale

    Attenti al buffone       (1975) - Giulia

    Todo Modo    (1976) - Giacinta

    Caro Michele (1976) - Mara Castorelli

    Beach House (1977) - Giulia

    The Cat (1977) - Ofelia Pegoraro

    La presidentessa         (1977) - Yvette Jolifleur

    Saxofone (1978) - Fiorenza

    To Forget Venice (1979) - Anna

    I giorni cantati               (1979) - Angela

    Oggetti smarriti            (1979) - Marta

    Flash Gordon (1980) - Kala

    In the Pope's Eye         (1980) - Unchosen actress

    Help Me Dream            (1981) - Francesca

    So Fine             (1981) - Lira

    Tomorrow We Dance (1982) - Mariangela

    Il buon soldato              (1982) - Marta

    My Darling, My Dearest            (1982) - Armida

    Petomaniac    (1983) - Catherine Dumurier

    Secrets Secrets             (1985) - Giuliana, the judge

    My Dearest Son            (1986) - Stefania

    Summer Night               (1986) - Fulvia Bolk

    Dancers           (1987) - Contessa

    Mortacci (1988) - Jolanda

    The End Is Known        (1993) - Elena Malva

    Dirty Linen (1999) - Cinzia

    A Respectable Man (1999) - Anna Tortora

    Probably Love (2001) - Mariangela Melato

    Love Returns (2004) - Federica

    Vieni via con me (2005) - Maria Grande