Grazia Daddario obit

Farewell to Grazia Daddario, Bari's voice and face in film, theater, and television. "The arts, her passion."

The actress turned 94 last July. Her last appearances were in the TV series "Imma Tataranni – Deputy Prosecutor." Her last film appearance was four years ago. Her stage debut was in 1980, opposite Nico Salatino.

She was not on the list.

She made her stage debut in a comedy in the Bari dialect, starring alongside Nico Salatino in La portapannere (The Flagbearer), before devoting herself to film and her lifelong passions: poetry and writing. It was 1980, and Grazia Daddario was entering the world of entertainment after spending her youth tutoring exam-ready students in her family's palazzo near Piazza Garibaldi. The Bari-born actress passed away today at the age of 94 , having just turned 94 on July 12th. Until a few days ago, in the hospice where she had been a patient for some time, she recited the Divine Comedy from memory to the doctors and nurses who came to her room.

Her daughter, Sara Scanni , recounts : "Until the very end, she never lost her focus on what she loved most: culture, theater, and poetry. She acted with all the actors from Bari, from Salatino to Pignataro, from Barbarese to Barresi. She was also a great friend of Mariolina De Fano ; they spent holidays together."

Her film debut came thanks to Nico Cirasola , the director from Bari who passed away in 2023, who wanted her in his film Odore di pioggia (1989). And then the parts in L'anima gemella (2002) by Sergio Rubini , Buona giornata (2012) by Carlo Vanzina , Sei mai stata sulla luna by Paolo Genovese , Si vive una volta by Carlo Verdone (2021), and among many others also an appearance in Il racconto dei racconti , also filmed in Puglia by Matteo Garrone in 2015. On television she was directed by Damiano Damiani in Ama il tuo nemico (1999), and Lina Wertmuller for Mannaggia alla miseria (2009).

We also saw her, looking incredibly elegant while dancing in the Dolce & Gabbana commercial filmed in Bari Vecchia to launch their makeup line in 2017. Her last TV appearance was in the series Imma Tataranni, set in Matera. In two episodes aired in 2022, she played the friend of the mother of the Matera magistrate played on the small screen by Vanessa Scalera , who was killed with the sword of the Madonna Addolorata. "When she accepted the part, she didn't know she would die on stage," Sara continues, "and when she realized it, she addressed the director with her irony, telling him: 'I came, but if I had known you would kill me, I wouldn't have done it.'" The director told her that he had taken a beautiful close-up of her, and to watch the episode on TV and then let him know. When we saw the scene, she immediately called him and said: 'Yes, it's true, it was a splendid close-up, but the fact remains that I didn't want to die.'"

Her last film role was at the age of ninety, in Gianni Costantino 's Bride in Red , which was filmed in Malta. "When the director shot the last scene, he knelt down, hugged and kissed her, and said he was honored to have her in his work." Strong-willed and tenacious, Grazia Daddario was among the first women from Bari to get a driving license in the 1960s, and over the years she wrote several books on the condition of women. "She was a feminist without wanting to be," says Sara. Her love of writing never left her. Her daughter concludes: "She summarized Aristophanes' Lysistrata and translated it into the Bari dialect, making it even more entertaining."

Actress

Imma Tataranni: Deputy Prosecutor (2019)

Imma Tataranni: Deputy Prosecutor

7.6

TV Series

Sebastiana Loperfido

2022

2 episodes

 

Anna Galiena, Eduardo Noriega, and Sarah Felberbaum in The Bride in Red (2022)

The Bride in Red

5.5

Delfina (as Grazia D'Addario)

2022

 

Si vive una volta sola (2021)

Si vive una volta sola

5.3

Maria Lasalandra

2021

 

Food Club (2020)

Food Club

5.7

Manuela

2020

 

Bar Joseph (2019)

Bar Joseph

5.5

Moglie U Vecchie

2019

 

The Girl of My Dreams (2017)

The Girl of My Dreams

4.9

Grazia

2017

 

Claudio Bisio, Massimo De Lorenzo, Angela Finocchiaro, Alessandro Gassmann, Laura Adriani, Nabiha Akkari, and Mehdi Meskar in Non c'è più religione (2016)

Non c'è più religione

4.8

Gilda

2016

 

Io che amo solo te (2015)

Io che amo solo te

5.6

Signora Campanella

2015

 

Salma Hayek, John C. Reilly, Vincent Cassel, Toby Jones, and Stacy Martin in Tale of Tales (2015)

Tale of Tales

6.4

Paggio (uncredited)

2015

 

Ever Been to the Moon? (2015)

Ever Been to the Moon?

6.2

Farmer

2015

 

100 metri dal paradiso (2012)

100 metri dal paradiso

4.9

Athlete

2012

 

Buona giornata! (2012)

Buona giornata!

4.7

Anziana Signora Puglia

2012

 

Mia Benedetta, Nando Paone, Aylin Prandi, and Uccio De Santis in Non me lo dire (2012)

Non me lo dire

4.7

Widow

2012

 

Sergio Assisi and Gabriella Pession in Mannaggia alla miseria! (2009)

Mannaggia alla miseria!

5.8

TV Movie

Linarella

2009

 

Elisabetta Pellini in Balletto di guerra (2004)

Balletto di guerra

Vecchia bazar (as Grazia Dadario)

2004

 

L'anima gemella (2002)

L'anima gemella

6.2

Giustina

2002

 

Ama il tuo nemico (1999)

Ama il tuo nemico

6.1

TV Movie

1999

 

Odore di pioggia (1989)

Odore di pioggia

Madre

1989