Valentina Cortese

Acting · Born 1923-01-01 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy

Biography

Valentina Cortese (January 1, 1923 - July 10, 2019) was an Italian film actress. The Milan-born actress starred in The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) directed by Robert Wise, and costarring Richard Basehart and William Lundigan. Cortese, aged 28, married Basehart in 1951, and had one son with him before they divorced in 1960. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1975 for her performance in François Truffaut's Day for Night. Cortese appeared in Jules Dassin's Thieves' Highway (1949), Joseph L. Mankiewicz's The Barefoot Contessa (1954), Michelangelo Antonioni's Le Amiche (1955), Gérard Brach's The Boat on the Grass, Terry Gilliam's The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988), and in the Franco Zeffirelli projects such as the 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister…

Filmography

• Day for Night as Séverine
• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen as Queen Ariadne / Violet
• Juliet of the Spirits as Valentina
• La Classe américaine as The Helicopter Man's Wife (archive footage) (uncredited)
• The Boat on the Grass as Catherine
• Ring of Darkness as Elena Merrill
• Brother Sun, Sister Moon as Pica Di Bernardone
• Thieves' Highway as Rica
• The Assassination of Trotsky as Natalia Trotsky
• Les Misérables as Fantine

TV

• Jesus of Nazareth as Herodias
• Lux Video Theatre as Emilie Gallatin
• Schlitz Playhouse of Stars as Dr. Bruni
• I promessi sposi as Donna Prassede