In The american Night , she will remain for the anthologies of the seventh art Séverine, the perfect diva on the decline necessary to the scenario invented by François Truffaut. The Italian actress Valentina Cortese has just left us. She was aged 96 years.
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The destiny of a diva
Valentina Cortese was born on January 1, 1923 in Milan. After a debut in the Italian cinema at the dawn of the 1940s, it is very quickly noticed in 1949 by filmmakers in Hollywood for his masterful interpretation in The Mountain of glass of Edoardo Anton and Henry Cass. A critic of the New York Times wrote: “With this incarnation of a young Italian woman torn by love, Valentina Cortese, shows the public a rare sensitivity.”
His international career is launched. It plays a leading role in the historical drama Cagliostro alongside Orson Welles. She continues with a role in the film noir by Jules Dassin, Thieves’ Highway . Then she co-starred with Spencer Tracy and James Stewart in the film adventures Malaya by Richard Thorpe. In 1951, it is found in the face of Richard Basehart in the film noir of Richard Wise, entitled The house of Telegraph Hill . In 1952, she plays with Serge Reggiani and the very young Audrey Hepburn in the thriller british the Secret People
In Italy, the biggest names of the achievement will not hesitate to use his gifts of actresses. Michelangelo Antonioni ( Women 1955), Franco Zeffirelli ( Jesus of Nazareth , 1977), Federico Fellini ( Juliet of the spirits , 1965)… The story will remember that she played one of her last roles in the face of Paul Newman and William Holden in The day of the end of the world of James Goldstone. It was also found in this adventure another star in the film, Jacqueline Bisset, that she had a cross in the american Night . The destiny of the divas.
● The american Night of François Truffaut, in 1973, with Jean-Pierre Léaud, Jacqueline Bisset, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Valentina Cortese…
