Inez Palange


Inez Palange, also written as Ines Palange, was an Italian-born American actress who was best known for her role as Mrs. Camonte in the 1932 film Scarface.

Biography

She was born in Roccasicura, Italy on June 13, 1889. Prior to her film career she was part of Les Iris Palange, a comedy and singing duo with Alberto Palange. At least two of their recordings on Victor records from 1917 are part of the Library of Congress catalogue. They performed in Italian. A bit about her experience as an immigrant along with others is noted in a book on Italian immigrants.
Palange performed in the first Italian language dialogue film, Sei tu l'amore?, released in 1930.
Palange played the mother of a gangster in Scarface. Her dialogue with the character of her American-born daughter in which she warns against her son's character has been described as portraying two conflicting character traits, her Old World wisdom in seeing through her son's facade but expressed in halting, non-standard English, underlining her status in the New World as an unassimilated and uneducated immigrant, signifying her inability to relate her insights to her daughter.
Palange had a variety of supporting, minor, and bit roles in various Hollywood films. She died October 16, 1962 in Los Angeles, California.

Selected filmography