Mariangela Melato 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, 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, Love and Anarchy, Nada, Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August, Todo modo, Caro Michele and Il gatto. Melato also starred in several American productions as well. She died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 71.
Biography and career
Early years
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 :it:Esperia Sperani|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 playBinario 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. She made her film debut in 1969 with Pupi Avati's Thomas e gli indemoniati.
1970s
Seventies were the golden decade for Melato; she starred in memorable film roles including the school teacher in Nino Manfredi's commedia all'italianaBetween Miracles and the female leads in Elio Petri's The Working Class Goes to Heaven and Vittorio De Sica's Lo chiameremo Andrea. Then Melato received much praise for her role as Giancarlo Giannini's Milanese mistress in The Seduction of Mimi, 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, in which Melato played an anarchist prostitute, and finally with Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August. 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, Elio Petri in Todo modo and Luigi Comencini in Il gatto. She also worked on television; playing the role of Princess Bithiah, in the miniseries Moses the Lawgiver, also released in a theatrical version.
Later years
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, and co-starring with Ryan O'Neal in the comedy So Fine. 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, but gradually she appeared in fewer films, and more on the stage, notably as the lead inThe Miracle Worker.
Death
Melato died from pancreatic cancer on 11 January 2013 in Rome, Italy at age 71.
