11/01/2013 - The great Milanese actress passed away at the age of 71 after a long battle with illness

After a long battle with illness, Mariangela Melato, one of Italy’s most revered stage actresses, passed away this morning.

Born in Milan in 1941, Melato took her first steps on the stage as a teenager next to Fantasio Piccoli. She continued to conquer audiences under the pupillage of directors such as Dario Fo, Luchino Visconti and Luca Ronconi. In 1969, she turned to cinema with Pupi Avati in Thomas and the Bewitched. Following this, she alternated comical and grotesque roles (Mimì metallurgico ferito nell'onore, 1972, Swept Away, 1974, di Lina Wertmüller; Beach House, 1977, Mortacci, 1988, by Sergio Citti; Petomaniac by Pasquale Festa Campanile, 1983) with dramatic ones (Lulu the Tool, 1971, Todo modo, 1976, by Elio Petri; Caro Michele, 1976, by Mario Monicelli; Lost and Found, 1979, and Segreti segreti, 1985, by Giuseppe Bertolucci). In 1974 she worked with Claude Chabrol on Nada.

On stage, besides great interpretations of Orestea, Medea and Fedra, she also drew acclaim for her roles in lighter works, like in Garinei and Giovannini’s musical comedy Alleluia brava gente.

Among her more recent plays were Alda Merini una donna sul palcoscenico, directed by Cosimo Damiano Damato (2009) and Filumena Marturano (2010), which had her starring next to Massimo Ranieri.

(Translated from Italian)