Giulietta Masina

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Masina in La Strada (1954).

Giulia Anna (Giulietta) Masina (22 February 1921–23 March 1994) was an Italian film actress, and the wife of film director Federico Fellini.

Born in San Giorgio di Piano, her parents were Gaetano Masina, a violinist, and Anna Flavia Pasqualin, a schoolteacher. She had three elder siblings: Eugenia, and the twins Mario and Maria. Masina initially studied literature, but later turned to acting; while attending university in Rome, she joined a drama ensemble and later signed on with the Ateneo Theatre Group.

By 1943 Masina was gaining notice as a radio actress, and had been cast as Pallina in Cico e Pallina, a radio serial about a young married couple, written by Fellini. Soon afterwards, on October 30, 1943, she and Fellini were married. Several months after their marriage, Masina fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a miscarriage. Then, on March 22, 1945, son Pierfederico (nicknamed Federichino) was born. He died just a month later on April 24.

Masina's first screen credit was the 1948 film Without Pity, opposite John Kitzmiller. She accumulated roles in a number of films, and in 1957 she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival for her portrayal of the title role in Nights of Cabiria, as a prostitute who endures life's tragedies with innocence and resilience.

She died from cancer in March 1994, at the age of seventy-three. Fellini had passed away just five months earlier, in October 1993. They are buried together at Rimini cemetery; their tomb is marked by a sail-shaped monument, the work of sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro.