Italian postcard. Rizzoli & C., Milano, 1942. Photo by Ciolfi.
Luisella Beghi (1921-2006) was an Italian actress.
Beghi was born in Parma from a modest family (her father was a chauffeur and her mother a housewife). She began attending commercial schools, which she interrupted in 1935 when, even before turning 15, she moved to Rome becoming one of the first pupils of the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, where she was received with great favor by the director Luigi Chiarini. Although she completely had to learn acting when she entered the film school, and despite a shy character, she almost immediately revealed her native and spontaneous qualities as an actress. Graduated in acting in 1938, at the age of 17 she made her debut in cinema with Amleto Palermi in a small part of a telephonist in le due madri/The Two Mothers (1938). After this first try, she played other modest supporting parts, including an extra part in Giuseppe Verdi (1939) by Carmine Gallone and in Piccolo hotel (1939) by Piero Ballerini. Producers insisted on presenting her in roles of the shy, submissive and good girl, comparable to the Irish actress Maureen O'Sullivan and, again ina generic part, she acted in Batticuore (1939), where she was noticed by the director Mario Camerini.
The professional encounter with Camerini constituted the turning point of Beghi's career: it was in fact this very person who in 1939 chose her to work alongside the "diva", as well as his wife, Assia Noris in Grandi magazzin (1939), as Emilia, a shy saleswoman and faithful friend of the protagonist, binding her forever to the role of the fresh, young and naive girl, and contributing to the success of the film at the Venice film festival. Camerini's film constituted her "consecration", with which she obtained popularity and, in the period between 1940 and 1943, her most significant roles, where «she was appreciated for her adherence to the characters and a appropriate acting», always with mild and delicate girl roles. She was Constance Weber, Mozart's neglected wife, opposite Gino Cervi as Mozart in the Melodie eterne/ Eternal Melodies (1940) by Carmine Gallone, and the shy daughter of a father in capricious trouble in Guido Brignone's film Turbamento (1940). When in 1940, she was a passenger of the demonic ship of L'arcidiavolo (1940) by Tony Frenguelli, it would be Corriere della Sera to recognize that her interpretation was the only element that managed to make the film appreciated.
In 1942 Chiarini still focused on Beghi, this time as an established actress, so when the Centro Sperimentale moved to Quadraro. near Cinecittà, he produced his first film in that new location. Beghi was made the protagonist of the calligraphic film Via delle Cinque Lune, which also included other representatives of the film school, Umberto Barbaro and Francesco Pasinetti. The film, based on a story by Matilde Serao, is considered the "brightest point of (her) career, with an extraordinarily measured and mature acting". Her appreciated role as Ines, "the dreamy girlfriend, victim of a bad stepmother" (Olga Solbelli), who seduces the spouse promised to her (Beghi's colleague from the film school, Andrea Checchi) and pushes her to suicide, it seems the confirmation of a bright career. More leads Beghi had in Il chiromante (Oreste Biancoli, 1941) with Macario, All'ombra della gloria (Pino Mercanti, shot 1943, released 1945), La moglie in castigo (Leo Menardi, 1943) with Roberto Villa, and Gran premio (Giuseppe Musso jr., 1944) with Claudio Gora.
But also for Beghi, as well as for many other artists, the collapse of Italy due to the war events, constitutes an unbridgeable break in her artistic path. The new post-war Italian cinema was not generous with the actress, who would continue with interpretations of a naive woman, but would have few roles and of little importance. Even some of her participations in stage plays in 1949 remained without development. To report, in this period, only a main role in the successful film Nennella (Renato May, 1949). After a brief appearance in La bella di Roma (Luigi Comencini, 1955), she decided to leave the world of entertainment to devote herself to family and children.
Sources: Italian Wikipedia, IMDB.
Loading contexts...
