Rossano Brazzi

Rossano Brazzi
Born	(1916-09-18)18 September 1916 Bologna, Italy
Died	24 December 1994(1994-12-24) (aged 78) Rome, Italy
Years active	1939–94
Spouse(s)	Lidia Bertolini (1940–81; her death) Ilse Fischer (1984–94; her death)

Rossano Brazzi (18 September 1916 – 24 December 1994) was an Italian actor.

Biography

Brazzi was born in Bologna to Adelmo and Maria (née Ghedini) Brazzi. He attended San Marco University^{[citation needed]} in Florence, Italy, where he was raised from the age of four. He made his film debut in 1939.

He was propelled to international fame with his role in the English-language film Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), followed by the leading male role in David Lean's Summertime (1955), opposite Katharine Hepburn. In 1958 he played the lead as Frenchman Emile De Becque in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. His other notable English-language films include The Barefoot Contessa (1954), The Story of Esther Costello (1957), Count Your Blessings (1959),The Light in the Piazza (1962), and The Italian Job (1969).

Marriages

In 1940, Brazzi married baroness Lidia Bertolini (1921–1981) to whom he was married until her death in 1981. The couple had no children. In 1984, he married Ilse Fischer, a German national, who had been the couple's housekeeper for many years. This marriage was also childless. However, he did father a son (born 24 July 1955) by a relationship with Llewella Humphreys, daughter of Murray Humphreys.

Death

Brazzi died in Rome on Christmas Eve 1994, aged 78, from a neural virus.

Selected filmography

• We the Living (1942)
• Little Women (1949)
• Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
• Summertime (1955)
• Loser Takes All (1956)
• Interlude (1957)
• Legend of the Lost (1957)
• The Story of Esther Costello (1957)
• South Pacific (1958)
• A Certain Smile (1958)
• Count Your Blessings (1959)
• Siege of Syracuse (1960)
• Three Fables of Love (1962)
• Mondo cane (1962)
• The Light in the Piazza (1962)
• Redhead (1962)
• Rome Adventure (1962)
• Dark Purpose (1964)
• Instant Love (1964)
• The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
• The Christmas That Almost Wasn't (1966)
• The Bobo (1967)
• Krakatoa, East of Java (1969)
• The Italian Job (1969)
• Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981)
• The Far Pavilions (1984)
• Russicum – I giorni del diavolo (1989) aka The Third Solution

External links

• Rossano Brazzi at the Internet Movie Database