Oscar Profile #623: Marisa Pavan

Born June 19, 1932 in Sardinia, Italy, Maria Luisa Pierangeli and her fraternal twin sister, Anna Maria Pierangeli would both become stars in the 1950s.

Anna became an actress first, discovered by Vittorio De Sica for 1950’s Tomorrow Is Too Late for which she won an Italian Syndicate of Journalists award for Best Newcomer, after which the family moved to Hollywood where both girls would emerge as popular players in the 1950s, Anna (now called Pier Angeli) with 1951’s Teresa and Maria (now called Marisa Pavan) with 1952’s What Price Glory?. Pavan was the name of a Jewish officer the family had kept hidden from the Nazis in Rome during World War II.

Angeli would have a high-profile romance with James Dean while he was making East of Eden and she was making The Silver Chalice but later that year she would marry singer Vic Damone with whom she would have a son before divorcing in 1958. She would remain popular with such films as Somebody Up There Likes Me, Merry Andrew, and Battle of the Bulge, marry again in 1962, have a second child, divorce in 1965, and die of a barbiturate overdose in 1971 at 39.

Pavan had major supporting roles in 1954’s Down Three Dark Streets and Drum Beat but it took her portrayal of Anna Magnani’s daughter in 1955’s The Rose Tattoo for her to attract critical attention, earning an Oscar nomination for her performance.

The following year she would marry French actor, Jean-Pierre Aumont, the widower of 1940s star Maria Montez and father of actress Tina Aumont, with whom she would have two sons. That same year she appeared on screen in Diane and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and in guest appearances on several TV shows including an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents opposite John Cassavetes.

Pavan would make just three more major studio films, 1957’s The Midnight Story, 1959’s John Paul Jones, and the same year’s Solomon and Sheba, her experience in making the latter causing her to sour on Hollywood but not acting. She would perform in many stage plays with Aumont while at the same time make guest appearances on TV shows throughout the 1960s and 70s.

Among the shows she appeared in the 1960s ere 77 Sunset Strip, Combat! , and a 1977 version of The Diary of Anne Frank in which she played Anne’s sister, Margot. Diana Davila was Anne, Max von Sydow and Lilli Plamer her parents, and Viveca Lindfors Mrs. Van Daan.

Her appearances in the 1970s included those on Wonder Woman, McMilland and Wife, and The Rockford Files. In 1985, she appeared on the soap opera, Ryan’s Hope. Her last appearance to date was in a French TV show in 1992.

Jean-Pierre Aumont died in 2001 at 91. Her two sons have thriving international careers, one as a producer, and the other as a cinematographer. Marisa Pavan is still enjoying life at 90.

ESSENTIAL FILMS

THE ROSE TATTOO (1955), directed by Anthony Mann

Nominated for 8 Oscars, and winner of 3, Pavan was nominated for her portrayal of Anna Magnani’s daughter and accepted the Oscar won by Magnani in her absence. Tennessee Williams had written the play for Magnani, but she declined to appear in the 1951 Broadway production due to her limited English. She does just fine here, winning most of the year’s Best Actress awards, but the film itself is a matter of taste. Only Pavan and Ben Cooper as Pavan’s sailor boyfriend come across as real people. The rest including Burt Lancaster as the truck driver who awakens Magnani’s passion are caricatures.

THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT (1956), directed by Nunnally Johnson

This highly anticipated film from Sloan Wilson’s bestselling novel was a huge success at the box-office but received only slight awards attention. Pavan has the pivotal role of the young Italian woman who had an affair with American officer Gregory Peck during World War II, resulting in a child he learns about ten years later. Peck, in one of his best remembered performances of the era, Jennifer Jones as his shrill wife, Fredric March as Peck’s boss and mentor, and Ann Harding as March’s unloved wife all do splendid work as do Lee J. Cobb, Keenan Wynn, Gene Lockhart, Henry Daniell and others in support.

THE MIDNIGHT STORY (1957), directed by Joseph Pevney

Filmed on location in San Franciso, Tony Curtis gave one of his best performances in this gripping thriller as an undercover cop who ingratiates himself to fisherman Gilbert Roland who he suspects of being the murderer of Curtis’ mentor, a beloved Catholic priest. Pavan plays Roland’s daughter with whom Curtis falls in love. Jay C. Flippen plays a seasoned policeman and Curtis’ other mentor. Pevney, best remembered as the director of the original Star Trek TV series, also directed two other well-regarded 1957 films, Tammy and the Bachelor and Man of a Thousand Faces.

JOHN PAUL JONES (1959), directed by John Farrow

Pavan has a rather colorless role as naval hero John Paul Jones’ love interest, but she is second billed to Robert Stack in the title role over such bigger names as Charles Coburn as Benjamin Franklin, Bette Davis as Catherine the Great, and Pavan’s husband, Jean-Pierre Aumont as Louis XVI. Macdonald Carey, David Farrar, Peter Cushing, Basil Sydney, Bruce Cabot, Thomas Gomez, and John Crawford were also in the huge cast. It was the last film for both Coburn, who died in 1961, and writer-director Farrow who died in 1963. It marked the film debut of Farrow’s daughter Mia in an unbilled minor role.

SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959), directed by King Vidor

Star and co-producer Tyrone Power had filmed more than half of this troubled production when he collapsed and died of a massive heart attack while filming a dueling scene with George Sanders. Yul Brynner was brought in to replace him, re-filming all his scenes although Power can still be seen in long shots in a few scenes. The rest of the cast, including Gina Lollobrigida, Sanders, Pavan, David Farrar, John Crawford, Finlay Currie, Harry Andrews, and Laurence Naismith soldiered on, but it was a miserable experience for all of them. Pavan never made another Hollywood film although her acting career would continue for another three decades.