1. Alida Maria Laura, Freiin Altenburger von Marckenstein-Frauenberg, better known by her stage name Alida Valli, or simply Valli, was an Italian actress who appeared in more than 100 films in a 70-year career, spanning from the 1930s to the early 2000s.
Alida Valli was one of the biggest stars of Italian film during the Fascist era, once being called "the most beautiful woman in the world" by Benito Mussolini, and was internationally successful post-World War II.
Alida Valli worked with many significant directors both in Italy and abroad, including Alfred Hitchcock, Carol Reed, Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Georges Franju, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mario Bava, Bernardo Bertolucci, and Dario Argento.
Alida Valli's mother, Silvia Oberecker Della Martina, born in Pola, was a "culturally sophisticated" housewife of half-Slovene and half-Italian descent.
Alida Valli's mother was the daughter of Felix Oberecker from Laibach, Austria and Virginia Della Martina from Pola, Istria.
Alida Valli's maternal granduncle, Rodolfo, was a close friend of Gabriele D'Annunzio.
Alida Valli grew up speaking Slovene, Italian, and German and was fluent in Serbo-Croatian, French, and English.
Intellectually gifted, at fifteen Alida Valli travelled to Rome, where she attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the oldest school for film actors and directors in Western Europe and still one of the most prestigious.
Alida Valli started her movie career in 1934, in Il cappello a tre punte during the so-called Telefoni Bianchi cinema era.
Alida Valli returned to Europe in the early 1950s and starred in many French and Italian films.
In 1956, Alida Valli decided to stop making movies, concentrating instead on the stage.
Alida Valli was in charge of a company that produced Broadway plays in Italy.
Alida Valli appeared in Georges Franju's horror film Eyes Without a Face with Pierre Brasseur.
At the 54th Venice International Film Festival in 1997 Alida Valli obtained the Golden Lion award for her career.
Alida Valli's teenage love, Carlo Cugnasca, was a famous Italian aerobatic pilot.
Alida Valli served as a fighter pilot with the Regia Aeronautica and was killed during a mission over British-held Tobruk on 14 April 1941.
Alida Valli married Oscar de Mejo in 1943 and filed for divorce from him in 1949, but they reconciled.
Alida Valli married Italian film director Giancarlo Zagni in the early 1960s, divorcing in 1970.