1. Anna Maria Pierangeli, known internationally by the stage name Pier Angeli, was an Italian actress, model and singer.
25 Facts About Pier Angeli
1. 2.
Pier Angeli was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role opposite Richard Attenborough in the British film The Angry Silence.
3.
Pier Angeli died at the age of 39 of a barbiturate overdose.
4.
Pier Angeli had a fraternal twin sister, actress Marisa Pavan, and a younger sister, Patrizia.
5.
Pier Angeli spent World War II in Rome; she was ten when the Nazis occupied Rome, experiencing both food shortages and bomb shelters.
6.
Pier Angeli made her film debut at the age of 16 with Vittorio De Sica's Italian film, Domani e troppo tardi after being spotted by director Leonide Moguy and De Sica while studying arts in Rome.
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Pier Angeli's work was so impressive that she won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress, and caught the eye of MGM producers, who offered her a contract with the studio.
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Pier Angeli next appeared in Sombrero, in which she replaced an indisposed Ava Gardner, then Flame and the Flesh.
9.
Pier Angeli returned to MGM for Somebody Up There Likes Me as Paul Newman's long-suffering wife.
10.
Pier Angeli was in consideration to play Rima in Green Mansions, a character she had long wanted to play.
11.
Pier Angeli starred in French, Italian and English-language movies throughout the 1960s.
12.
Pier Angeli had a brief role in the war epic Battle of the Bulge.
13.
Pier Angeli worked in Israel, and was top-billed, for Every Bastard a King, about events during the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War the previous year.
14.
Pier Angeli was under serious consideration for a part in The Godfather, but died before shooting began.
15.
Pier Angeli was fluent in Italian and English, and near fluent in French.
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Pier Angeli was good friends with Debbie Reynolds, Louis Jourdan, and Richard Attenborough.
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For example, In 1960, Pier Angeli met Serge Gainsbourg in a nightclub.
18.
Pier Angeli treasured this relic, and her gesture had the effect of motivating him to persevere in romantic songwriting.
19.
An Order for the Solemnization of Marriage pamphlet with the name "Pier Angeli" lightly penciled in every place the bride's name is left blank was found amongst Dean's personal effects after his death.
20.
Pier Angeli left Dean and married singer and actor Vic Damone in 1954.
21.
Pier Angeli had one son with Vic Damone; their 1958 divorce was followed by highly publicized court battles for the custody of their only child, son Perry.
22.
Pier Angeli next married Italian composer Armando Trovajoli in 1962 with whom she had another son, Howard, in 1963.
23.
On 10 September 1971, at the age of 39, Pier Angeli was found dead of a barbiturate overdose at her home in Beverly Hills.
24.
Pier Angeli is interred in the Cimetiere des Bulvis in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, France.
25.
Pier Angeli was portrayed by Valentina Cervi in the 2001 TV movie James Dean, which depicted her relationship with Dean.