Pier Angeli, credited under her real name, Anna Maria Pierangeli, was an Italian-born film and television actress, singer and model, who starred in American, British and European films throughout her career.
21 Facts About Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli's work was so impressive that she won an Italian award for Best Actress, and caught the eye of MGM producers, who offered her a contract with the studio.
Pier Angeli next appeared in Sombrero, in which she replaced an indisposed Ava Gardner, then Flame and the Flesh.
Pier Angeli returned to MGM for Somebody Up There Likes Me as Paul Newman's long-suffering wife.
Pier Angeli was in consideration to play the character of Rima in, Green Mansions, a character she had long wanted to play.
Pier Angeli starred in French, Italian and English-language movies throughout the 1960s.
Pier Angeli had a brief role in the war epic Battle of the Bulge.
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.
Pier Angeli was under serious consideration for a part in, The Godfather, but died before shooting began.
Pier Angeli was fluent in Italian and English, and near fluent in French.
Pier Angeli was good friends with Debbie Reynolds, Louis Jourdan, and Richard Attenborough.
For example, In 1960, Pier Angeli met Serge Gainsbourg in a nightclub.
Pier Angeli treasured this relic, and her gesture had the effect of motivating him to persevere in romantic songwriting.
Elia Kazan, the director of East of Eden, remembered hearing Dean and Pier Angeli loudly making love in Dean's dressing room.
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.
Pier Angeli was married to singer and actor Vic Damone from 1954 to 1958.
Pier Angeli had one son with Vic Damone; their divorce was followed by highly publicized court battles for the custody of their only child, son Perry.
Pier Angeli next married Italian composer Armando Trovajoli in 1962 with whom she had another son, Howard, in 1963.
On 10 September 1971, at the age of 39, Pier Angeli was found dead of a barbiturate overdose at her home in Beverly Hills.
Pier Angeli is interred in the Cimetiere des Bulvis in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, France.
Pier Angeli was portrayed by Valentina Cervi in the 2001 TV movie James Dean, which depicted her relationship with Dean.