Anna Magnani was born on March 7, 1908, in Rome, Italy, a fact that contradicts some biographies which mistakenly claim her birthplace to be Egypt. Her parents were Marina Magnani and an unknown father, often believed to be from Alexandria, Egypt, although Anna herself claimed her father was from the Calabria region of Italy, a mystery she never unraveled.
Raised in poverty by her maternal grandmother in Rome after her mother left, Anna worked her way through the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome by singing in cabarets and nightclubs, then embarked on a touring career with small repertory companies across the countryside.
Although she had a minor role in a silent film in the late 1920s, Anna Magnani's breakthrough film was Doctor, Beware, directed by Vittorio De Sica, in 1941. However, it was Roberto Rossellini's Rome, Open City, released in 1945, that earned her international recognition and cemented her status as a film actress.
The film, also known as Open City, is widely regarded as the first commercially successful Italian neorealist film of the post-war years. Following her success in Rome, Open City, Anna Magnani continued to work in films and television, earning an Academy Award for her performance in the screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo in 1955.
The role was written specifically for her by her close friend, Tennessee Williams. Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, she collaborated with Italy's leading directors, becoming renowned for her earthy, passionate, and woman-of-the-soil roles.
Anna Magnani was in a romantic relationship with Roberto Rossellini after the release of Rome, Open City, but their relationship ended when he began an affair with Ingrid Bergman. She had one child, Luca, with Italian actor Massimo Serato, who was later stricken with polio. Magnani dedicated her life to caring for her son.
Her only marriage, to Italian director Goffredo Alessandrini in the mid-1930s, was short-lived and ended in an annulment. Anna Magnani's last film was Federico Fellini's Fellini's Roma in 1972. She passed away in her native Rome on September 26, 1973, at the age of 65, due to complications from pancreatic cancer.
