Maria Michi

Maria Michi (24 May 1921 – 7 April 1980) was an Italian supporting actress who worked with Roberto Rossellini on his two early neorealism masterpieces: Rome, Open City and Paisà.

Michi worked first as a typist at a law firm, then as an usherette at Teatro Quattro Fontane in Rome. She was noticed and given small parts in the company of Sergio Tofano and Diana Torrieri during the 1942-43 season. Critic Irene Bignardi called her "a woman very near the resistance and the Communist Party." In 1948, she worked with Christian-Jaque in La Chartreuse de Parme. She was married in September 1949 to Duke Augusto Torlonia, and left the world of cinema for the theater, particularly working with director Guido Salvini. The marriage was annulled in San Marino in 1956. She resumed her film career in the 1960s and 1970s, when she did 12 films, including Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris and Tinto Brass's Salon Kitty, her last film.

Filmography

1945: Roma, città aperta (Rome, Open City), directed by Roberto Rossellini - role: Marina Marini

1946: Paisà (Paisan), directed by Roberto Rossellini - role: Francesca

1946: Preludio d'amore (Shamed), directed by Giovanni Paolucci - role: Alida

1946: Fatalità, directed by Giorgio Bianchi - role: Paola

1947: L'altra, directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia - role: Thea 'Angelo' Morelli

1947: La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma), directed by Christian-Jaque - role: Marietta

1961: Legge di guerra (Law of War), directed by Bruno Paolinell - role: Signora Macumer

1969: The Lady of Monza, (original title is La monaca di Monza"), directed by Eriprando Visconti - role: Sister Bianca Homati

1972: Last Tango in Paris, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci - role: Rosa's mother

1973: Redneck, directed by Silvio Narizzano - role: Princess

1976: Salon Kitty, directed by Tinto Brass - role: Ilde