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Rafaela Ottiano

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Cause of death
  
Intestinal cancer

Name
  
Rafaela Ottiano

Years active
  
1924-1942


Occupation
  
Actress

Role
  
Film actress

Rafaela Ottiano image2findagravecomphotos250photos201221094


Born
  
4 March 1888 (
1888-03-04
)
Venice, Veneto, Italy

Died
  
August 18, 1942, East Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Movies
  
The Devil‑Doll, She Done Him Wrong, Grand Hotel, Curly Top, The Long Voyage Home

Similar People
  
Lowell Sherman, Irving Cummings, George Fitzmaurice, Tod Browning, Edmund Goulding

Resting place
  
St. Michael's Cemetery

Rafaela ottiano


Rafaela Ottiano (4 March 1888 – 18 August 1942) was an Italian-born American stage and film actress.

Contents

Rafaela Ottiano FileRafaela Ottiano in Topper Returnsjpg Wikimedia Commons

Early life

Rafaela Ottiano Rafaela Ottiano 1888 1942 Find A Grave Memorial

Born in Venice, Italy, she emigrated with her parents to the United States, and was processed at Ellis Island in 1910.

Career

Rafaela Ottiano Mae West Mae West Rafaela Ottiano

Ottiano established herself as a stage actress in Europe before arriving in Hollywood in 1924 and appearing in American motion pictures. She appeared on Broadway in Sweeney Todd (1924), the Mae West play Diamond Lil (1928), and the play version of Grand Hotel (1930).

Rafaela Ottiano Pictures of Rafaela Ottiano Picture 269585 Pictures Of Celebrities

Ottiano's first film was in the John L. McCutcheon-directed drama The Law and the Lady (1924) with Len Leo, Alice Lake, and Tyrone Power, Sr.

Rafaela Ottiano Pictures of Rafaela Ottiano Picture 269596 Pictures Of Celebrities

Ottiano was part of the original 1928 Broadway cast of the hit play Diamond Lil, written by and starring Mae West. Ottiano reprised her role as Rita when the play was adapted for the movie She Done Him Wrong (1933), directed by Lowell Sherman.

Throughout the 1930s, Ottiano would often specialize in roles as sinister, maleveolent, or spiteful women, such as her role in the Tod Browning-directed horror film The Devil-Doll (1936), opposite Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Other notable film roles for Ottiano include Lena in As You Desire Me (1932) with Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore, and Hedda Hopper, "Mrs. Higgins" in the Shirley Temple musical-comedy Curly Top (1935), as a matron in the crime-drama Riffraff (1936), starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy, and as "Suzette", Greta Garbo's devoted maid in the Edmund Goulding-directed drama Grand Hotel (1932).

When Grand Hotel was turned into a Broadway Musical in 1989, her character was renamed Rafaela Ottiano in honor of the actress, who had appeared on Broadway in 1930, in the original play version of the Vicki Baum novel.

Ottiano's last film was the musical comedy I Married an Angel (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. During her career in film, she appeared in approximately 45 motion pictures, opposite such actors as Barbara Stanwyck, Conrad Nagel, Peter Lorre, Zasu Pitts, and Katharine Hepburn.

Personal life

Ottiano lived in the Times Square area during the Prohibition Era and never married. She died in 1942, in the Boston home of her late parents, of intestinal cancer at the age of 54. She is buried at St. Michael's Cemetery in the Roslindale section of Boston, Massachusetts.

Filmography

Actress
1942
I Married an Angel as
Madelon (uncredited)
1942
The Adventures of Martin Eden as
Marie Sylva
1941
Topper Returns as
Lillian - the Housekeeper
1940
Victory as
Madame Makanoff
1940
A Little Bit of Heaven as
Mme. Lupinsky
1940
The Long Voyage Home as
Bella
1940
Vigil in the Night as
Mrs. Henrietta Sullivan (uncredited)
1939
Paris Honeymoon as
Fluschotska
1938
Suez as
Maria De Teba
1938
I'll Give a Million as
Proprietress
1938
Marie Antoinette as
Louise - Marie's Maid (uncredited)
1938
The Toy Wife as
Felicianne (uncredited)
1937
The League of Frightened Men as
Dora Chapin
1937
Maytime as
Ellen
1937
Seventh Heaven as
Madame Frisson
1936
That Girl from Paris as
Nikki's Personal Maid (uncredited)
1936
Mad Holiday as
Ning
1936
The Devil-Doll as
Malita
1936
Anthony Adverse as
Signora Buvino
1935
Riffraff as
Matron (as Rafaelo Ottiano)
1935
We're Only Human as
Mrs. William Anderson (uncredited)
1935
Crime and Punishment as
Landlady (uncredited)
1935
Remember Last Night? as
Mme. Bouclier (as Rafael Ottiano)
1935
Curly Top as
Mrs. Higgins
1935
One Frightened Night as
Elvira
1935
The Florentine Dagger as
Lili Salvatore
1935
Lottery Lover as
Gaby's Maid
1935
Enchanted April as
Francesca
1934
Great Expectations as
Mrs. Joe
1934
A Lost Lady as
Rosa
1934
The Last Gentleman as
Retta Barr (as Rafaelo Ottiano)
1934
All Men Are Enemies as
Filomena
1934
Mandalay as
Madame Lacalles
1933
Female as
Della - Alison's Maid (uncredited)
1933
Ann Vickers as
Mrs. Feldermans (as Rafaella Ottiano)
1933
Bondage as
Miss Trigge
1933
She Done Him Wrong as
Russian Rita
1932
The Washington Masquerade as
Mona
1932
As You Desire Me as
Lena
1932
Night Court as
Evil Tongued Neighbor (uncredited)
1932
Grand Hotel as
Suzette
1926
Married? as
Maid
1924
The Law and the Lady as
Ma Sims (as Raphaella Ottiano)
Soundtrack
1933
Female (performer: "Shuffle Off to Buffalo" (1932) - uncredited)
1932
The Washington Masquerade ("Bridal Chorus (Here Comes the Bride)" (1850), uncredited)

References

Rafaela Ottiano Wikipedia


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