Lidia Quaranta (6 March 1891 – 5 March 1928),
Early career
Lidia Gemma Mattia Quaranta was born in
Turin, Italy, the older sister of twins Isabella and
Letizia Quaranta, who later on also became actresses. She began her stage career in the theatre company of Italian actor and director
Dante Testa.
[ Enciclopedia del cinema in Piemonte ]
In 1910, Quaranta and her sister Letizia were hired by Itala Film. However, she made her film debut in the 1910 Edoardo Bencivenga-directed short L'ignota (English release title: The Unknown Woman) for the little-known Aquila Films. In 1911, she appeared in her first film for Itala titled Clio e Filete ( Clio and Filete), directed by Oreste Mentasti. She went on to perform in a number of short films for Itala, including the popular 1913 crime-drama Tigris opposite actor Dante Cappelli. During the 1910s, she also worked for such film companies as Tiber, Excelsa and Ambrosio Film.
Stardom
In 1914, Quaranta was cast in the title role in the lavish epic silent film
Cabiria, directed by Giovanni Pastrone and with author Gabriele D'Annunzio cited as a scriptwriter. The film is set in ancient
Sicily,
Carthage, and
Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). It follows a melodramatic main plot about an abducted girl, Cabiria, and features an eruption of
Mount Etna, heinous religious rituals in
Carthage, the alpine trek of
Hannibal,
Archimedes' defeat of the Roman fleet at the Siege of Syracuse and
Scipio Africanus manoeuvring in North Africa. Apart from being a classic on its own terms, the film is also notable for being the first film in which the long-running film character
Maciste (played by Bartolomeo Pagano) makes his debut.
Running nearly three hours (14 reels), the film was one of the first feature-length films and was both critically and financially successful and launched Quaranta into international stardom.
[ Profile, silentera.com; accessed 18 March 2015.]
From 1915 to 1920, she appeared in several films for Turin-based production companies such as Gloria and Savoia Studios. At the height of her popularity, she was earning a then-unprecedented ₤10,000 Italian lira a month during her contract with Itala Film, making her Italy's highest-paid film actress of the era.
Later career and death
After 1920, Quaranta appeared in several films for Fert Studios, Photodrama and Circe Film. Her last film appearance was in the 1925
Mario Camerini-directed
Voglio tradire mio marito, starring Augusto Bandini and
Alberto Collo.
[ BFI Film Forever accessed 18 March 2015]
In early 1928, while at home in Turin, Quaranta fell ill with pneumonia. She languished in illness for several months before dying on the day before her 37th birthday. She had appeared in over seventy films.
Bibliography
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Moliterno, Gino. Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema. Scarecrow Press, 2008. .
External links
