Giulietta Masina

Giulietta Masina (Giulia Anna Masina, 22 February 1921 – 23 March 1994) was an iconic Italian actress whose poignant performances helped define post‑war European cinema. Born the eldest of four children in San Giorgio di Piano, near Bologna, she grew up in a culturally rich household—her father a violinist and her mother a schoolteacher. An early encounter with playwright Luigi Pirandello sparked her artistic ambitions, and after studying voice, piano, and dance at an Ursuline convent, she pursued literature at Sapienza University of Rome. During World II she joined the Gruppi Universitari Fascisti theatre troupe and worked as a radio voice actress, where she met future husband Federico Fellini, a radio scriptwriter. They married in 1943; tragedy struck with a miscarriage and the loss of their infant son Pierfederico in 1945, leaving the couple without surviving children.

Masina’s screen debut came in Roberto Rossellini’s Paisà (1946), but she rose to international fame with Fellini’s La Strada (1954), portraying the vulnerable Gelsomina opposite Anthony Quinn. Her career peaked with the title role in Nights of Cabiria (1957), a performance that earned her the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award and solidified her reputation for conveying deep humanity through simple gestures. Despite a setback with Julien Duvivier’s The High Life (1960), she continued to collaborate with Fellini, delivering memorable turns in Juliet of the Spirits (1965) and Ginger and Fred (1986). In her later years she explored English‑language cinema with The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) and focused on television and radio, hosting the popular programme Lettere aperte. Masina died of lung cancer in Rome in 1994, five months after Fellini’s death, and was interred beside him and their son in Rimini’s Monumental Cemetery. Her legacy endures through her award‑winning films, which continue to inspire actors and directors worldwide.