Isa Miranda

1905–1982 · Italian actress

Biography

Isa Miranda (Milan, 1905 - Rome, 1982) was an Italian actress who rose to fame in the 1930s, first in Italy and then in Hollywood, and who kept working across European cinema after the war. Born Ines Isabella Sampietro, she adopted the stage name under which she became known after moving to Rome, then the heart of Italian film production.

The daughter of a tram conductor, she worked as a errand girl and in box and handbag factories while young. At fifteen she became a model, a job that paid for night classes in bookkeeping and typing and, later, training as a stage actress in Milan. After small parts in Roman films, her breakthrough came in 1934 with Max Ophüls' La Signora di Tutti, in which she played a film star whose love life is turbulent. The role led to a Paramount contract, where she was billed as the 'Italian Marlene Dietrich' and played femme fatales in Hotel Imperial and Adventure in Diamonds.

She returned to Italy after the outbreak of war and kept working on stage and screen. In 1949 she starred in René Clément's The Walls of Malapaga, and in 1950 she appeared in one segment of La Ronde, again for Ophüls. Her career then took her to France, Germany and Britain, where she also worked in television films. Later credits include David Lean's Summertime, opposite Katharine Hepburn, and The Shoes of the Fisherman, in which she played a marchioness. In middle age she worked with Liliana Cavani on The Night Porter, one of her best-remembered late roles.

She was married to the producer and director Alfredo Guarini until his death in 1981. Her reputation rests mainly on her femme fatale roles of the 1930s and 1940s and on her move from prewar Italian cinema into international European production.

Key films

La Signora di Tutti (1934), dir. Max Ophüls: the role that launched her and set her femme fatale image.
Hotel Imperial (1939): one of her Hollywood films, in which she plays a femme fatale.
The Walls of Malapaga (1949), dir. René Clément: her major postwar European role.
La Ronde (1950), dir. Max Ophüls: she appears in one of its segments, again directed by Ophüls.
Summertime (1955), dir. David Lean: alongside Katharine Hepburn in a prestige international production.
The Night Porter (1974), dir. Liliana Cavani: a notable role in one of her last major films.

Trivia

A star with a new name

Born Ines Isabella Sampietro, she took the name Isa Miranda when she began her career in Rome. In Hollywood she was billed as the 'Italian Marlene Dietrich'.

From the factory to the studio

As a girl she worked as an errand girl and in box and handbag factories. At fifteen she became a model, which paid for night classes in bookkeeping and typing.