Rossano Brazzi

Biography

Rossano Brazzi (1916 - 1994) was an Italian actor who also worked occasionally as a director and screenwriter. He embodied the suave, romantic leading man, first as a matinee idol in his home country and later in Hollywood, where he became an international name in the early 1950s.

Born in Bologna, he grew up in Florence from the age of four. He studied law and briefly practised as a lawyer before turning to acting, making his film debut in 1939 with Processo e morte di Socrate. His Italian work included Tosca (1941) and Eleonora Duse (1947). During the war he refused to take part in the regime's propaganda and, by his own account, helped the resistance find food for people in hiding, a service later recognised with a decoration.

His first stint in Hollywood in the early 1950s was disappointing: his English was limited and his roles were small, so he returned to Italy, where he tried producing and lost heavily. His breakthrough came in 1954 with Three Coins in the Fountain, which made him an international romantic figure. That same year he played opposite Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa, and then starred with Katharine Hepburn in David Lean's Summertime. He also appeared in the film version of South Pacific (1958), and through the decade alternated American and European productions.

His style was courtly and somewhat theatrical, and he became associated with adventurers and seducers. In later years he moved away from leading roles toward genre pictures and international co-productions. He died in Rome in 1994. He is remembered mainly for the romantic cinema of the 1950s and as one of the Italian actors with the widest international reach of that era.

Key films

• Three Coins in the Fountain (1954): the young Italian professor in love who brought him international fame.
• The Barefoot Contessa (1954): his role opposite Ava Gardner in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's drama.
• Summertime (1955): a lead opposite Katharine Hepburn in David Lean's film.
• South Pacific (1958): the role of Emile De Becque in the adaptation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.
• Mondo cane (1962): appears as himself in Gualtiero Jacopetti's documentary.