Remembering Paola Barbara

Paolina Prato was born on August 12, 1912, in Rome, Italy, but was known to moviegoers as Pauline Baards and Paola Bárbara. Starting in the theater she was a co-organizer of the theater group Gizzi-Barbara-Annicelli at the end of the 1930s. Paola appeared in over 60 films between her first film “Campo de maggio” (aka “100 Days of Napoleon”) in 1935 until her final film “Scherzi da prete” in 1978. She was married to director Primo Zeglio [1906-1984] from 1942 until his death in 1984. During World War II she fled Italy with Zeglio and lived in Spain where she continued to appear in films and became a voice dubber for 20th Century Fox films which would be shown in Italy after the war. Returning with Primo to Italy in 1947, Paola returned to the stage with her newfounded theater troup Barbara-Tamberlani-Villa. In 1961 she was credited with the screenplay for “Rosmunda e Alboino” (aka “Sword of the Conqueror”). After Zeglio died she turned to religion and became a lay sister the last few years of her life dying in Rome on October 2, 1989. Barabara died on Ocotber 2, 1989 in Rome, Italy. Today we remember Paola Barbara on what would have been her 100^th birthday.