Ottavio Piccolo was born on October 9,
1949 in Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. She began her acting career at a very
young age, taking to the stage at 10-years-old as Helen, the protagonist of “The
Miracle Worker” by William Gibson, directed by Luigi Squarzina. She went on to
appear on television in ‘The White Nights’ by Dostoevsky. She then made her
film debut as one of the daughters of the Prince of Salina in “The Leopard” by
Luchino Visconti in 1963.
In 1964 she acted under Giorgio
Strehler, in “The Quarrels” and later in Shakespeare’s “King Lear”. Her other
teachers in the theater are Luca Ronconi and in the cinema Mauro Bolognini. She
would appear in “Metellus”, based on the book of Vasco Pratolini, her performance
was enough to merit an award for Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and
the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress (1971).
This success meant that the actress was
"adopted" by the French cinema and was directed, by among others, Claude
Sautet and Pierre Granier-Deferre (“The Adventurer”). In 1968 she played the
role of the female protagonist in “Serafino” by Pietro Germi, alongside Adriano
Celentano. The next year she played a secondary role in the comedy “A of 13”,
with Vittorio Gassman, Sharon Tate, Orson Welles and Vittorio De Sica.
In 1970 she recorded a 45 single with
Rodolfo Baldini. Since the mid-1970s she would focus mainly on the theater of
Shakespeare, Pirandello, Alfieri and Hofmannsthal; but she was better known to
the general public for her appearances in numerous television dramas, mostly
drawn from classical texts of world literature: among them, ‘Il mulino del Po’
and ‘La coscienza di Zeno’ directed by Sandro Bolchi, and ‘La Certosa di Parma’,
directed by Bolognini.
In 1974 Ottavia appeared in her only
Euro-western as Hortensia Pulido de
Olividades in “Zorro” with Alain Delon.
In 1987 she returned to acting in the
movies with “La famiglia” directed by Ettore Scola awarded the Nastro
d'argento and “Da grande” by Franco Amurri, alongside Alessandro Haber and
Renato Pozzetto.
In the 1990s she returned to Italian
television, with great success in with ‘Chiara e gli altri’, the show aired
between 1989 and 1991, in France. She did not abandon the theater, however: as
Ottavia appeared in, for example, it Frosina in “L'avaro” by Molière with Paolo
Villaggio.
In 1999, at the Festival of Cividale
del Friuli, Mittelfest, in collaboration with the Association Soroptimist she established
the Adelaide Ristori Prize, which she was to win the first edition.
In 2004, she played the role of an
analyst in “Tu la conosci Claudia?” with Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo, while in
2009 she starred in the film “Il grande sogno” by Michele Placido.
Ottavia Piccolo is also a respected
voice actress: and has lent her voice to for example, Carrie Fisher, Princess
Leia in the Star Wars trilogy, and the cat Gobbolino in ‘I Raccontastorie’.
Today we celebrate Ottavia Piccolo’s 65th
birthday.
No comments:
Post a Comment