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Pier Angeli (1932-1971) |
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- Susan Shentall, Romeo and Juliet, 1954. The British production had its roots in MGM's 1952 idea: Brando and Angeli.
- Marisa Pavan, The Rose Tattoo, 1954. Married to singer Vic Damone (to James Dean's annoyance), Angeli was in the family way and replaced, also in the family way, by her twin sister.
- Elsa Cardenas, Giant, 1955.
- Debra Paget, The Ten Commandments, 1955. ”
- Leslie Caron, Gigi, 1958. No chance when a real French wonder turned up.
- Haya Harareet, Ben-Hur, 1958. For Esther in the MGMighty $5m epic re-make, director William Wyler (one of the original’s 1924 crew) looked at Angeli, Ava Gardner - plus Carroll Baker and Carolyn Craig from another epic. Giant.
- Audrey Hepburn, Green Mansions, 1959. First bought by RKO for Dolores Del Rio 1932, WH Hudson's novel about mystery jungle girl, Rima, landed at MGM in 1945 where no scripts satisfied MGM boss LB Mayer.In the summer of ‘54, director Vincent Minnelli began shooting Alan Jay Learner's version with Angeli and Edmund Purdom. Producer Arthur Freed hated rushes and killed it.Having first read it at Princeton, actor Mel Ferrer felt he had actually wed Rima -“figure and features were singularly delicate”- and directed her in it. Very. Badly.
- Leticia Román, GI Blues, 1960. Welcome home Elvis! And here’s your reward for serving your country ifor two years in the US Army’s 3rd Armored Division.. 1: Román beating fellow Italians Anna-Maria Alberghetti and Pier Angeli to the zero role of Tina ) and 2: All your movies will suck from hereon!
- Natalie Wood, West Side Story, 1961. Excellent thinking, but soon enough as her sister’s star rose in Hollywood, as Angeli returned to Italy, a shadow of her teenage self, under her full name, Anna-Maria Pierangeli, and often, very little else, clothes-wise.
- Louis De Funès, La Grande Vadrouille, France-UK, 1966. The huge French comedy classic - about top movie clowns De Funes and Bourvil in WW11 - actually started out as an idea for dancer Zizi Jeanmaire (or Pier Angeli and twin sister Marisa Pavan) as twins: pious Lili and hooker Lulu. The partnership with the UK’s Rank Organisation was essential to securing the pricey Terry-Thomas as Big-Moustache of the RAF. Film closed in London in a matter of days (or hours?) but was the #1 French box-office hit for 42 years! There is simply no way of understanding the French.
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