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A photo of Pier Angeli

Pier Angeli 1932 - 1971

Anna Maria Pierangeli was born on June 19, 1932 in Cagliari, Province of Cagliari County, Sardinia Italy, and had a sister Marisa Pavan. Anna Pierangeli died at age 39 years old on September 10, 1971 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California United States.
Anna Maria Pierangeli
Anna Maria (Pierangeli )
June 19, 1932
Cagliari, Province of Cagliari County, Sardinia, Italy
September 10, 1971
Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California, United States
Female
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Anna Maria Pierangeli's History: 1932 - 1971

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  • Introduction

    Pier Angeli Pier Angeli (19 June 1932 – 10 September 1971), also credited under her birth name, Anna Maria Pierangeli, was an Italian-born television and film actress. Spouse (2) Armando Trovajoli (14 February 1962 - 1969) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Vic Damone (24 November 1954 - 18 December 1958) ( divorced) ( 1 child) Trivia (14) Reportedly, Pier and James Dean were very much in love and wanted to marry, but her mother was against the union because of Dean's behavior and because he wasn't Catholic, and helped arrange Pier's marriage to Vic Damone. Three years before she died, the National Enquirer magazine published an interview in which Pier would have said that Dean was the only man she had ever really loved. Twin sister of actress Marisa Pavan. Screen, stage, and television actress. Dated James Dean while he was filming East of Eden (1955). Had one son with Vic Damone, Perry Rocco Luigi Farinola Damone, who was born in Los Angeles on August 21, 1955. He worked as a radio DJ and owned an entertainers representation in Phoenix, Arizona. He died on December 9, 2014 of lymphoma in Scottsdale, Arizona. Kirk Douglas, in his autobiography "The Ragman's Son", states that he was engaged to Pier in the early 1950s. In different situations but almost simultaneously, Léonide Moguy and Vittorio De Sica' chose her for her first role. When shooting a central scene with Michael Craig in The Angry Silence (1960), she was so immersed into her character that she left the script and started to shout in Italian. The scene was so impressive that it remained in the film. Sister-in-law of Jean-Pierre Aumont. Gave birth to her second child (by second husband Armando Trovajoli), Howard Andrew Rugantino, on 8 January 1963 . According to several people who knew her, she was terrified of turning 40. She died age 39. Older sister of Patricia Pierangeli. In a 1989 television interview with Skip E. Lowe, actor John Ericson and his wife, actress Karen Ericson, claimed that Pier Angeli did not commit suicide. They said that her twin sister, actress Marisa Pavan, told them Pier had gotten sick. A doctor came to the house and gave her medication that she had a negative reaction to; her tongue swelled and she choked to death. The reaction, however, was delayed, so she died after the doctor had left her house. The rumors quickly spread that she had taken her own life. She was Cecil B. DeMille's original choice for the role of Lilia in his biblical epic The Ten Commandments (1956), but she was under contract to MGM and they refused to let her work at another studio. The role went to Debra Paget. Personal Quotes (4) I have loved one person in my whole life, and that was James Dean. [about her first role as Mirella in Tomorrow Is Too Late (1950)] When the scenes begin, I change completely. I was not Anna. Like when you drink cold, cold water and feel it run like ice inside. I felt I was another girl, not me. [about Debbie Reynolds] I don't know what I would have done without Debbie. Debbie was, is and always will be my very dearest and best friend - we are like sisters. [about her relationship with actor James Dean] He wanted me to love him unconditionally, but Jimmy was not able to love someone else in return . . . it was the troubled boy that wanted to be loved very badly. I loved Jimmy as I have loved no one else in my life, but I could not give him the enormous amount that he needed. Loving Jimmy was something that could empty a person.
  • 06/19
    1932

    Birthday

    June 19, 1932
    Birthdate
    Cagliari, Province of Cagliari County, Sardinia Italy
    Birthplace
  • Ethnicity & Family History

    Italian Born. American Citizen.
  • Religious Beliefs

    Roman Catholic.
  • Personal Life & Family

    Famous, Celebrity, Actress
  • 09/10
    1971

    Death

    September 10, 1971
    Death date
    Barbituates - Suicide
    Cause of death
    Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California United States
    Death location
  • Obituary

    BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 10 (UPI)—Pier Angeli, the Itai ian‐born actress and forme. wife of Vic Damone, the singer was found dead in her apartment today. She was 39 years old. (Suicide) Miss Angeli's body was found by a friend, Helena Correll, who lived with her. Miss Car rell said the actress had been under a physician's care for a stomach disorder. An autopsy was scheduled for tomorrow to determine the cause of death. Gained Fame in ‘Teresa’ “Soulful,” “demure” and “poignant” were adjectives oft en used by critics in describing Miss Angeli's early movie por trayals. In the 1951 film “Teresa”— her second film and the one that brought her recognition as an up‐and‐coming film star— Miss Angeli played the role of a young Italian girl who leaves her family in war‐ravaged Italy to marry an American soldier. She thinks him a hero but when she arrives in the United States she learns that he is a shiftless weakling. “Miss Angeli is a young lady with a spindly figure and wistful face but a wealth of revealing expressions and a beautifully warming smile,” Bosley Crowther, film critic of The New York Times, said. “And in her a great strength of character is modestly but forcefully conveyed.” In the 1956 picture “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” based on the life of Rocky Graziano, Miss Angeli played the wife of the boxer who fought his way from a life of crime to the world middle weight championship. “In a movie that bursts with violence and fear, she is gentle and courageous and proves her self a fine and lovely actress,” one critic wrote. But despite the prominence she gained in roles such as these, Miss Angeli also had an outgoing and lilting image in other roles—an image in keep ing with her sunny nature and pert disposition offstage. She played the part of a passionate Tahitian girl in a television pro duction of “The Moon and Sixpence,” in which she appeared with Sir Laurence Olivier. As a singer, she cut one record of Italian songs in which her voice, a reviewer said, was “warm and surprisingly rich.” Miss Angeli—who pronounced her first name “Peer” and who was christened Anna Maria Pierangeli—was born in Sar dinia in 1932. Barely over five feet tall and weighing about 100 pounds, she was discovered in Italy by the director Leonide Moguy while she was still teenager. Her first film was the Italian “Tomorrow Is Too Late.” She had learned only a few words of English when she received the title role in Metro‐Goldwyn Mayer's “Teresa” the following year, 1951. That year her twin sister, Marisa Pavan, also began an acting career. Miss Angeli was divorced from Vic Damone, the singer, in 1958. A bitter custody battle over their son was not settled until 1965. In 1962 she married Armando Travajoli, an Italian band leader.
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15 Memories, Stories & Photos about Anna

Her parents would not let her marry anyone she was in love with and forced her to marry men that they chose primarily because they were Italian. Her twin, Marisa Pavan was happily married to a French actor
whom I gave a tribute to and had met: Jean-Pierre Aumont.
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Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
A photo of Pier Angeli
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
The beautiful Pier Angeli. I believe that this photo was taken during her movie career and was used a promotional snapshot.

Pier Angeli, born June 19th 1932, and died September 10th, 1971, was a famous actress from Cagliari Sardinia Italy.
Date & Place: in USA
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You can see her Italian roots! Shame she died so darn young and took her own life. Do we know why?
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Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
A photo of Pier Angeli
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Gorgeous photo!
Pier Angeli, Rocky Graziano movie
Pier Angeli, Rocky Graziano movie
A photo of Pier Angeli with Paul Newman in "Somebody Up There Likes Me. I worked for Rocky Graziano. I met Paul Newman and Perry Como who sang the theme song.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Pier Angeli and Vic Damone
Pier Angeli and Vic Damone
A photo of Pier Angeli who married Vic Damone.
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
A photo of Pier Angeli
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
A photo of Pier Angeli
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Pier Angeli
Pier Angeli
A photo of Pier Angeli
Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.
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Anna Pierangeli's Family Tree & Friends

Anna Pierangeli's Family Tree

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Friendships

Anna's Friends

Friends of Anna Friends can be as close as family. Add Anna's family friends, and her friends from childhood through adulthood.
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4 Followers & Sources
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