Paola Gassman (29 June 1945 – 9 April 2024) was an Italian actress.

Paola Gassman
Gassman in 2012
Born(1945-06-29)29 June 1945
Died9 April 2024(2024-04-09) (aged 78)
Rome, Italy
OccupationActress
Years active1965–2024
Spouse
Luciano Virgilio
(m. 1967; div. 1973)
Children2
Parent(s)Vittorio Gassman
Nora Ricci
RelativesRenzo Ricci (grandfather)
Margherita Bagni (grandmother)
Alessandro Gassmann (half-brother)
Leo Gassmann (half-nephew)

Biography edit

 
Gassman in the TV miniseries Orlando furioso, 1975

Through her mother, Nora Ricci, Paola Gassman was a fifth generation actor, as Ricci was the daughter of actors Renzo Ricci and Margherita Bagni.

Gassman devoted herself almost exclusively to the theater, with the exception of some sporadic but significant television appearances in comedies and scripts. At the beginning of her career she spent three years in the Milan company Teatro Libero, directed by Luca Ronconi. She performed in their show Orlando furioso, which toured in many European countries and in the United States before being adapted into a television series. Also during that period, she performed in the shows La tragedia del avengeratore and Cucina. She then joined the Brignone-Pagliai company, where she performed in Ibsen's Spectra and Fabbri's Family Process.

Gassman was directed by her father, Vittorio Gassman, onstage. With the theatrical company Pagliai-Gassman staged many shows both in the dramatic and in the comic and brilliant genre. She had a long period dedicated to Luigi Pirandello. She also performed in Goldoni's The Liar, Georges Feydeau's The Cat in the Pocket, Svevo's Wedding Scenes, and Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

She acted with directors such as Squarzina, Bolognini, Sciaccaluga, and Ronconi. Her later shows included Miller's Down from Mount Morgan; Crouse's Life with Father; Mary Coyle Chase's Harvey; Iphigenia in Aulis and Helen (both by Euripides); and Viaggio a Venezia and La Bottega del Caffe (both by Goldoni).

In recent years with Ugo Pagliai,[1][2] she dedicated herself to poetry and to all those pieces that are linked to memory and repertoire. In 2007, she published the autobiography A big family behind your back through Marsilio Editori.[3]

Personal life and death edit

Gassman was a companion of the actor Ugo Pagliai, whom she never married, and whom she shared one son: Tommaso. She and her then-husband, actor Luciano Virgilio, had a daughter; Simona Virgilio[4] known at the National Academy of Dramatic Art "Silvio D'Amico" (exactly as Paola's parents had done twenty years before). Her father Vittorio Gassman died of a heart attack on her 55th birthday.[citation needed]

After a prolonged illness, Paola Gassman died in Rome on 9 April 2024, at the age of 78.[5][6][7]

Filmography edit

Cinema edit

Year Film Role Director Notes Ref
1970 Let's Have a Riot Luigi Zampa
1982 From Father to Son Vittorio and Alessandro Gassman
2001 Days Laura Muscardin
2010 Looking for Mary
2017 Prayer Davide Cavuti Documentary
2021 My Father Antonio D'Ottavio Documentary
2021 A Martian Named Ennio Davide Cavuti

Television edit

Year Show Role Episode Notes Ref
1972 The Famous Evasions "L'évasion de Casanova" directed by Jean-Pierre Decourt
1973 Clash By Night by Clifford Odets, directed by Maurizio Scaparro
1975 Orlando furioso directed by Luca Ronconi
1976 Forget Lisa directed by Salvatore Nocita
1979 Fantastic Tales "The Fall of House Usher" directed by Daniele D'Anza
1981 Portrait of the Unknown by Diego Fabbri, directed by Mario Ferrero
1983 The Cat in the Pocket by Georges Feydeau, directed by Luigi Proietti
1986 The Physicists by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, directed by Vittorio Barino
2013 All the Music of the Heart "The Call" directed by Ambrogio Lo Giudice

Dubbing edit

Radio edit

  • "L'uomo alla moda", by George Etherege, directed by Carlo Di Stefano, 15 October 1969.
  • "Under two flags", by Ouida, directed by Ernesto Cortese, 15 episodes, from 29 April to 17 May 1974.
  • "The city and the years", by Konstantin Fedin, directed by Marcello Aste, 15 episodes, from 3 to 21 November 1975.
  • "Uncle's Dream", by Fyodor Dostoevsky, directed by Romeo De Baggis, 6 episodes, from 23 to 29 June 1982.

Theatre edit

Year Show Role Director Company Notes Ref
2010 Mia divina Eleonora Milo Vallone
The Balcony of Golda
2016 I hate Hamlet Alessandro Benvenuti

Discography edit

  • 2016 - Vitae, album by Davide Cavuti

References edit

  1. ^ "The identikit of Ugo Pagliai". Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Tribute to Giorgio De Llull and Rossella Falk: testimonies and memories". Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  3. ^ "Una grande famiglia dietro le spalle". Agendabda.unict.it (in Italian).
  4. ^ Gassman, Paola (2007). A big family behind her shoulders. Marsilio Editore.
  5. ^ "E' morta l'attrice Paola Gassman, sposata al teatro e ai suoi amori". Agenzia ANSA (in Italian). 10 April 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2024.
  6. ^ Volpe, Maria (10 April 2024). "Morta Paola Gassman, Alessandro: «Ciao sorella mia. Sei sempre stata la più saggia di tutti noi, la più rassicurante»". Corriere.it (in Italian). Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  7. ^ ""Paola Gassman rifiutava le cure, avrei dovuto obbligarla a continuare". Parla il marito Ugo Pagliai". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 11 April 2024. Retrieved 12 April 2024.

External Links edit