The Naked Maja
''The Naked Maja'' is a 1958 Italian-American co-production made by S.G.C., Titanus, and United Artists. This historical film recounting of the romance between the painter Francisco Goya and the Duchess of Alba was directed by Henry Koster, and produced by Silvio Clementelli and Goffredo Lombardo. The screenplay was by Norman Corwin, Giorgio Prosperi and Albert Lewin based on a story by Oscar Saul and Talbot Jennings. The music score was by Angelo Lavagnino and the cinematography by Giuseppe Rotunno. The film stars Ava Gardner and Anthony Franciosa with Amedeo Nazzari, Gino Cervi, Lea Padovani, Massimo Serato, and a largely Italian cast. It is based on a novel by Noel Gerson. Cast Partial list of actors: * Ava Gardner as Maria Teresa de Cayetana, Duchess of Alba * Anthony Franciosa as Francisco Goya y Lucientes * Amedeo Nazzari as Manuel Godoy * Gino Cervi as King Carlos IV * Lea Padovani as Queen Maria Luisa * Massimo Serato as Rodrigo Sanchez * Renzo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Henry Koster
Henry Koster (born Hermann Kosterlitz, May 1, 1905 – September 21, 1988) was a German-born film director. He was the husband of actress Peggy Moran. Early life Koster was born to Jewish parents in Berlin, Germany. He was introduced to cinema about 1910 when his uncle opened a movie theater in Berlin. Koster's mother played the piano to accompany the films, leaving the young boy to occupy himself by watching the films. After working initially as a short story writer, Kosterlitz was hired by a Berlin movie company as scenarist, becoming an assistant to director Curtis Bernhardt. Bernhardt became sick one day and asked Kosterlitz to take over as director. Career In 1932, Koster directed his first film in Berlin, the comedy ''Thea Roland''. Koster, who was in the midst of directing his second film ''Das häßliche Mädchen'', had been the subject of antisemitism, and knew he had to leave. He lost his temper at an SA officer at his bank during lunch hour and knocked the office ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biographical Film
A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of a non-fictional or historically-based person or people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from docudrama films and historical drama films in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a single person's life story or at least the most historically important years of their lives. Context Biopic scholars include George F. Custen of the College of Staten Island and Dennis P. Bingham of Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis. Custen, in ''Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History'' (1992), regards the genre as having died with the Hollywood studio era, and in particular, Darryl F. Zanuck. On the other hand, Bingham's 2010 study ''Whose Lives Are They Anyway? The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre'' shows how it perpetuates as a codified genre using many of the same tropes used in the studio era that has followed a simila ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carlo Rizzo
Carlo Rizzo (April 30, 1907 – July 26, 1979) was an Italian stage and film actor.Chiti & Poppi p.333 He was the brother of the actor Alfredo Rizzo. A regular in post-war Italian cinema he also featured in several American films produced in Italy. Selected filmography * ''Defendant, Stand Up!'' (1939) * '' Lo vedi come sei... lo vedi come sei?'' (1939) * ''The Pirate's Dream'' (1940) * '' Il fanciullo del West'' (1943) * ''Charley's Aunt'' (1943) * ''Macario Against Zagomar'' (1944) * ''L'eroe della strada'' (1948) * ''How I Discovered America'' (1949) * ''That Ghost of My Husband'' (1950) * ''Deported'' (1950) * '' Il monello della strada'' (1951) * '' When in Rome'' (1952) * ''I, Hamlet'' (1952) * '' The Passaguai Family Gets Rich'' (1952) * ''My Wife, My Cow and Me'' (1952) * '' If You Won a Hundred Million'' (1953) * ''Roman Holiday'' (1953) * ''The Rains of Ranchipur'' (1955) * ''The Monte Carlo Story'' (1956) * ''Seven Hills of Rome'' (1958) * ''The Naked Maja'' (1958) * ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carlo Giustini
Carlo Giustini (born 4 May 1923), sometimes credited as Carlo Justini, is an Italian retired actor. Life and career Born in Viterbo, the son of a railway employee, Giustini debuted at twenty years old in ''The Materassi Sisters'', after having been chosen through an audition. In the postwar years he was very active in the sentimental and adventurous genres, in which he usually played secondary and supporting roles. He was also cast in several international productions, mainly thanks to his perfect English. He retired from acting shortly after having appeared in two sci-fi films directed back-to-back by Antonio Margheriti in 1965, '' Wild, Wild Planet'' and '' War of the Planets''. Selected filmography * ''La donna della montagna'' (1944) - Un giovane montanaro * ''The Materassi Sisters'' (1944) - L'amante della principessa russa * ''Fantasmi del mare'' (1948) - Sergente Banti * '' Anthony of Padua'' (1949) - Padre di Ferdinando * '' Alarm Bells'' (1949) - Marco * '' Children ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Renzo Cesana
Renzo Cesana (30 October 1907, Rome – 8 November 1970, Hollywood, California) was an actor, writer, composer, and songwriter most famed for his title role on the American television show ''The Continental (1952 TV series), The Continental''. He was also known as Renato Cesana. Biography Cesana was the grandson of Luigi Cesana, publisher of one of Rome's largest daily newspapers, ''Il Messaggero''. He emigrated to America as a screenwriter in 1929, to adapt Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer "sound film, talkies" for Italian audiences. After a failed attempt at becoming a film star, he appeared on radio in San Francisco, then became the U.S. advertising director for a prominent Italian wine, eventually opening his own advertising agency. He returned to Italy to co-write and appear in childhood friend Roberto Rossellini's film ''Stromboli (film), Stromboli'' (1950), then returned to America in 1949 to begin a film and television acting career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood.Passenger ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Queen Maria Luisa
Maria Luisa of Parma (Luisa Maria Teresa Anna; 9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was, by marriage to King Charles IV of Spain, Queen of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. Her relationship with Manuel Godoy and influence over the King made her unpopular among the people and aristocrats. She was rivals with the Duchess of Alba and the Duchess of Osuna, attracting popular attention. The death of her daughter-in-law Princess Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, whom she disliked, was said to be the poisoning by the Queen. Life Early life She was the youngest daughter of Philip, Duke of Parma, the fourth son of Philip V of Spain, and Louise Élisabeth of France, the eldest daughter of King Louis XV. Born in Parma, she was christened Luisa María Teresa Ana after her maternal grandparents and her mother's favourite sister Anne Henriette of France, but is known to history by the short Spanish form of this name: María Luisa, while Luisa was the name she used i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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King Carlos IV
, house = Bourbon-Anjou , father =Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place =Palazzo Barberini, Rome, Papal States , burial_place =El Escorial , religion =Roman Catholic , signature =Charles IV of Spain signature.svg Charles IV (Carlos Antonio Pascual Francisco Javier Juan Nepomuceno José Januario Serafín Diego) 11 November 1748 – 20 January 1819) was King of Spain and ruler of the Spanish Empire from 1788 to 1808. The Spain inherited by Charles IV gave few indications of instability, but during his reign, Spain entered a series of disadvantageous alliances and his regime constantly sought cash to deal with the exigencies of war. He detested his son and heir Ferdinand, who led the unsuccessful El Escorial Conspiracy and later forced Charles's abdication after the Tumult of Aranjuez in March ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manuel Godoy
Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many titles, including that of ('Prince of the Peace'), by which he is widely known. Godoy is best known for his diplomacy with Napoleon. In 1804 Godoy was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Godoy came to power at a young age as the favourite of King Charles IV and Queen Maria Luisa. Despite multiple disasters, Godoy maintained power. Many Spanish leaders blamed him for the disastrous war with Britain that cut off the Spanish Empire and ruined its finances. Crown Prince Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, led an attempt to oust Godoy in 1807. Godoy's unpopularity culminated in the Tumult of Aranjuez in March 1808, which forced him into exile. Birth and family background Godoy was born in Bada ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Francisco Goya Y Lucientes
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. Goya is often referred to as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was born to a middle-class family in 1746, in Fuendetodos in Aragon. He studied painting from age 14 under José Luzán y Martinez and moved to Madrid to study with Anton Raphael Mengs. He married Josefa Bayeu in 1773. Their life was characterised by a series of pregnancies and miscarriages, and only one child, a son, survived into adulthood. Goya became a court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786 and this early portion of his career is marked by portraits of the Spanish aristocracy and royalty, and Rococo-style tapestry cartoons design ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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María Cayetana De Silva, 13th Duchess Of Alba
María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Silva-Bazán, 13th Duchess of Alba, GE (10 June 1762 – 23 July 1802), was a Spanish aristocrat and a popular subject of the painter Francisco de Goya. Biography María Teresa, as she was called in her family, became the 13th Duchess of Alba in 1776 after inheriting the title from her paternal grandfather, Fernando de Silva, 12th Duke of Alba, who outlived her father. Her marriage the year before to José Álvarez de Toledo Osorio, 11th Marquess of Villafranca (a male-line descendant of Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, 2nd Duke of Alba), made her and her husband the wealthiest couple in the Kingdom of Spain. Their only rivals to this status were the House of Osuna. The duchess' relationship with famed Spanish painter Francisco de Goya and her somewhat eccentric personality have contributed greatly to a continuing interest in her life during the two centuries since her death. Goya executed several well-known portraits of the duchess, most ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Noel Gerson
Noel Bertram Gerson (1913-1988) was an American author who wrote 325 books, including several best sellers, among them two screenplay novelizations penned under the pseudonym Samuel Edwards, ''The Naked Maja'', and ''55 Days at Peking''. Peacock, Scott, Senior Editor (2000), ''Gales Contemporary Authors, Volume 82'' , pp. 143-146 Aside from "Samuel Edwards", which would seem to have been his dedicated by-line for tie-in work, Gerson used the following nine pseudonyms in addition to his own name: Anne Marie Burgess; Michael Burgess; Nicholas Gorham; Paul Lewis; Leon Phillips; Donald Clayton Porter; Dana Fuller Ross; Philip Vail; and Carter A. Vaughan.Hawk, Pat (1995), ''Hawk's Author's Pseudonyms II'' , p. 225 Life He was the son of Sam Gerson, who directed the Shubert theaters in Chicago. Gerson attended the University of Chicago, and served as the campus correspondent for the ''Chicago Herald-Examiner''. Following graduation, he became a reporter at the paper. He later jo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Massimo Serato
Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years. Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading roles in several historical dramas and sword and sandal epics, mainly Italian, as well as roles in major international films. His notable appearances include ''Piccolo mondo antico'' (1941),''The Naked Maja'' (1958), ''David and Goliath'' (1960), ''The Loves of Hercules'' (1960), ''El Cid'' (1961), '' 55 Days at Peking'' (1963) ''Camille 2000'' (1969) and ''Don't Look Now'' (1973). In 1947 he won a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the neorealist war-drama film ''The Sun Still Rises''. He had an affair with the actress Anna Magnani who bore him a son, Luca, whom she affectionately called Cellino. Luca contracted polio at an early age; - " In time he was able to walk with steel braces but espent much of his time ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |