Lia Franca (1912–1988) was an Italian film actress. She was sometimes credited as Lya Franca and Libia Franca.

Life and career

Born Livia Caterina Petra Penso in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, Franca started her career winning a beauty contest, "Miss Trieste", in 1927. Eager to pursue a film career, shorty later Franca moved to

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, where she tried without success to be put under contract from the production company "Società Anonima Stefano Pittaluga", and finally moved to Rome where she started her brief career. She debuted in 1930 with the short film ''Arietta antica'', and then starred in ''

Resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

'' by Alessandro Blasetti, the first Italian sound film, thus becoming the first Italian actress to have spoken in a film. Franca is best known for the role of Mariuccia in

Mario Camerini Mario Camerini (6 February 1895 – 4 February 1981) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. The cousin of Augusto Genina, he made the most well-known films in Italy during the 1930s, most of them comedies starring Vittorio De Sica. H ...

's ''

What Scoundrels Men Are! ''What Scoundrels Men Are!'' ( it, Gli uomini, che mascalzoni!) is a 1932 Italian " white-telephones" comedy film directed by Mario Camerini. The film was a great success, De Sica and Lia Franca became stars and the song ''Parlami d'amore Mari ...

'', starred alongside

Vittorio De Sica Vittorio De Sica ( , ; 7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian film director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement. Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: ''Sciuscià'' and ''Bicycle Thieves'' (honorary) ...

; in this time, at the height of her success, Franca knew and decided to marry the film director

Mario Sequi Mario Sequi (1913-1992) was an Italian film director and screenwriter.Bayman p.59 A Sardinian by birth, he was married to the actress Lia Franca. He began his career in the 1930s as a production manager in the 1930s before becoming a director af ...

, retiring from showbusinness.

Selected filmography

* '' Before the Jury'' (1931) * ''

'' (1932)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Franca, Lia Actors from Trieste Italian film actresses 1912 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Italian actresses