Maria Gambarelli (7 April 1900 – 4 February 1990) was an Italian-American

ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

. She was born in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, but raised in the United States. Between 1938 and 1941 she was

prima ballerina A ballet dancer ( it, ballerina fem.; ''ballerino'' masc.) is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet; however, dancers have a strict hierarchy and strict gender roles. They rely on yea ...

at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

. She was considered to be the greatest dancer trained at the Metropolitan Opera ballet school.

Selected filmography

Le amiche 1955 Maria Gambarelli Eleonora Rossi Drago

*'' La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935) * ''

Here's to Romance ''Here's to Romance'' is a 1935 American musical comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Nino Martini, Genevieve Tobin and Anita Louise.Solomon p. 359 Synopsis The wife of a music teacher, who has been angered by her husband's phi ...

'' (1935) * '' Hooray for Love'' (1935) * '' Doctor Antonio'' (1937) * ''

Le Amiche ''Le Amiche'' (, lit. "The girlfriends") is a 1955 Italian drama film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and starring Eleonora Rossi Drago, Gabriele Ferzetti, Franco Fabrizi, and Valentina Cortese. Based on Cesare Pavese's 1949 novella ''Tra do ...

'' (1955) * '' The Prince with the Red Mask'' (1955)

References

Bibliography

* Salvatore J. LaGumina, Frank J. Cavaioli, Salvatore Primeggia & Joseph A. Varacalli. ''The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2003.

External links

* 1900 births 1990 deaths American ballerinas Italian ballerinas American film actresses Italian film actresses People from La Spezia Italian emigrants to the United States 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American ballet dancers {{Italy-film-actor-stub