Anna Magnani

" Director Roberto Rossellini called her "the greatest acting genius since Eleonora Duse". She ate and drank very little and could subsist for long periods on nothing more than black coffee and cigarettes. It co-starred Burt Lancaster and was Magnani's first English speaking role in a mainstream Hollywood movie winning her the Academy Award for Best Actress.

As an actress Anna Magnani became recognized for her dynamic and forceful portrayals of "earthy lower-class women" in such films as The Miracle (1948) Bellissima (1951) The Rose Tattoo (1955) The Fugitive Kind (1960) with Marlon Brando and directed by Sidney Lumet and Mamma Roma (1962). She was referred to as "La Lupa" the "perennial toast of Rome" and a "living Anna Magnani-wolf symbol" of the cinema. " Director Roberto Rossellini called her "the greatest acting genius since Eleonora Duse".