Regina Bianchi

Regina Bianchi (1 January 1921 - 5 April 2013), was an Italian stage and film actress. Born in Lecce as Regina D'Antigny, she was the daughter of two theater actors. Forced by the fascist phobia for the foreign culture to change her surname, she adopted the surname of her paternal grandmother. At age 16, she entered the stage company of Raffaele Viviani and the same year she debuted in the comedy play "Campagna napoletana" in which she played the leading role of Reginella. In 1939 she starred in the drama film "Il ponte di vetro"; in the film set she became engaged to the director Goffredo Alessandrini, that was her partner for over twenty years. After having announced her retirement in 1944, she came back in 1959 with the title role in Eduardo De Filippo's "Filumena Marturano". She won two Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actress, in 1963 for Nanni Loy's "The Four Days of Naples" and in 1996 for Leone Pompucci's "Camerieri", and appeared as Anna, the mother of Mary, in Franco Zeffirelli's "Jesus of Nazareth" in 1977. In 1996 she was awarded Grand Officer of the Italian Republic for artistic merits. She died at 92 in her home in Rome.