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| Mariangela Melato, Italian Actress, Dies at 71 | |
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| Mariangela Melato, an Italian actress who achieved fame alongside Giancarlo Giannini portraying complicated relationships in the provocative films of Lina Wertmüller, including “The Seduction of Mimi” and “Swept Away (by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August),” died on Friday in Rome. She was 71. | Mariangela Melato, an Italian actress who achieved fame alongside Giancarlo Giannini portraying complicated relationships in the provocative films of Lina Wertmüller, including “The Seduction of Mimi” and “Swept Away (by an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August),” died on Friday in Rome. She was 71. |
| She had been admitted to a hospice with cancer 20 days ago, said Giuseppe Casale, the medical director at that facility. | She had been admitted to a hospice with cancer 20 days ago, said Giuseppe Casale, the medical director at that facility. |
| Ms. Melato was already a successful actress when she first appeared in a film written and directed by Ms. Wertmüller, the Italian filmmaker whose work has challenged Italian social and political mores and depicted often vicious sexual relationships. Blond and throaty-voiced, with striking green eyes, Ms. Melato played the love interest to Mr. Giannini’s bewildered chauvinist in three of Ms. Wertmüller’s films from the 1970s. | Ms. Melato was already a successful actress when she first appeared in a film written and directed by Ms. Wertmüller, the Italian filmmaker whose work has challenged Italian social and political mores and depicted often vicious sexual relationships. Blond and throaty-voiced, with striking green eyes, Ms. Melato played the love interest to Mr. Giannini’s bewildered chauvinist in three of Ms. Wertmüller’s films from the 1970s. |
| In “The Seduction of Mimi” (1972), Ms. Melato played Fiorella, a jilted Sicilian wife who takes revenge on her adulterous husband, Mr. Giannini’s Mimi, by cuckolding him. In “Love and Anarchy” (1973), Ms. Wertmüller’s anti-Fascist drama, Ms. Melato plays Salomè, a prostitute and anarchist who helps a callow farmer, Mr. Giannini’s Tunin, in his plot to assassinate Mussolini. | In “The Seduction of Mimi” (1972), Ms. Melato played Fiorella, a jilted Sicilian wife who takes revenge on her adulterous husband, Mr. Giannini’s Mimi, by cuckolding him. In “Love and Anarchy” (1973), Ms. Wertmüller’s anti-Fascist drama, Ms. Melato plays Salomè, a prostitute and anarchist who helps a callow farmer, Mr. Giannini’s Tunin, in his plot to assassinate Mussolini. |
| Probably Ms. Melato’s best-known role in a Wertmüller film was as Raffaella in “Swept Away,” a sometimes harrowing romantic comedy of class conflict released in Italy in 1974. Raffaella, a haughty member of the Milanese upper class, is outspoken in her contempt for Gennarino (Mr. Giannini), a Communist Sicilian deckhand aboard a yacht she has rented. | Probably Ms. Melato’s best-known role in a Wertmüller film was as Raffaella in “Swept Away,” a sometimes harrowing romantic comedy of class conflict released in Italy in 1974. Raffaella, a haughty member of the Milanese upper class, is outspoken in her contempt for Gennarino (Mr. Giannini), a Communist Sicilian deckhand aboard a yacht she has rented. |
| When the two become stranded on a Mediterranean island, they reverse their societal roles, with Gennarino humiliating and abusing Raffaella until she submits and falls in love with him. They quickly reassume their places in society once rescued. | When the two become stranded on a Mediterranean island, they reverse their societal roles, with Gennarino humiliating and abusing Raffaella until she submits and falls in love with him. They quickly reassume their places in society once rescued. |
| Writing about “Swept Away” in The New York Times, Vincent Canby found a stark contrast between Ms. Melato’s performances in that movie and “Love and Anarchy,” observing that she was “such an interesting actress that it’s almost impossible to associate that earlier performance with the wicked and witty patrician who is momentarily humbled here.” | Writing about “Swept Away” in The New York Times, Vincent Canby found a stark contrast between Ms. Melato’s performances in that movie and “Love and Anarchy,” observing that she was “such an interesting actress that it’s almost impossible to associate that earlier performance with the wicked and witty patrician who is momentarily humbled here.” |
| Though the film angered other critics and many feminists, it became a hit in Europe and the United States. (A remake by the British director Guy Ritchie starring Madonna, his wife at the time, and Mr. Giannini’s son, Adriano Giannini, was released in 2002 with disastrous results.) | Though the film angered other critics and many feminists, it became a hit in Europe and the United States. (A remake by the British director Guy Ritchie starring Madonna, his wife at the time, and Mr. Giannini’s son, Adriano Giannini, was released in 2002 with disastrous results.) |
| Ms. Melato also acted for other leading Italian filmmakers like Vittorio De Sica (“Lo Chiameremo Andrea”), Franco Brusati (“To Forget Venice”) and Elio Petri (“Todo Modo” and “The Working Class Goes to Heaven”). She appeared in two American films, as Emperor Ming’s lover Kala in the science-fiction flop “Flash Gordon“ (1980) and in Andrew Bergman’s comedy “So Fine” (1981), but her Hollywood career foundered and she returned to Rome. | Ms. Melato also acted for other leading Italian filmmakers like Vittorio De Sica (“Lo Chiameremo Andrea”), Franco Brusati (“To Forget Venice”) and Elio Petri (“Todo Modo” and “The Working Class Goes to Heaven”). She appeared in two American films, as Emperor Ming’s lover Kala in the science-fiction flop “Flash Gordon“ (1980) and in Andrew Bergman’s comedy “So Fine” (1981), but her Hollywood career foundered and she returned to Rome. |
| Mariangela Melato was born in Milan on Sept. 19, 1941. Her father, a police officer, had emigrated to Italy from Nazi Germany and changed his name from Honing to Melato. Her mother was Italian, from Milan. As a teenager Ms. Melato worked as a window dresser and designed posters to pay for acting lessons with Esperia Sperani. | Mariangela Melato was born in Milan on Sept. 19, 1941. Her father, a police officer, had emigrated to Italy from Nazi Germany and changed his name from Honing to Melato. Her mother was Italian, from Milan. As a teenager Ms. Melato worked as a window dresser and designed posters to pay for acting lessons with Esperia Sperani. |
| Ms. Melato never married. She had a long romance with the Italian director and television and radio host Renzo Arbore. | Ms. Melato never married. She had a long romance with the Italian director and television and radio host Renzo Arbore. |
| Survivors include a sister, the actress and singer Anna Melato, and a brother. | Survivors include a sister, the actress and singer Anna Melato, and a brother. |
Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting. | Elisabetta Povoledo contributed reporting. |