Jane Allen - Author - Pier Angeli A Fragile Life

Pier Angeli - A Fragile Life

" In Pier Angeli, a nineteen-year-old Italian girl, Hollywood has found an actress who eludes the town's traditional classifications and whose unvarnished beauty and instinctive talent have already caused her to be called Little Garbo" (Theodore Strauss in Collier's, April 1952). This work is the first full-length biography of actress Anna Maria Pierangeli, from her early life in Italy to her death at the age of 39. She was discovered by Vittorio De Sica and soon after starred in her first film, Domani è troppo tardi (Tomorrow Is Too Late), which began her meteoric rise to fame in Italy. She arrived in Hollywood in 1950 at the age of 18, and the first thing MGM did was change her name to Pier Angeli and predict great things for its newest actress.

The book covers her seven year career with MGM, her two unhappy marriages to Vic Damone and Armando Trovajoli, her love for her children Perry and Andrew, her brief and stormy relationship with James Dean, her dependent relationships with her mother and such stars as Kirk Douglas, Richard Attenborough and Debbie Reynolds, and the mystery surrounding her death.

Pier Angeli Awards

1951 Won Silver Ribbon Award for Best Actress in Domani e troppo tardi
1952 Won Golden Globe for Best Newcomer in Teresa
1955 Nominated for a Henrietta Award at Golden Globes
1961 Nominated for BAFTA as Best Foreign Actress in The Angry Silence
1961 Nominated for Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival

Reviews

"A long overdue biography of the beautiful Italian star...the author had the full co-operation of Pier's family and an excellent biography is the result."
Wide Screen Movies Magazine

"Written with compassion.... this is one of the best biographies
i've read in a a while." Journeys in Classic Film

Five Star Amazon Reviews:

★★★★★ One of the best books I have ever read

★★★★★ Beautifully written and well researched, this book is a must!

★★★★★ A wonderful read, this is a great book

★★★★★ A first-rate biography of Anna Maria Pierangeli. Jane Allen has managed to perfectly capture the whole era