Biography
Valentina Cortese, also credited as Valentina Cortesa, was an Italian film and theatre actress. Born in Milan in 1923, she made her screen debut in 1941 and appeared in over 100 productions until 1993. She played Eleanora Torlato-Favrini in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s The Barefoot Contessa (1954).
Cortese worked with directors including Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, François Truffaut and Franco Zeffirelli. She received a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and an Academy Award nomination for her performance in Truffaut’s Day for Night (1973). Other notable films include Thieves’ Highway (1949), Juliet of the Spirits (1965) and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988). She also had a substantial stage career.
In 2013 she was awarded the French Order of Arts and Letters.
