Anna Maria Pierangeli 19 June β 10 September [ 1 ] , known internationally by the stage name Pier Angeli , was an Italian actress, model and singer. Off-screen, Angeli was known for her high-profile romantic affairs with actors Kirk Douglas and James Dean , and later her tumultuous marriage to singer Vic Damone.
She died at the age of 39 of a barbiturate overdose. Her twin sister, Marisa Pavan , was also an actress. She was deeply affected by her experiences during the war, recalling later: "What was in the world, I didn't want to know.
Her work was so impressive that she won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress , and caught the eye of MGM producers, who offered her a contract with the studio. Plans for a film of Romeo and Juliet with her and Marlon Brando fell through when a British-Italian production was announced. She next appeared in Sombrero , in which she replaced an indisposed Ava Gardner , then Flame and the Flesh She went to Warner Bros.
For Paramount , she was in contention for the role of Anna Magnani 's daughter in The Rose Tattoo , but the role went to Marisa Pavan, her twin sister. Newman would later say of her: "The most beautiful Italian actress of the century. She was an extremely complex and gifted woman. It was so unfortunate that the roles she was asked to play rarely demanded what I know she had to offer. She was in consideration to play the character of Rima in, Green Mansions , a character she had long wanted to play.
One reviewer called her singing voice "warm and surprisingly rich. During the s and until , Angeli lived and worked in Britain and Europe, and was often screen-credited under her birth name, Anna Maria Pierangeli. She starred in French, Italian and English-language movies throughout the s.
