Helen's Blog /

Francesca Bertini was one of the most successful silent film divas of Italy. Born 1892, she played in films as a child in Naples and in Rome.

Majestic Francesca Bertini, was the most versatile and had the longest career of the big three Italian Divas--Bertini, Borelli, and Menichelli. She was also the best known outside Italy. Her strong face and dignified suffering carried a large
number of films, now mostly lost. Her own impressive production of Assunta Spina (1915) survives. She largely retired in the 20s, but made occasional films as late as 1976 in Bertolucci's 1900. She was the subject of the marvelous
documentary L'Ultima Diva (The Last Diva) (1982), shot in her early 90s, as sharp and commanding as ever.

She stepped into sound movies as well, and entered into a period of crisis with Fascism. It experienced a definite hiatus with World War II. After the war, a new generation of directors and actors took over the Italian film industry.Nevertheless, Bertini was still very popular and considered one of the best living actresses. Hollywood offered to sign a contract with her, but she refused: she was married to the wealthy Swiss banker Paul Cartier. When her husband died, she moved back to Rome, where she would remain until her death. In 1976.

She died in Rome at the age of 93.