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 was also one of the divas featured in Peter Delpeut's recent film Diva Dolorosa (1999)

©2001, by Greta de Groat. All Rights Reserved

Last revised January 6, 2007