Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina
(La Strada, 1954)

Giulietta Masina was an Italian actress who appeared in over thirty motion pictures from 1946 to 1991. She is pictured here in what was no doubt her most famous role, that of Gelsomina in Federico Fellini's 1954 film "La Strada". Co-starring Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart, this film told the story of a young girl sold by her poverty-stricken mother to a circus strongman (Quinn).

Guilietta restricted her roles almost exclusively to foreign (largely Italian) films, which no doubt kept her from much official Hollywood recognition. But she did win the best actress award at Cannes in 1957 for her role in "Cabiria". "La Strada", by the way, did win an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, the first film to be so recognized. It won no individual Oscars for the actors or production crew.

Two years later Basehart would open the classic "Moby Dick" with the voice over "Call me Ishmael". This role with Gregory Peck was probably the high point of his career although he is most often remembered (for better or worse) as the affable but somewhat distant Admiral Harriman Nelson on the television series "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea". Quinn, by the time he starred in "La Strada", was already a veteran of more than 60 motion pictures. He would go on to achieve iconic status, eventually appearing in over 200 films and television shows; some great, some not-so-great.

Giulietta had married Federico Fellini in 1943 after she performed in a radio show he had scripted, and while Federico was still eking out a living drawing cartoons and caricatures (yes, Fellini was a originally a cartoonist). Unlike many marriages between film personalities, this one lasted for half a century; quite literally until death did they part.