The Palace of the Podestà in Florence, now the Bargello museum

Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state (like otherwise styled counterparts in other cities, e.g. rettori "rectors"), but also as a local administrator, the representative of the (Holy Roman) Emperor.

The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power. This development of a term meaning "Power" or "Authority" to be eventually the title of the person holding such power^[1] is parallel to the development of the Islamic term "Sultan".

Italian history[link]

The first documented usage of podestà was in Bologna in 1151, when it was applied to Guido di Ranieri di Sasso of Canossa, brought in from Faenza to be rettore e podestà, noted in numerous documents.^[2] Leander Albertus gives the particulars:

The citizens, seeing that there often arose among them quarrels and altercations, whether from favoritism or friendship, from envy or hatred that one had against another, by which their republic suffered great harm, loss and detriment; therefore, they decided, after much deliberation, to provide against these disorders. And thus they began to create a man of foreign birth their chief magistrate, giving him every power, authority and jurisdiction over the city, as well over criminal as over civil causes, and in times of war as well as in times of peace, calling him praetor as being above the others, or podestà., as having every authority and power over the city."^[3]

Podestàs were first more widely appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa when he began to assert the rights that his Imperial position gave him over the cities of northern Italy; at the second imperial diet at Roncaglia, November 1158, Frederick appointed in several major cities an imperial podestàs "as if having imperial power in that place"^[4] The elected consuls, which Frederick had claimed the right to ratify, he began to designate directly. The business of the podestà was to enforce imperial rights. From the start, this was very unpopular, and their often arbitrary behaviour was a factor in bringing about the formation of the Lombard League and the uprising against Frederick in 1167.

Although the Emperor's experiment was short-lived, the podestàs soon became important and common in northern Italy, making their appearance in most communes around the year 1200, with an essential difference. These officials were now appointed by the citizens or by the citizens' representatives, rather like the older consuls (but not collegial). The podestàs exercised the supreme power in the city, both in peace and war, and in foreign and domestic matters alike; but their term of office lasted only about a year.^[5]

In order to avoid the intense strife so common in Italian civic life, it soon became the custom to hire a stranger to fill this position. A similarity could be drawn to modern CEOs. Venetians were in special demand for this purpose during the 12th and 13th centuries. This was probably due to their lesser concern (at the time) than other Italians in the affairs of the mainland. Afterwards, in a few cases, the term of office was extended to cover a period of years, or even a lifetime. They were confined in a luxury palace to keep them from being influenced by any of the local families. The architectural arrangement of the Palazzo Pubblico at Siena, built starting in 1297, evokes the uneasy relation of the commune with the podestà, who in Siena's case was a disinterested nobleman at the head of the judiciary. It provided a self-contained lodging round its own interior court for the podestà, separate but housed within the Palazzo Pubblico where the councillors and their committee of nine habitually met (Woo).

During the later part of the twelfth and the whole of the thirteenth century most Italian cities were governed by a podestà. Concerning Rome, with a history of civic violence, Gregorovius says that "in 1205 the pope Innocent III changed the form of the civic government; the executive power lying henceforward in the hand of a single senator or podest, who, directly or indirectly, was appointed by the pope." In Florence after 1180, the chief authority was transferred from the consuls to the podest, and Milan and other cities were also ruled by these officials. There were, moreover, podests in some of the cities of Provence (southeastern France, the former province Gallia Narbonensis).

An anonymous writer composed a short guide for the would-be podestà (though it would be unseemly to appear openly to run for the office), Oculus pastoralis, of about 1222;^[6] in six simple and brief chapters it guides the novice through the requirements of the office, the salary, the address of welcome given by the retiring podestà to the new one, the choice of counsellors, the handling of money accounts. The fifth chapter offers some model speeches on public occasions, such as the death of prominent citizens. A final chapters touches upon making war (in a paragraph), and the training up of urban officials.

Gradually the podests became more despotic and more corrupt: the sale of public offices at Ferrara was a matter of public record, as Jakob Burckhardt noted: "At the new year 1502 the majority of the officials bought their places at prezzi salati (pungent prices) public servants of the most various kinds, custom-house officers, massari/bailiffs, notaries, podesta, judges, and even governors of provincial towns are quoted by name." Sometimes a special official was appointed to hear complaints against them. In the thirteenth century in Florence, in Orvieto (1251) and some other cities a capitano del popolo (literally, "captain of the people") was chosen to look after the interests of the lower classes. (To this day, the heads of government of the little independent republic of San Marino are still called "Capitani".) In other ways the power of the podests was reduced—they were confined more and more to judicial functions until they disappeared early in the sixteenth century.

The officials sent by the Italian republics to administer the affairs of dependent cities were also sometimes called podests. Into the 20th century the cities of Trento and Trieste gave the name of podest to their chief magistrate. In 1926, by a decree of Mussolini's Senate,^[7] Fascism tried to revive the term by calling the mayors of Italian cities podestà—a senate-elected position. This use was abandoned after World War II and today Italian mayors are again called Sindaco.

The example of Italy in the matter of podests was sometimes followed by cities and republics in northern Europe in the Middle Ages, notably by such as had trade relations with Italy. The officers elected sometimes bore the title of podesta or podestat. Thus in East Frisia there were podests identical in name and functions with those of the Italian republics; sometimes each province had one, sometimes the federal diet elected a podest-general for the whole country, the term of office being for a limited period or for life. ^[8]

Podesteria[link]

Literally this derived word means the office of a podestà or its term, but Podesteria can also designate a district administered by a podestà within a larger state.

In the domini di Terraferma that the dogal republic of Venice gradually established in the basin of the river Po, annexing various former principalities and self-governing cities, mostly in the fifteenth century, podesterias were one of the intermediate levels of the hierarchical administrative organization, the highest ('provincial') level being the territorio (roughly a modern administrative region).

After the other dogal republic, Genoa, was in 1273 granted control of Pera and Galata, commercial suburbs of Constantinople, by the Byzantine emperor, it governed them jointly by a common podestà until 1453, when all Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks.

Frisian Potestaat[link]

The concept of a local man empowered to represent the Emperor was also a feature of medieval Frisia. From apocryphal beginnings, important rights were granted or confirmed under the code of law known as the Lex Frisionum. According to later tradition, it was Charlemagne who granted the Frisians the title of freemen and permitted them to choose their own podestat or imperial governor from among the chieftains, to organize and lead the defense of two of the three districts of Frisia, in Middle Frisia, from the Flie to the Lauwers and in East Frisia from the Lauwers to the Weser, later the Countship of Ostfriesland

The Frisians probably became aware of the Italian title of podestà (Dutch: potestaat, German: Potestat, English: potestate) during the Sixth Crusade in 1228. According to privileges that were falsely ascribed to the Carolingian era, the potestate was chosen by council and he must be able to slay knights. Apocryphal historical writings mention the potestate as early as the Viking age.

The only potestates chosen to lead Friesland between the Vlie and Lauwers were Juw Juwinga (1396) and Juw Dekema (1494), both were chosen by the Schieringers. However, in 1399 the districts of Westergo and Oostergo elected potestates, Haring Harinxma and Sjoerd Wiarda respectively, in the struggle against the count of Holland. The title became well known outside of Friesland only with the installation of Albrecht of Saxony as hereditary potestate in 1498; the Frisians chose Jancko Douwama as their imperial stadtholder (1522).

See also[link]

• Capitano del popolo
• Capitano reggente
• Gonfaloniere
• Doges of the 'crowned republics', Genoa and Venice
• Potentate

References[link]

• Brouwer, J.H., J.J. Klama, W. Kok, and M. Wiegersma, eds., Encyclopedie van Friesland, (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1958) s.v. Potestaat van Friesland.
• Encyclopaedia Britannica 1911: "Frisians"
• Janet Hongyan Woo, "Tension in Siena : Site Selection and Room Arrangement of Piazza Pubblico"
• Burckhardt, Jakob, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy: "The State as a Work of Art", trans. 1878
• A. M. H. J. Stokvis, Manuel d'histoire, de généalogie et de chronologie de tous les états du globe depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours; vol. iii
• Westermann, Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte (in German)
• WorldStatesmen - Turkey
• William Francis Thomas Butler, Lombard Communes: A History of the Republics of North Italy (1982)

References[link]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Walter Bonatti in 1954

Walter Bonatti (Bergamo, 22 June 1930 – Rome, 13 September 2011) was an Italian mountain climber. He is noted for a solo climb of a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955 and the first solo winter ascent of the Matterhorn north face in 1965.

Life and career[link]

Bonatti on Gasherbrum IV summit, 1958

Bonatti was born in Bergamo. Famed for his climbing panache, he pioneered little known and technically difficult climbs in the Alps, Himalayas and Patagonia. At the age of 21, Bonatti in 1951 made the first ascent of the Grand Capucin, an extraordinary red granite pinnacle in the Mont Blanc massif, from 20 to 23 July. This was the climb that brought him to public notice. Aged 18, he had made the fourth ascent of the formidable North Face of the Grandes Jorasses with very poor equipment over a period of two days. Among his notable climbs were a solo climb of a new route on the south-west pillar of the Aiguille du Dru in August 1955,^[1] the first ever ascent of Gasherbrum IV in 1958^[2] and the first solo winter ascent of the Matterhorn north face in 1965. Bonatti was awarded the French Legion d'Honneur for saving the lives of two fellow-climbers in a disaster in the Alps. He authored a number of books about climbing and mountaineering. Bonatti died of pancreatic cancer^[3] in Rome on 13 September 2011 at the age of 81.^[4]

K2 controversy[link]

Bonatti was at the center of a climbing controversy about the first ascent of K2 by Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. Along with Hunza climber Amir Mahdi, he carried oxygen cylinders to Lacedelli and Compagnoni at Camp IX for the summit attempt. Bonatti was later accused by Compagnoni of using some of the oxygen, causing the climbers to run out of oxygen on summit day. Using this supplemental oxygen would have been impossible for Bonatti, as he had neither mask nor regulator. Bonatti would cite two summit photos to support his response that Compagnoni had lied about running out of oxygen in route to the summit. Although Bonatti's account of the bivouac is supported by Lacedelli in K2: The Price of Conquest (2004), Lacedelli contends that the oxygen had in fact run out. However, he attributes this not to Bonatti's alleged use of the oxygen, but to the physical exertion of the climb causing the summit climbers to use more oxygen than expected.^{[citation needed]}

Another aspect of the controversy was the Bonatti-Mahdi forced bivouac of July 30, 1954. Compagnoni's decision to place the final camp (IX) at a higher location than previously agreed caused the problem. When Bonatti and Mahdi climbed up to deliver oxygen to Compagnoni and Lacedelli for their summit attempt, Mahdi's condition had deteriorated. Unable to descend with Mahdi, Bonatti needed the shelter of Camp IX's tent. The tent was placed high up, over a dangerous traverse to the left - not at the agreed location. Unable to traverse safely to the tent, Bonatti and Mahdi endured a forced bivouac in the open at 8100 meters; it cost Mahdi his fingers and toes. Compagnoni gave the reasonable explanation that his decision to move the tent was to avoid an overhanging serac.^{[citation needed]}

However, it is argued that he also had an ulterior motive: to avoid Walter Bonatti. Bonatti was in the best physical condition of all the climbers and the natural choice to make the summit attempt. If he had joined the summit team, he would likely have done so without the use of supplemental oxygen. If he had succeeded, any summit by Compagnoni would have been eclipsed. Although the Bonatti-Mahdi forced bivouac was not anticipated, Compagnoni intended to discourage Bonatti from reaching the tent. At 6:10 pm the next evening, Compagnoni and Lino Lacedelli reached the summit of K2, using the supplemental oxygen Bonatti and Mahdi had brought them. Ardito Desio, in his final report, mentioned the forced bivouac only in passing. Mahdi's frostbite was an embarrassment to the expedition. The Italian government provided Mahdi with a small pension for his contribution and sacrifice on the first ascent of K2. Bonatti never reconciled with Compagnoni, owing to Compagnoni's allegedly false accusation that Bonatti used the oxygen intended for the summit attempt. He wanted to climb K2 "solo, alpine style, and without oxygen".^[5] He might well have succeeded. Two decades later, Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler astonished the mountaineering world by climbing Mount Everest without bottled oxygen.^{[citation needed]}

Mountaineering achievements[link]

• The north face of the Grandes Jorasses (1949)
• The east face of Grand Capucin (1951)
• The north faces of Tre Cime di Lavaredo in winter (1953)
• The southwest pillar of the Aiguille du Dru (The Bonatti pillar) (1955)
• Grand Pilier d'Angle (with Tito Gobbi) (1957)
• Gasherbrum IV: First Ever Ascent (1958)
• The Red Pillar of Brouillard (1959)
• Rondoy North - Patagonia (1961)
• The north face of the Grandes Jorasses in winter (1963)
• The north face of the Matterhorn: solo and in winter (1965)

Books[link]

The Mountaineering Books of Walter Bonatti

• Le Mie Montagne (My Mountains), Walter Bonatti, Bologna: Zanichelli, 1961
• I Giorni Grandi (The Great Days), Walter Bonatti, Verona: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1971
• Magia del Monte Bianco (Magic of Mont Blanc), Walter Bonatti, Como: Massimo Baldini Editore, 1984
• Processo al K2 (Trial on K2), Walter Bonatti, Como: Massimo Baldini Editore, 1985
• La Mia Patagonia (My Patagonia), Walter Bonatti, Como: Massimo Baldini Editore, 1986
• Un Modo di Essere (A way of Living), Walter Bonatti, Milan: dall'Oglio Editore, 1989
• K2-Storia di un Caso (K2 - The Story of a Court Case), Walter Bonatti, Bergamo: Ferrari Editrice, 1995
• Montagne di Una Vita (Mountains of a Life), Walter Bonatti, Milan: Baldini & Castoldi, 1995
• K2-Storia di un Caso (K2 - The Story of a Court Case), Walter Bonatti, 2d ed. Milan: Baldini & Castoldi, 1996
• In terre lontane, Walter Bonatti, Baldini & Castoldi, Milano, 1998 [1st ed 1997]
• The Mountains of my Life, Walter Bonatti, Modern Library, 2001. ISBN 0-375-75640-X
• K2. La verità. 1954-2004, Walter Bonatti, 2005, Baldini Castoldi Dalai editore. ISBN 88-8490-845-0.
• K2. Lies and Treachery, Robert Marshall, 2009, Carreg Ltd. UK. ISBN 978-0-9538631-7-4.

Other

• On the Heights. Hart-Davis, 1964. ISBN B0000CMDRK
• Magic of Mont Blanc. Gollancz, 1985. ISBN 0-575-03560-9
• K2 (Italian). Baldini e Castoldi, 1998. ISBN 88-8089-072-7

References[link]

External links[link]

• Obituary in The Guardian
• Obituary in UKClimbing.com

Rossana Podestà (born 20 June 1934 in Tripoli) is a former Italian actress.

Life[link]

She was born in the Italian colony of Libya, where she spent her first years in Tripoli and later moved to Rome after World War II. Rossana Podesta still lives in Italy, in Dubino (Sondrio province). She lived with the famous mountain climber, explorer and journalist Walter Bonatti; he died on September 13, 2011.

Acting career[link]

Podestà's most memorable role was as Helen in Helen of Troy, produced by Robert Wise in 1956. She could not speak English so she learned her lines by rote with a voice coach. The movie gave Podestà international exposure, and she performed alongside a young Brigitte Bardot. Thanks to her starring in the Mexican film Rosanna (film), she became very popular in Latin America.

Podestà also worked in the movie Ulisse, directed by Mario Camerini, and in the sixties and seventies she acted in some romantic movies, including Paolo il caldo and Il prete sposato. Her last performance was in 1985's Segreti segreti, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci.

She married and then divorced movie producer Marco Vicario.

Movies[link]

• 1951: Domani è un altro giorno
• 1952: Il moschettiere fantasma
• 1954: Le ragazze di San Frediano
• 1955: Ulysses
• 1956: Helen of Troy
• 1956: La spada e la croce
• 1960:La furia dei barbari
• 1961: La schiava di Roma
• 1962: Solo contro Roma
• 1962: La freccia d'oro
• 1963: Sodom and Gomorrah
• 1962: La vergine di Norimberga
• 1964: Le ore nude
• 1965: F.B.I. operazione Baalbeck
• 1965: Sette uomini d'oro
• 1971: Homo Eroticus
• 1971: Il prete sposato
• 1974: The Sensual Man
• 1980: Sunday Lovers
• 1983: Hercules
• 1985: Segreti, segreti

See also[link]

• Libyan Italians
• Helen of Troy (film)

External links[link]

• Biography

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2010)

Yvonne De Carlo
as Sephora in The Ten Commandments (1956)
Born	Margaret Yvonne Middleton (1922-09-01)September 1, 1922 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died	January 8, 2007(2007-01-08) (aged 84) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Years active	1941–95
Spouse	Bob Morgan (1955-74; divorced; 2 children)
Children	2
Awards	Fantafestival Award (1987)

Yvonne De Carlo (September 1, 1922 – January 8, 2007) was a Canadian-born American actress of film and television. During her six-decade career, her most frequent appearances in film came in the 1940s and 1950s and included her best-known film roles, such as of Anna Marie in Salome Where She Danced (1945); Anna in Criss Cross (1949); Sephora the wife of Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), starring Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner; and Amantha Starr in Band of Angels (1957) with Clark Gable. In the early 1960s, De Carlo accepted the offer to play Lily Munster for the CBS television series The Munsters, alongside Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis.^[1]

Early life[link]

The daughter of an aspiring actress, Marie De Carlo, and a salesman, William Middleton, De Carlo was born Margaret Yvonne Middleton in Vancouver, British Columbia, and nicknamed 'Peggy'. "I was named Margaret Yvonne – Margaret because my mother was very fond of one of the derivatives of the name. She was fascinated at the time by the movie star Baby Peggy, and I suppose she wanted a Baby Peggy of her own."^[2] Her maternal grandfather, Michael de Carlo, was Sicilian-born, and her maternal grandmother, Margaret Purvis, was Scottish-born. Her mother ran away from home when she was 16 to become a ballerina; after a couple of years of working as a shop girl, she was married in 1924. Little Peggy was three years old when her father abandoned the family. She lived with her grandparents. By the time she entered grade school, she found that her strong singing voice brought her the attention she longed for. Although her mother recognized Peggy's singing talent, she had already decided that her daughter would be a dancer. As a teenager Peggy was taken by her mother to Hollywood where she enrolled her in dancing school; she also attended Le Conte Middle School in Hollywood. Margaret lived in a downtown apartment with her mother, while Marie took on odd jobs such as waitressing. Mother and daughter were uprooted when their visas expired. Unable to find work, they returned to Vancouver.

She attended and dropped out of Vancouver's now-defunct King Edward High School, to focus more on her dance studies. She then attended the B.C. School of Dancing. It was there that Canadian dance instructor, June Roper, started her in a new direction, for which she was grateful and relieved. The following year at the Orpheum Theatre, Peggy appeared as a hula dancer in the famous revue Waikiki. A new nightclub, the Palomar, opened in Vancouver, and she acquired a week-long booking. Hoping to present a more sophisticated image, she combined her middle name with her mother's maiden name and became "Yvonne De Carlo."^{[citation needed]}

The pair made several such trips until 1940, when De Carlo was first runner-up to "Miss Venice Beach" and was hired by showman Nils Granlund as a dancer at the Florentine Gardens.^[3] She had been dancing for Granlund only a short time when she was arrested by immigration officials and deported to Canada,^[4] but in January 1941, Granlund sent a telegram to Canadian immigration officials pledging his sponsorship of De Carlo in the United States, and affirmed his offer of steady employment, both requirements to reenter the country.^[5]

Before she worked at Florentine, she also got her first job at 16, working at Vancouver's Palomar, where it expanded from a ballroom to a nightclub in 1938. Her time at the nightclub ended when she allegedly was pressured to expose her breasts.^{[citation needed]} Seeking contract work in the movies, she abruptly quit the Florentine Gardens after less than a year, landing a role as a bathing beauty in the 1941 B-movie Harvard, Here I Come.^[6] Other roles were slow to follow, and De Carlo took a job in the chorus line of Earl Carroll, another Hollywood showman. Her sixth film appearance was at the request of Nils Granlund, and the film Rhythm Parade was set at the Florentine Gardens nightclub in Hollywood.

In December 1941, the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor signaled America's entrance into World War II. During this period she engaged in morale boosting performances for U.S. servicemen. De Carlo was a favorite leading lady in the 1940s, and a recipient of many letters from GI's.^{[citation needed]}

De Carlo in the trailer for Criss Cross (1949)

Film career[link]

Early successes[link]

She was a Paramount starlet, but the studio apparently signed her mainly for her slight resemblance to Dorothy Lamour, as it was common then for studios to sign lookalikes in order to remind the stars in question that they easily could be replaced should their behavior become difficult or their box-office appeal begin to wane. When she moved to Universal Studios, she was used as a B-movie version of Maria Montez, one of the studio's reigning divas.^{[citation needed]}

Her break came in 1945 playing the title role in Salome, Where She Danced. Though not a critical success, it was a box office favorite, and De Carlo was hailed as an up-and-coming star. Of the role, she was less sure, saying of her entrance, "I came through these beaded curtains, wearing a Japanese kimono and a Japanese headpiece, and then performed a Siamese dance. Nobody seemed to know quite why."^{[citation needed]} In 1946 exhibitors voted her the ninth-most promising "star of tomorrow".^[7]

De Carlo in the trailer for Buccaneer's Girl (1950)

In 1947 she played her first leading role in Slave Girl and then in 1949 had her biggest success. As the female lead opposite Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross, she played a femme fatale, and her career began to ascend. She starred in the 1953 film The Captain's Paradise, as one of two wives a ship captain (Alec Guinness) keeps in separate ports.

[edit] The Ten Commandments

In 1954, during the casting for Cecil B. DeMille's biblical-epic The Ten Commandments (1956), actress Audrey Hepburn was suggested for the role of "Nefretiri" and actress Anne Baxter was chosen for the part of "Sephora".^[8] After Hepburn was turned down for the role of the Egyptian throne princess for being too "flat chested", the part of "Nefretiri" was handed down to Baxter.^[8]

When DeMille saw De Carlo in Sombrero (1953), he offered her the vacant role of "Sephora". De Carlo accepted, and declined another role she was offered in a German film at the time. De Carlo quotes "working with Mr. DeMille was a learning experience that I will never forget".^[9]

With a pay of $25,000; De Carlo's performance in the film made her into a first-class actress who could play any kind of role in big-budget films. Besides filming at Paramount Studios, De Carlo accompanied DeMille and the rest of the crew to Egypt, where several exterior shots were filmed. De Carlo met stuntman Robert Morgan in Egypt, and married him on November 21, 1955 in Reno, Nevada.

[edit] Band of Angels

The 1957 film Band of Angels featured her opposite Clark Gable in an American Civil War story, along with Sidney Poitier and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. The actress worked steadily for the next several years, although many of the films failed to advance her career.

Character actress[link]

Prior to becoming a full-fledged movie star, De Carlo also became a character actress, and made her debut on a 1952 episode of Lights Out. The part led to other roles in The Ford Television Theatre, Shower of Stars, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, Bonanza, Screen Directors Playhouse, Playhouse 90, Burke's Law, Follow the Sun (2 episodes), Adventures in Paradise, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Girl from U.N.C.L.E., Custer, The Name of the Game and The Virginian (2 episodes), among others.

Television series[link]

[edit] The Munsters

The year 1964 was a rocky one for De Carlo, as she was deeply in debt. After having worked for over 30 years, her film career came to a sudden end, and she was suffering from depression. She signed a contract with Universal Studios after receiving an offer to perform the female lead role in The Munsters opposite Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster. She was also the producers' choice to play Lily Munster when Joan Marshall, who played Phoebe, was dropped from consideration for the role. When De Carlo was asked how a glamorous actress could succeed as a ghoulish matriarch of a haunted house, she replied simply, "I follow the directions I received on the first day of shooting: 'Play her just like Donna Reed.'^[10]

The short-lived cult sitcom also starred familiar actor Al Lewis as Lily's father, Grandpa Munster, and new actors Beverley Owen/Pat Priest as Marilyn Munster and Butch Patrick as Eddie Munster.

During its second season, ratings began to drop, due in part to the debut of Batman, which dominated the ratings, early in 1966. Later that year, De Carlo accepted an offer to reprise her role in a color Munster movie, Munster, Go Home! (1966), partially in hopes of renewing interest in the TV series. Despite the attempt, The Munsters was cancelled after 72 episodes.

Honour[link]

Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[link]

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Yvonne De Carlo was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6124 Hollywood Blvd. and a second star at 6715 Hollywood Blvd. for her contribution to television.

Opera and Musical Theatre[link]

Trained in opera and a former chorister at St Paul's Anglican Church, Vancouver, when she was a child, De Carlo possessed a powerful contralto voice. In 1951 she was cast in the role of Prince Orlovsky in a production of the opera Die Fledermaus at the Hollywood Bowl. De Carlo released an LP of standards called Yvonne De Carlo Sings in 1957. This album was orchestrated by the movie composer John Williams. She sang and played the harp on at least one episode of The Munsters.

From 1967 onward she became increasingly active in musicals, appearing in off-Broadway productions of Pal Joey and Catch Me If You Can (not to be confused with the 2002 movie, or the 2009/2011 musical). In early 1968 she joined Donald O'Connor in a 15-week run of Little Me staged between Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas, performing 2 shows per night.^[2] Her defining stage role came with her big break on Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's Follies, which ran from February 1971 until July 1, 1972. As "Carlotta Campion" she introduced the song "I'm Still Here", which would become an anthem of sorts. The show opened later in Los Angeles with the original Broadway cast on July 22, 1972, and closed 11 weeks later.^[2] She was the last lead female performer from the original production to die (having been predeceased by Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Ethel Shutta, Mary McCarty, and Fifi D'Orsay). DeCarlo received recognition for her work in various B-horror films and thrillers, such as The Power, The Seven Minutes, House of Shadows, Sorority House Murders, Cellar Dweller, The Man with Bogart's Face, Mirror, Mirror, Blazing Stewardesses, and American Gothic.

De Carlo circa 1979.

She also made a cameo appearance on The Late Show in 1988, which was hosted by comedian Ross Shafer, to talk about her book, Yvonne: An Autobiography, which she had written in 1987.

Last appearances[link]

De Carlo's final appearance on the big-screen was as Aunt Rosa in the 1991 Sylvester Stallone comedy Oscar, directed by John Landis. De Carlo also appeared on the talk show, Vicki, hosted by her lifelong fan, Vicki Lawrence, on a special episode Sitcom Legends, along with Dawn Wells, Jamie Farr, Dick Sargent, Donna Douglas and former co-star Butch Patrick in 1994.

She had a small cameo role on the Munsters TV movie remake Here Come the Munsters in 1995. Her last TV movie appearance was as Norma, in the 1995 Disney remake of The Barefoot Executive, opposite Eddie Albert.

Her last TV interview appearance was on January 20, 2002, in a segment of Larry King Live which also featured Richard Hack, author of Hughes: The Private Diaries, Memos and Letters.

Quotes[link]

• Yvonne: "Men, no matter what their promises, rarely leave their spouses... the louses." (Source: Behind The Bedroom Doors of Famous Women)

• Yvonne on writing her own autobiography: "If I could, I'd change a lot of things because I'm not proud of everything I've done in my life. But to those people who helped me, and there were a lot, I say, thank you. They're the reason I wrote this book." (Source: USAToday.com)

• Yvonne on The Munsters: "It meant security. It gave me a new, young audience I wouldn't have had otherwise. It made me 'hot' again, which I wasn't for a while." (Source: LATimes.com)

• Yvonne on using a car that would be perfect for The Munsters: "I thought it would be fun to drive around." (Source: LATimes.com)

• Yvonne when Stephen Sondheim invited her to join the musical, Follies: "He wrote it for me, just for me!" (Source: Eonline.com)

• Yvonne when asked in 1972 about her affair with Howard Hughes before he turned into a legendary recluse: "Howard taught me how to land a plane and how to take off. But he never taught me anything about flying in between. He thought that I had learned the difficult parts, and that was enough." (Source: LATimes.com)

• Yvonne on Howard Hughes's romance, after watching Salome Where She Danced (1945): "A man came over ... he said 'Mr. Hughes would like to meet you.' Well, I was not too much aware of Mr. Hughes at the time --- who he was or anything. So, I said, 'Oh, yes, fine!' And so, I looked and thought, 'Wow, this would be a terrific boyfriend for my aunt.'" (Source: Eonline.com)

• Yvonne who told the media in 1971 about her stars, if she was really nervous about residing in New York City: "I'm from Hollywood, I'm too dumb to be nervous about New York." (Source: Eonline.com)

• Yvonne: "I was on cloud nine all the time. After I made my hit in Salome, Universal sent me to New York so I could learn to be a proper movie star." (Source: Eonline.com)

Personal life[link]

While starring in The Gal Who Took the West (1949), De Carlo not only walked away with the picture, but she walked away with Jock Mahoney, who was her boyfriend at the time. She and Jock were going to start a family, and in 1949, they were engaged. In her first trimester, she suffered a miscarriage, and De Carlo called off the engagement.

She married the stuntman Robert Morgan, whom she met on the set of Shotgun, on November 21, 1955. They had two sons, Bruce and Michael. Morgan also had a daughter, Bari, from a previous marriage. Morgan's left leg had to be amputated after he was run over by a train while doing stunt work on How the West Was Won (1962). However, his contract with MGM assumed no responsibility for the accident. De Carlo and Morgan filed a $1.4 million lawsuit against the studio, claiming her husband was permanently disabled. They divorced in June 1974.

In her autobiography, published in 1987, she listed 22 intimate friends, including Prince Aly Khan, Billy Wilder, Burt Lancaster, Howard Hughes, Robert Stack and Robert Taylor.

Her mother died in 1993 from a fall. Her son Michael died in 1997; causes were unknown, although a Santa Barbara Police report contains concerns about possible foul play. De Carlo had a stroke the following year, but soon recovered.

De Carlo was a naturalized citizen of the United States.

Death[link]

De Carlo moved to the Black Lake Retirement Community, in Nipomo, California. In declining health, she then became a resident of the Motion Picture & Television Hospital, in Woodland Hills, California, where she spent her last years. Her son Bruce was her key caregiver during her last days. There, on January 8, 2007, she died of natural causes. A memorial service was held a few days later at The Woodland Hills MGM Theater; among those attending the service was television and film producer Kevin Burns. She is survived by her son, Bruce, who is filming ProjectLodestar, a film featuring a cameo appearance by De Carlo. After she died she was cremated, and the ashes were given to either her family or her friend.^[11]

Filmography[link]

Short subjects[link]

• I Look at You (1941)
• The Kink of the Campus (1941)
• The Lamp of Memory (1942)
• Fun Time (1944)

TV work[link]

• Bonanza: A Rose For Lotta (1959) - Miss Lotta Crabtree
• The Greatest Show on Earth: The Night the Monkey Died (1964)
• The Munsters (1964–1966) - Lily Munster
• Custer (1 episode, 1967)
• The Girl on the Late, Late Show (1974)
• The Mark of Zorro (1974)
• Roots (1977) (miniseries)
• The Munsters' Revenge (1981)
• Murder, She Wrote: Jessica Behind Bars (1985) (guest star)
• A Masterpiece of Murder (1986)
• Tales From the Crypt (1995)
• Here Come the Munsters (1995) (cameo)
• The Barefoot Executive (1995)

Awards[link]

Bibliography[link]

• De Carlo, Yvonne; Warren, Doug (1987). Yvonne: An Autobiography. USA: St Martins Press. ISBN 0-312-00217-3. 

References[link]

This article uses bare URLs for citations. Please consider adding full citations so that the article remains verifiable. Several templates and the Reflinks tool are available to assist in formatting. (Reflinks documentation) (August 2011)

Further reading[link]

• Thomas, Nick (2011). Raised by the Stars: Interviews with 29 Children of Hollywood Actors. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-6403-6.  (Includes an interview with De Carlo's son, Bruce Morgan)

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Yvonne De Carlo

• Official website
• Yvonne De Carlo at the Internet Movie Database
• Yvonne De Carlo at the Internet Broadway Database
• AP report pppat CNN.com (January 10 2007): "Yvonne De Carlo, 'Munsters' star, dead"
• Media Newswire press release: 'Munsters' Television Star Yvonne De Carlo Dies at 84
• Yvonne De Carlo in 'Lamp Of Memory' (1944, Soundie) at The Prelinger Archive
• "Yvonne de Carlo". Obituary (London: Daily Telegraph). 12 January 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/news/2007/01/12/db1201.xml. 
• Yvonne De Carlo at Find a Grave
• Photographs and literature

Vincenzo Bellini

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini (3 November 1801 – 23 September 1835) was a Italian opera composer. A native of Catania in Sicily, his greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi (1830), La sonnambula (1831), Norma (1831), Beatrice di Tenda (1833), and I puritani (1835). Known for his long-flowing melodic lines, for which he was named "the Swan of Catania", Bellini was the quintessential composer of bel canto opera. He died in Puteaux, France at the age of 33, nine months after the premiere of his last opera, I puritani.

Life[link]

Born in Catania, Sicily, Bellini was a child prodigy from a highly musical family and legend has it he could sing an aria of Valentino Fioravanti at eighteen months. He began studying music theory at two, the piano at three, and by the age of five could apparently play well. Bellini's first five pieces were composed when he was just six years old. Regardless of the veracity of these claims, it is certain that Bellini grew up in a musical household and that a career as a musician was never in doubt.

Having learned from his grandfather, Bellini left provincial Catania in June 1819 to study at the conservatory in Naples, with a stipend from the municipal government of Catania. By 1822 he was in the class of the director Nicolò Zingarelli, studying the masters of the Neapolitan school and the orchestral works of Haydn and Mozart. It was the custom at the Conservatory to introduce a promising student to the public with a dramatic work: the result was Bellini's first opera Adelson e Salvini an opera semiseria that was presented at the Conservatory's theatre. Bellini's next opera, Bianca e Gernando, met with some success at the Teatro San Carlo, leading to a commission from the impresario Barbaia for an opera at La Scala. Il pirata was a resounding immediate success and began Bellini's faithful and fruitful collaboration with the librettist and poet Felice Romani, and cemented his friendship with his favored tenor Giovanni Battista Rubini, who had sung in Bianca e Gernando.

Bellini's cenotaph at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Bellini spent the next years, 1827–33 in Milan, where all doors were open to him. Sparking controversy in the press for its new style and its restless harmonic shifts into remote keys, La straniera (1828) was even more successful than Il pirata, and allowed Bellini to support himself solely by his opera commissions. The composer showed the taste for social life and the dandyism that Heinrich Heine emphasized in his literary portrait of Bellini (Florentinische Nächte, 1837). Opening a new theatre in Parma, his Zaira (1829) was a failure at the Teatro Ducale, but Venice welcomed I Capuleti e i Montecchi, which was based on the same Italian source as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The next five years were triumphant, with major successes with his greatest works, La sonnambula, Norma and I puritani, cut short by Bellini's premature death just nine months after the premiere of I puritani. Bellini left London for Paris, but never completed the journey back to Milan.

Bellini died in Puteaux, near Paris of acute inflammation of the intestine, and was buried in the cemetery of Père Lachaise, Paris; his remains were removed to the cathedral of Catania in 1876. The Museo Belliniano housed in the Gravina Cruyllas Palace, in Catania, preserves memorabilia and scores.

The central relationship in Bellini's life was with Francesco Florimo (1800-1888), from a village close to Catania, and the two shared a close correspondence. After Bellini's death Florimo was treated as his spiritual heir. Herbert Weinstock^[1] felt it "inescapably suggests to modern readers a homosexual attachment". However, John Rosselli^[2] rejects this idea, seeing it more as a romantic friendship.

Works[link]

In 1999, the Italian music publisher Casa Ricordi, in collaboration with the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, embarked on a project to publish critical editions of the complete works of Bellini.

Operas[link]

Songs[link]

The following fifteen songs were published as a collection, Composizioni da Camera, by Casa Ricordi in 1935 on the centenary of Bellini's death.

• Six Early Songs:
  • "La farfalletta" – canzoncina
  • "Quando incise su quel marmo" – scena ed aria
  • "Sogno d'infanzia" – romanza
  • "L'abbandono" – romanza
  • "L'allegro marinaro – ballata
  • "Torna, vezzosa fillide" – romanza

• Tre Ariette:
  • "Il fervido Desiderio"
  • "Dolente immagine di Fille mia"
  • "Vaga luna, che inargenti"

• Sei Ariette:
  • "Malinconia, Ninfa gentile"
  • "Vanne, o rosa fortunata"
  • "Bella Nice, che d'amore"
  • "Almen se non poss'io"
  • "Per pietà, bell'idol mio"
  • "Ma rendi pur contento"

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vincenzo Bellini

Biography portal

Other important bel canto opera composers:

• Gioachino Rossini
• Gaetano Donizetti
• Saverio Mercadante

Sources[link]

• Casa Ricordi. Edizione Critica delle Opere di Vincenzo Bellini (Italian)
• Rosselli, John (1996). The life of Bellini. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-46781-0
• Willier, Stephen Ace (2002). Vincenzo Bellini: A guide to research. Routledge. ISBN 0-8153-3805-8,

References[link]

1. ^ Herbert Weinstock, Bellini: His life and his operas, 1971
2. ^ John Rosselli, The life of Bellini, 1997, University of Cambridge Press

External links[link]

• Bellini cylinder recordings, from the Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project at the University of California, Santa Barbara Library.
• Free scores by Vincenzo Bellini at the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores by Vincenzo Bellini in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Vincenzo Bellini in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Teatro Massimo Bellini, Catania
• Vincenzo Bellini at Find a Grave