Quick Facts
Biography
Clelia Matania (18 September 1918 – 14 October 1981) was a British-born Italian film and voice actress.
Life and career
Born in London, the daughter of the Capri-born naturalized Briton painter Fortunino Matania (best known as Saturnino), Matania attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and also followed courses of ballet, singing and music. When the family returned to Italy, she entered the company of the Arts Theater directed by Anton Giulio Bragaglia. In the second half of the thirties and during the war she was one of the most popular and requested young actresses of prose in Italy, then, from 1942, she also starred with some success in several revues. Her stage activity include works with Totò, Eduardo De Filippo and the musical comedy Enrico '61 that she also rapresented in England, first in Liverpool and then in London, also participating in a Royal Performance in the presence of the Royal Family.
Her film career mainly consists of supporting roles as a character actress; due to her perfect knowledge of English, Matania was also often required for the international productions set in Italy. She was also a very active voice actress.
Matania was married to painter Guido Odierna.
Selected filmography
- Melody of My Heart (1936)
- Night Ride (1937)
- Departure (1938)
- Naples Will Never Die (1939)
- The Silent Partner (1939)
- First Love (1941)
- Honeymoon (1941)
- A che servono questi quattrini? (1942)
- After Casanova's Fashion (1942)
- Romulus and the Sabines (1945)
- Alarm Bells (1949)
- La Bisarca (1950)
- Love and Blood (1951)
- Shadows Over Naples (1951)
- Seven Hours of Trouble (1951)
- Never Take No for an Answer (1951)
- Quo Vadis (1951)
- Toto and the Women (1952)
- Man, Beast and Virtue (1953)
- Cavallina storna (1953)
- La spiaggia (1954)
- Guai ai vinti (1954)
- Neapolitan Carousel (1954)
- Les Hussards (1955)
- I pinguini ci guardano (1956)
- I giorni più belli (1956)
- Roland the Mighty (1956)
- Wives and Obscurities (1956)
- Anna of Brooklyn (1958)
- La garçonnière (1960)
- Five Golden Hours (1961)
- Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile (1961)
- The Wastrel (1961)
- Il carabiniere a cavallo (1962)
- Escapade in Florence (1962)
- The Battle of the Villa Fiorita (1965)
- Chimera (1968)
- Barbagia (1969)
- Bequest to the Nation (1973)
- Don't Look Now (1973)
- Vergine e di nome Maria (1975)
- Wanted: Babysitter (1975)
- L'Italia s'è rotta (1976)