Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), better known as Raffaella Carrà (), was an Italian singer, dancer, television presenter, actress and model. Considered a pop culture icon in Europe and Latin America, between the 1970s and 1980s she became a pioneer of feminism and women's sexual freedom in television and music industry, as well as an icon of the LGBT community and fashion and design.
Carrà published 25 studio albums in 37 countries, between Europe and Latin America, selling over 60 million records worldwide, which includes "A far l'amore comincia tu", "Fiesta", "Forte forte forte", "Tanti auguri" and "Tuca Tuca", singing in Italian, Spanish, English and French.
She became a successful TV host and personality in Italy, Spain and Argentina, being recognized with severals awards, including 12 Telegatto and two TP de Oro. After an acclaimed acting debout in Italy, Carrà signed an acting deal with 20th Century Fox in Hollywood, also starring in French and Spanish films, working with Mario Monicelli, Marcello Mastroianni, Frank Sinatra, Edward Mulhare, Trevor Howard, Jean Marais and James Coburn.
After her death, Carrà was honored with the Sorriso Diverso Venezia Award at the 78th Venice International Film Festiva for her contributions in Italian music and show industry.
Early life
Carrà was born on 18 June 1943 in Bologna to Raffaele Pelloni and Angela Iris Dell'Utri (of Sicilian ancestry) and had a brother named Enzo (died 2001). Her parents, however, separated shortly after the wedding and Carrà spent most of her childhood between her mother's bar and the ice cream shop in Bellaria – Igea Marina. At the latter establishment, she grew up watching the television programme Il Musichiere, learning by heart titles, ballets, and refrains of the songs.
When she was only eight years old, she left the Romagna Riviera to continue her studies directly in Rome at the National Academy of Dance. At the age of 14 she dropped out of ballet classes. In 1952 she began her studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia until she graduated in 1960.
Career
1950s and 1960s: youth, early career and Hollywood
At the age of 9, while walking with her mother in Rome and through a family friend, she met the director Mario Bonnard who cast her in his film Tormento del passato, in which she played the character of Graziella.
Carrà made her debut as a recognized actress in 1960 in the film Long Night in 1943 and in 1963 I compagni directed by Mario Monicelli and starring Marcello Mastroianni. That same year she worked in the French film La chance et l'amour with Michel Piccoli. She then appeared in many Italian peplum films, including Fury of the Pagans (1960), Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops (1961), Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961), Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules (1962), Pontius Pilate (1962) and Caesar the Conqueror (1962), as well as comedies and action films such as 5 marines per 100 ragazze (1961), The Terrorist (1963), The Organizer (1963), and La Celestina P... R... (1965).
In 1965, Carrà moved to Hollywood after signing a contract with 20th Century Fox and following in the footsteps of her fellow artists Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren and Virna Lisi, Carrà appeared in the film Von Ryan's Express alongside Frank Sinatra, Edward Mulhare and Trevor Howard. In 1966, she guest starred in an episode of the American television series I Spy with Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. Feeling homesick and not liking life in Los Angeles, she decided to return to Italy that same year where she starred in several Italian and French films such as Le Saint prend l'affût (1966), the Our Man Flint parody Il vostro super agente Flit (1966), Why Did I Ever Say Yes Twice? (1969), and Cran d'arrêt (1970), as well as a few television shows.
On 3 March 1967, Carrà was broadcast on the National Program Tutto per bene, a TV adaptation of the novel of the same name by Luigi Pirandello.
In January 1968, she presented a special broadcast on the second national network, entitled Tempo di samba. In June of the same year, she participated in the play Processo di Famiglia, by Diego Fabbri and, at the end of the following year, she starred in Il sorriso della gioconda.
Changing her surname
In the mid-1960s the director Dante Guardamagna gave her the pseudonym Carrà; fond of painting, he combined her real name, Raffaella, which reminded him of the painter Raphael Sanzio, with the surname of the painter Carlo Carrà.