MARTA ABBA, 88, ACTRESS, PIRANDELLO PROTEGE, DIES: - June 26, 1988
Marta Abba, a leading Italian stage performer of the 1920s and '30s and the favorite actress of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello, died on her 88th birthday Friday, her family announced.
The family said Saturday that she died at a Milan rest home after suffering a stroke.
Abba entered Milan's drama school when she was 15 and began her career in 1923 with the stage company of director Ettore Paladini. She drew acclaim the next year in Virgilio Talli's production of Chekhov's "Gabbiano."
In 1925, she became the lead actress for Pirandello, who won the 1934 Nobel Prize in literature and is considered a top figure in 20th century European theater.
After spending years in Rome performing such plays as "Six Characters in Search of an Author," Pirandello and Abba went on tour in Italy and abroad, including the United States, France, England and Germany.
Pirandello wrote several plays specifically for Abba, including "Come Tu Mi Vuoi" (As You Desire Me) in 1930.
In 1928-29, Abba formed her own company of young actors, mostly performing plays of her mentor. In the 1930s, she expanded her repertoire to include Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw and others.
Pirandello died in 1936. Two years later, Abba married an American, S.A. Millikin, grandson of a Cleveland steel baron, retired and settled in the United States.
After the marriage broke up, she moved back to Milan in 1953, returning briefly to the stage with a company in her own name. She had been on the board of the Institute of Pirandello Studies and Contemporary Italian Theater since 1962.
Two years ago, Abba donated to Princeton University the 560 letters that Pirandello had written her.
Funeral services were set for Monday in Milan.
Marta Abba, a leading Italian stage performer of the 1920s and '30s and the favorite actress of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello, died on her 88th birthday Friday, her family announced.
The family said Saturday that she died at a Milan rest home after suffering a stroke.
Abba entered Milan's drama school when she was 15 and began her career in 1923 with the stage company of director Ettore Paladini. She drew acclaim the next year in Virgilio Talli's production of Chekhov's "Gabbiano."
In 1925, she became the lead actress for Pirandello, who won the 1934 Nobel Prize in literature and is considered a top figure in 20th century European theater.
After spending years in Rome performing such plays as "Six Characters in Search of an Author," Pirandello and Abba went on tour in Italy and abroad, including the United States, France, England and Germany.
Pirandello wrote several plays specifically for Abba, including "Come Tu Mi Vuoi" (As You Desire Me) in 1930.
In 1928-29, Abba formed her own company of young actors, mostly performing plays of her mentor. In the 1930s, she expanded her repertoire to include Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw and others.
Pirandello died in 1936. Two years later, Abba married an American, S.A. Millikin, grandson of a Cleveland steel baron, retired and settled in the United States.
After the marriage broke up, she moved back to Milan in 1953, returning briefly to the stage with a company in her own name. She had been on the board of the Institute of Pirandello Studies and Contemporary Italian Theater since 1962.
Two years ago, Abba donated to Princeton University the 560 letters that Pirandello had written her.
Funeral services were set for Monday in Milan.
MARTA ABBA, 88, ACTRESS, PIRANDELLO PROTEGE, DIES: - June 26, 1988
Marta Abba, a leading Italian stage performer of the 1920s and '30s and the favorite actress of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello, died on her 88th birthday Friday, her family announced.
The family said Saturday that she died at a Milan rest home after suffering a stroke.
Abba entered Milan's drama school when she was 15 and began her career in 1923 with the stage company of director Ettore Paladini. She drew acclaim the next year in Virgilio Talli's production of Chekhov's "Gabbiano."
In 1925, she became the lead actress for Pirandello, who won the 1934 Nobel Prize in literature and is considered a top figure in 20th century European theater.
After spending years in Rome performing such plays as "Six Characters in Search of an Author," Pirandello and Abba went on tour in Italy and abroad, including the United States, France, England and Germany.
Pirandello wrote several plays specifically for Abba, including "Come Tu Mi Vuoi" (As You Desire Me) in 1930.
In 1928-29, Abba formed her own company of young actors, mostly performing plays of her mentor. In the 1930s, she expanded her repertoire to include Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw and others.
Pirandello died in 1936. Two years later, Abba married an American, S.A. Millikin, grandson of a Cleveland steel baron, retired and settled in the United States.
After the marriage broke up, she moved back to Milan in 1953, returning briefly to the stage with a company in her own name. She had been on the board of the Institute of Pirandello Studies and Contemporary Italian Theater since 1962.
Two years ago, Abba donated to Princeton University the 560 letters that Pirandello had written her.
Funeral services were set for Monday in Milan.
Marta Abba, a leading Italian stage performer of the 1920s and '30s and the favorite actress of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello, died on her 88th birthday Friday, her family announced.
The family said Saturday that she died at a Milan rest home after suffering a stroke.
Abba entered Milan's drama school when she was 15 and began her career in 1923 with the stage company of director Ettore Paladini. She drew acclaim the next year in Virgilio Talli's production of Chekhov's "Gabbiano."
In 1925, she became the lead actress for Pirandello, who won the 1934 Nobel Prize in literature and is considered a top figure in 20th century European theater.
After spending years in Rome performing such plays as "Six Characters in Search of an Author," Pirandello and Abba went on tour in Italy and abroad, including the United States, France, England and Germany.
Pirandello wrote several plays specifically for Abba, including "Come Tu Mi Vuoi" (As You Desire Me) in 1930.
In 1928-29, Abba formed her own company of young actors, mostly performing plays of her mentor. In the 1930s, she expanded her repertoire to include Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw and others.
Pirandello died in 1936. Two years later, Abba married an American, S.A. Millikin, grandson of a Cleveland steel baron, retired and settled in the United States.
After the marriage broke up, she moved back to Milan in 1953, returning briefly to the stage with a company in her own name. She had been on the board of the Institute of Pirandello Studies and Contemporary Italian Theater since 1962.
Two years ago, Abba donated to Princeton University the 560 letters that Pirandello had written her.
Funeral services were set for Monday in Milan.
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