Rafaela Ottiano
Acting
Born March 2, 1888, Venice, Italy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rafaela Ottiano (4 March 1888 – 18 August 1942) was an Italian-born American stage and film actress. Born in Venice, Italy, she emigrated with her parents to the United States, and was processed at Ellis Island, in 1910. Ottiano established herself as a stage actress in Europe before arriving in Hollywood in 1924 and appearing in American motion pictures. Ottiano's first film was in the John L. McCutcheon-directed drama The Law and the Lady (1924) opposite actors Len Leo, Alice Lake, and Tyrone Power, Sr. Ottiano was part of the original 1928 Broadway cast of the Mae West hit play Diamond Lil and reprised her role as Rita when the play was made into a film as She Done Him Wrong (1933), directed by Lowell Sherman. Throughout the 1930s, Rafaela Ottiano would often specialize in roles as sinister, maleveolent, or spiteful women, such as her role in the Tod Browning-directed horror film The Devil-Doll (1936), opposite Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan. Other notable film roles for Ottiano include Lena in As You Desire Me (1932) with Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore, and Hedda Hopper; Mrs. Higgins in the Shirley Temple musical-comedy Curly Top (1935); as a matron in the crime-drama Riffraff (1936), starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy; and as Suzette, Greta Garbo's devoted maid, in the Edmund Goulding-directed drama Grand Hotel (1932). When Grand Hotel was turned into a Broadway Musical in 1989, her character was renamed Rafaela Ottiano in honor of the actress. Ottiano's last film was the musical comedy I Married an Angel (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. During her career in film, she appeared in approximately 45 motion pictures, opposite such actors as Barbara Stanwyck, Conrad Nagel, Peter Lorre, Zasu Pitts, and Katharine Hepburn. Ottiano lived in the Times Square area during the Prohibition Era and never married. She died in 1942 in East Boston, Massachusetts of intestinal cancer at the age of 54. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rafaela Ottiano, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography
- 1942The Adventures of Martin Eden
- 1941Topper Returns — Lillian
- 1940A Little Bit of Heaven — Mme. Lupinsky
- 1940The Long Voyage Home — Bella
- 1940Victory — Madame Makanoff
- 1940Vigil in the Night — Mrs. Henrietta Sullivan
- 1939Paris Honeymoon — Fluschotska
- 1938I'll Give a Million — Barmaid
- 1938Marie Antoinette — Louise - Marie's Maid (uncredited)
- 1938Suez — Maria De Teba
- 1937Maytime — Ellen
- 1937Seventh Heaven — Madame Frisson
- 1937The League of Frightened Men — Dora Chapin
- 1936Anthony Adverse — Signora Bovino
- 1936Mad Holiday — Ning
- 1936Riffraff — Matron (as Rafaelo Ottiano)
- 1936That Girl from Paris — Nikki's Personal Maid (uncredited)
- 1936The Devil-Doll — Malita
- 1935Curly Top — Mrs. Higgins
- 1935Enchanted April — Francesca
- 1935One Frightened Night — Elvira
- 1935Remember Last Night? — Mme. Bouclier
- 1935The Florentine Dagger — Lili Salvatore
- 1935The Lottery Lover — Gaby's Maid
- 1935We're Only Human — Mrs. Anderson
- 1934A Lost Lady — Rosa
- 1934Great Expectations — Mrs. Joe
- 1934Mandalay — Madame Lacalles
- 1934The Last Gentleman — Retta Barr, Judd's wife
- 1933Ann Vickers — Mrs. Feldermans
- 1933Bondage — Miss Trigge
- 1933Female — Della, Alison's Maid (Uncredited)
- 1933She Done Him Wrong — Russian Rita
- 1932As You Desire Me — Lena
- 1932Grand Hotel — Suzette
- 1932Night Court — Evil Tongued Neighbor (uncredited)
- 1932The Washington Masquerade — Mona Farrell
- 1926Married? — Maid