Marisa Pavan, Oscar-nominated Italian actress in The Rose Tattoo, dies aged 91
Tori Brazier
Marisa Pavan, who was Oscar-nominated for her performance in 1955's The Rose Tattoo and was Pier Angeli's twin sister, has died aged 91.
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Metro
Italian actress Marisa Pavan, who was Oscar nominated for her performance in The Rose Tattoo, has died at the age of 91.

The star died on Wednesday, with the news shared on her official social media site.

The news was then confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter by her biographer Margaux Soumoy, who revealed Pavan had died in her sleep at her home in Gassin, France.

No cause of death was shared.

Pavan was also the twin sister of fellow actress Pier Angeli, who died of a drug overdose aged 39 in 1971.

Alongside her Academy Award-nominated turn in 1955 drama The Rose Tattoo, Pavan also appeared in The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit opposite Gregory Peck in 1956 and 1957’s The Midnight Story with Tony Curtis.

She was also legendary French queen Catherine de’ Medici in Diane, which also starred Lana Turner.

For The Rose Tattoo, a screen adaptation of the play by Tennessee Williams, Pavan played headstrong Rosa, who is grieving the death of her husband until she meets a truck driver played by Burt Lancaster.

The film also starred fellow Italian actress Anna Magnani, Lancaster and Jo Van Fleet, who went on to beat Pavan in the best supporting actress category at the Oscars for her turn in East of Eden.

However, Pavan scored the Golden Globe for her performance.

She was born Maria Luisa Pierangeli a few minutes after her sister Anna Maria Pierangeli on June 19, 1932, in Sardinia, Italy.

The family moved to Rome a few years later, where they were threatened when Nazis occupied the city.

Pavan scored a contract with studio Fox, despite having no acting experience, when she and her sister moved to Los Angeles in 1951 at the age of 19.

Her sister Anna had been spotted by Italian actor and director Vittorio De Sica when she was walking along the Via Veneto at the age of 16.

After she starred opposite him in Tomorrow Is Too Late, MGM cast her in 1951’s Teresa, signed her to a seven-year contract and rechristened her Pier Angeli.

Pavan came along for the ride to America, and made her screen debut in 1952’s What Price Glory.

In 1959 she appeared in both John Paul Jones and Solomon and Sheba, the latter with Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida, and embraced television roles in the 1960s and ’70s, including Wonder Woman and Hawaii Five-O.

The star was married to French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont from 1956 until his death in 2001.

They had two sons together: cinematographer Jean-Claude, and Patrick.

Both survive her, alongside her younger sister, Patrizia Pierangeli, who was also an actress.

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