Person Details

Birthday: 1888-03-04 16:32:56

Death: 1942-08-18 16:32:56

Aliases: Rafaella Ottiano , Rafaelo Ottiano , Rafael Ottiano , Raphaella Ottiano

Gender: Female

Place of birth: Venice, Italy

Homepage:

Movie Involvements: 25

TV Involvements: 0


Most Famous Work

Biography

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.

Most Famous Work

Grand Hotel
Average
7

Grand Hotel

(1932) Suzette
The Devil-Doll
Average
7

The Devil-Doll

(1936) Malita
The Long Voyage Home
Average
7

The Long Voyage Home

(1940) Bella
Suez
Average
5

Suez

(1938) Maria De Teba
Female
Average
7

Female

(1933) Della, Alison's Maid (Uncredited)
Anthony Adverse
Average
6

Anthony Adverse

(1936) Signora Bovino
Marie Antoinette
Average
6

Marie Antoinette

(1938) Louise - Marie's Maid (uncredited)
Riffraff
Average
5

Riffraff

(1936) Matron (as Rafaelo Ottiano)

Acting

Year Character Movie/Tv
1942 N/A
1941 Lillian
1940 Madame Makanoff
Bella
Mme. Lupinsky
Mrs. Henrietta Sullivan
1939 Fluschotska
1938 Maria De Teba
Louise - Marie's Maid (uncredited)
Barmaid
1937 Dora Chapin
Ellen
Madame Frisson
1936 Nikki's Personal Maid (uncredited)
Ning
Signora Bovino
Malita
Matron (as Rafaelo Ottiano)
1935 Mrs. Anderson
Mme. Bouclier
Mrs. Higgins
Elvira
Lili Salvatore
Gaby's Maid
Francesca
1934 Mrs. Joe
Rosa
Retta Barr, Judd's wife
Madame Lacalles
1933 Della, Alison's Maid (Uncredited)
Mrs. Feldermans
Miss Trigge
Russian Rita
1932 Mona Farrell
Evil Tongued Neighbor (uncredited)
Lena
Suzette
1926 Maid
Year Character Movie/Tv

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