Equally versatile in the types of roles she portrayed, Olga could switch with ease between playing simple working class women and snobbish upper-class ladies. Her specialites, however, were playing tormented and long-suffering mothers, or cruel and malicious villainesses, both of which she always did with great bravura.
Born as Anna Olga Solbelli in Verghereto (Forlì)[1, 4, 5] on 11 May 1898. Her acting career began in the theater, where she achieved much success in the 1920s and 30s. She worked in the troupe of Pietro Meda, whom she married in 1928, but also several others.[1]
She entered the troupe of Annibale Betrone very young, who held her at the artistic baptism. Her theatrical career saw her as primadonna with Ruggeri and Calò in the Compagnia dei Gialli and again with Betrone-Carini.[2]
Olga made her film debut at the age of 38 with a small role in the crime film L'anonima Roylott (1936) and quickly became a much in-demand character actress, working steadily in film throughout the Fascist era. Her most famous roles from this era are in Via delle Cinque Lune (1942) as a cruel but sensual woman who seduces her stepdaughter's boyfriend, and as the third sister in the comedy Sorelle Materassi (1944).
During the post-war years, Olga's career continued to blossom and she appeared in a great number of melodramas, comedies and historical dramas, with high points being her portrayals of Catherine the Great in La figlia del capitano (1947) and particularly her dramatic interpretation of the long-suffering mother of real-life Italian irredentist Nazario Sauro in the biographical drama Fratelli d'Italia (1952).
In the late 1950s, Olga began to appear regularly in the fotoromanzi published in the weekly magazines Sogno, Luna Park and Cine Illustrato, and as a result, her film roles became somewhat less regular. In the 1960s, she was seen mostly in various peplum adventures, with her last great role being as the cruel and domineering mother of Franco Nero in the horror film Il terzo occhio (1966).
Olga retired from acting in 1967 and lived quietly outside the limelight until her death at age 78 on 8 September 1976 in Bologna. Her career is well documented by various sources, so there are probably not too many undocumented roles to be discovered. Her uncredited role in Erode il grande (1959) was not listed neither at ANICA nor IMDb, though, so it's possible there might be a few more uncredited roles that have not yet been discovered.
- Height: 1,68 m.
- Weight: 55 kg.
- Instruction: Accounting diploma.
- Acting and dancing school.
- Foreign languages: French.
- Dubbing.
- Radio.
- L'anonima Roylott .... Anna (credited)
1939 - Cose dell'altro mondo …. Rosalie (credited - unconfirmed role)
1940 - L'ispettore Vargas …. Signora Drowe (poster credit - role unconfirmed)
- La peccatrice …. Carmela Bandelli (credited)
- Una romantica avventura …. Widow Cavara (credited)
1941 - È caduta una donna …. Fashion house directress (credited)
- Ore 9: Lezione di chimica …. Signorina Bottelli (credited)
1942 - Odessa in fiamme …. Luba (credited)
- Via delle Cinque Lune …. Sora Teta (credited)
1943 - Apparizione …. Aunt Lavinia (credited)
- Calafuria …. Clara (credited)
- Campo de' Fiori …. Olga (credited)
- L'ultima carrozzella …. Boarding house landlady (credited)
- La statua vivente …. Rita's friend (credited)
1944 - La locandiera …. Contessa di Albafiorita (credited)
- Sorelle Materassi …. Giselda Materassi (credited)
1945 - Il ratto delle sabine …. Matilde (credited)
1946 - Ogni giorno è domenica …. Marta (credited)
- Senza famiglia …. The governess (credited)
1947 - L'onorevole Angelina …. One of Angelina's cell-mates (uncredited)
- La figlia del capitano …. Empress Catherine the Great (credited)
- Sperduti nel buio …. Emilia (credited)
1949 - Il lupo della Sila …. Anna Campolo (credited)
- L'invasore …. The Marchesa (poster credit)
1950 - Amori e veleni …. Contessa Baglioni (credited)
- Domani è troppo tardi …. Signora Giusti (credited)
- Faddja - La legge della vendetta …. Annarita's mother (credited)
1951 - Domani è un altro giorno …. Giulia's mother (credited)
- I figli di nessuno …. Mother superior (credited)
1952 - Don Camillo …. Gina's mother (credited)
- Fratelli d'Italia .... Anna Sauro (credited)
1953 - Il cavaliere di Maison Rouge …. Madame Tusson (credited)
- Il mercante di Venezia …. Bianca (poster credit)
- La nave delle donne maledette …. Anita (credited)
- La pattuglia dell'Amba Alagi …. Turi's mother (credited)
- Siamo tutti inquilini …. Attorney Sassi's wife (uncredited)
1954 - Gli amori di Manon Lescaut …. Prison nun (credited)
- Il prigioniero del re …. Queen Anne of Austria (credited - unconfirmed role)
- La corda d'acciaio …. Edvige (poster credit - unconfirmed role)
- Orient Express …. Postmistress (uncredited)
- Teodora …. Egina (credited)
1955 - Il piccolo vetraio …. Josiane (credited)
- L'angelo bianco …. Mother superior (credited)
- Ricordami …. Signora Barra (poster credit - unconfirmed role)
- Totò all'inferno .... Cleopatra's mother (credited)
1956 - Sangue di zingara …. Donato's mother (poster credit - unconfirmed role)
1957 - A vent'anni è sempre festa …. Rita's mother (poster credit - unconfirmed role)
- I misteri di Parigi …. Tavern proprietress (credited)
- Malafemmena …. Procuress (credited)
- Solo Dio mi fermerà … Don Salvatore's mother (credited)
1958 - Festival della famiglia Gurgià (TV movie) …. Maria Gurgià (credited in Radiocorriere TV listing)
- Il vento notturno (TV movie) …. Candida (credited in Radiocorriere TV listing)
1959 - Erode il grande …. Mother of the man being crucified (uncredited)
- I Reali di Francia …. Fazia (credited)
- La notte del grande assalto …. Caterina Sforza (credited)
1960 - Gli amori di Ercole …. Lachesi, the sorceress (credited)
- Il mulino delle donne di pietra …. Selma (credited)
1961 - Scano Boa …. One of the fishermen's wives (credited)
1963 - Il monaco di Monza …. Gossiping woman in the street (uncredited)
1964 - Ercole l'invincibile …. The prophetess (credited as "Sand Beanty")
1966 - 1000 dollari sul nero …. Pleading townswoman (credited)
- Il terzo occhio …. Mino's mother (credited as "Olga Sunbeauty")
1967 - Assalto al tesoro di Stato …. Madame Angot (credited)
- Una rete piena di sabbia …. unknown role (poster credit)
1968 - Quando la pelle brucia …. unknown role (poster credit)
- Il fu Mattia Pascal (1937) ANICA as Silvia Caporale
- Assenza ingiustificata (1939) - ANICA as Professoressa cattiva
- L'ispettore Vargas (1940) - ANICA as Signora Drowe
- I due foscari (1942) - ANICA as Moglie di Faredano
- I quattro di Bir El Gobi (1942) - IMDb says this production was interrupted by the war and never completed
- La principessa del sogno (1942) - ANICA as Clotilde, direttrice orfanotrofio
- Le signorine della villa accanto (1942) - ANICA as Proprietaria della villa
- Paura d'amare (1942) - ANICA as Padrona di casa
- Grazia (1943) - IMDb lists this as an uncompleted film
- La storia di una capinera (1943) - ANICA
- La buona fortuna (1946) - ANICA as Zia Clementina
- Ritorno al nido (1946) - ANICA as Virginia, la governante
- L'ultimo sogno (1947) - ANICA
- Fiori d'arancio (1947) - ANICA
- Fuga nella tempesta (1948) - ANICA
- Arrivederci papà! (1948) - ANICA
- La scogliera del peccato (1950) - ANICA as Maria
- Gli amanti di Ravello (1951) - ANICA as Governante
- Core 'ngrato (1951) - ANICA as Eugenia
- Strano appuntamento (1951) - ANICA
- L'uomo della mia vita (1952) - ANICA as Emma
- Mamma perdonami (1953) - ANICA; Cineguida 1956
- La barriera della legge (1954) - ANICA as Padrona pensione
- Il canto dell'emigrante (1956) - ANICA
- Eroe vagabondo (1966) - ANICA
1. Enrico Lancia, Roberto Poppi. Dizionario del cinema italiano: Le attrici (2003). 2. Dante Lazzaro. Cineguida 1943. 3. Dante Lazzaro. Cineguida 1949. 4. Dante Lazzaro. Cineguida 1956. 5. Dante Lazzaro. Cineguida 1961. |