She was born Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni on June 18th 1943 in Bologna, Italy, to parents Raffaele Pelloni and Angela Iris Dell'Utri.
Her parents separated soon after her birth and Raffaella grew up living with her mother. When she was 8 they moved to Rome, where she was enrolled in the national Academy of Dance to study ballet.
The following year she was introduced to director Mario Bonnard through a family friend, who cast her in a small role in his film Tormento del passato.
Dropping out of ballet classes at 14, she enrolled to study acting at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, from which she would graduate in 1960. In 1961, at the suggestion of director Dante Guardamagna, she adopted the stage name Carrà (after the painter Carlo Carrà).
She began her serious acting career at the start of the 1960's, appearing in small roles initially, which gradually grew in size as the decade progressed. By the end of the decade she had appeared in around 30 films and TV series, but most of her roles gave little indication of the path her career would take in the following decade.
In 1970 she was hired by Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) to be the presenter of high-profile Saturday night variety show Canzonissima 70, where she would also perform as singer and dancer. Abandoning her acting career, she worked as a television presenter for the next 5 years.
In 1974 she scored her first hit as a singer with Ma che musica Maestro and within a few years she became an international singing star, recording in various languages and scoring hits in Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Britain, Belgium, Greece, Canada and across Latin America.
She would sustain her successful careers as singer and TV presenter over the next decades - the details of these years are well documented online so there is little point in repeating them here. In 1997 she would make one return to dramatic acting, as the star of the mini-series Mamma per caso.
Still working regularly until the last, Raffaella passed away in Rome at the age of 78 on July 5th 2021.
I have chosen to begin her topic with only her acting roles in films and television. Documenting every appearance she made on television around the world would probably be an impossible task, but we are always up for a challenge and in time I'm sure our posts for this side of her career will follow.
- Tormento del passato .... Graziella (credited?)
1959 - Caterina Sforza, la leonessa di Romagna …. (credited as "Raffaella Pelloni" - credit only)
1960 - Il peccato degli anni verdi .... Friend of Augusto (credited as "Raffaella Pelloni")
- La furia dei barbari …. (credited as "Raffaella Pelloni" - credit only)
- La lunga notte del '43 .... Ines (credited as "Raffaella Pelloni")
1961 - 5 marines per 100 ragazze .... Mirella (credited)
- Maciste nella terra dei ciclopi .... Eber (credited as "Raffaella Pelloni")
- Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo .... Princess Salirah (credited)
1962 - Giulio Cesare, il conquistatore delle Gallie .... Publia (credited as "Rafaella Carra")
- I don giovanni della Costa Azzurra .... Maid in the motel (credited)
- L'ombra di Zorro .... Carmela (credited as "Rafaela Carra")
- Ponzio Pilato .... Gessica (credited)
- Ulisse contro Ercole .... Leuconia (credited)
1963 - I compagni .... Bianca (credited)
- Il terrorista .... Giuliana (credited)
1964 - I grandi camaleonti (TV mini-series, Eps. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8) .... Ortensia (credited)
- La chance et l'amour .... Lisa Lopez (credit unknown)
1965 - La Celestina P... R... .... Bruna (credited)
- Scaramouche (TV mini-series, Eps. 4, 5) .... Costanza De Mauriac (credited)
- Von Ryan's Express .... Gabriella (credited)
1966 - I Spy (TV series, S. 2, Ep. 3: "Sophia") .... Sophia (credited)
- Il santo prende la mira .... Madame Anita Pavone (credited)
- Il vostro super agente Flit .... Aura (credited)
- Rose rosse per Angelica .... Angelica (credited)
1967 - Del vento tra i rami del sassofrasso (TV movie) .... Pamela (credited)
- Tutto per bene (TV movie) .... Palma Lori (credited)
1968 - Idillio villereccio (TV movie) .... The waitress (credited)
1969 - Comando al infierno .... Sara van Kolstrom (credited as "Rafaella Carra")
- Il sorriso della Gioconda (TV movie) .... Doris Mead (credited)
- Professione bigamo .... Teresa (credited as "Raffaela Carra")
1970 - Il caso 'Venere privata' .... Alberta Radelli (credited)
1971 - Arsène Lupin (TV series, S. 1, Ep. 8: "La femme aux deux sourires") .... Antonina / Clara (credited)
1978 - Aqui Radio Sardina (TV movie) .... Herself (credited)
1980 - Bárbara .... Bárbara (credited)
1997 - Mamma per caso (TV mini-series, Eps. 1-4) .... Nicoletta Brizzi (credited)
- Dopo il buio (1964) Short film (credited)
- Top Of The Pops (1978) British TV show, 2 appearances in April
- Valeria, ragazza poco seria (1958) ANICA as Sister of Valeria
- Lo stagno del diavolo (1965 TV movie) IMDb as Marie
- Processo di famiglia (1968 TV movie) IMDb as Bice
- Ekeines... ki ego (1976 TV series) IMDb, unknown episode and role