26 December 2016

Ida Carloni Talli

Ida Carloni Talli (1860-1940) was an important Italian stage actress, who also acted in 92 Italian silent films between 1912 and 1924.

Ida Carloni Talli and Giovanni Schettini in Vertigine (1919)
Spanish collectors card by Chocolat Imperial, no. 6 in a series of 6. Photo: Grandes Exclusivas Verdaguer / FAI. Ida Carloni Talli and Giovanni Schettini in El Vertigo, the Spanish title for the Italian silent drama Vertigine (Baldassarre Negroni, 1919).

Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti in in Amore rosso
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Fotominia / Fert Film. Ida Carloni Talli, Maria Jacobini and Lido Manetti in Amore rosso (Gennaro Righelli, 1921). Caption: During the corrida. Don Alvaro gets to know Juanita.

Emilia Vidali and Ida Carloni Talli in I promessi sposi
Italian postcard. Photo: Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese) and Emilia Vidali (Lucia) in I promessi sposi/The Betrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922).

In arte


Ida Carloni Talli was born in Rome, Italy, in 1860.

She started as an amateur actress and became highly regarded among companies of this kind. In 1887, she entered the legitimate theatre - or ‘in arte’ as they used to say - with the company of Giuseppe Pietriboni. Subsequently, she became the first actress at the Fava company, where she made her mark with La trilogia di Dorina by Gerolamo Rovetta.

She became company leader with Virgilio Talli – whose wife she became, assuming his name - and with Ettore Paladini for a couple of years, obtaining great success with audiences and critics with 'La parigina' (La Parisienne) by Henry Becque (Milan, 1890) and in The Father by August Strindberg (Teatro Valle, Rome, 1893).

Her name is mentioned in the joint company Tovagliari-Carloni Talli-Pezzinga at which she collaborated with Baghetti Aristide and in 1899 she was at the company of Luigi Ferrati. She was an admired interpreter both in drama and comedy, working with major companies, such as Andò-Leigheb, Emanuel, Garavaglia, and Ruggeri-Borelli.

Subsequently, she withdrew from the theatre and taught for years at the School of Eleonora Duse at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Among her many pupils were Anna Magnani and many other famous actresses.

Alberto Collo and Ida Carloni Talli in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste (1915)
Italian postcard. Photo: Tiber Films. Alberto Collo as Oberdan and Ida Carloni Talli as his mother in Guglielmo Oberdan, il martire di Trieste/Oberdan (Emilio Ghione, 1915). Caption: "What shall I do, mamma? I will leave this oppressed land and will take care that my sacrifice will be worthwhile to redeem my brothers and sisters."

Ida Carloni Talli in La cuccagna
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5078. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Publicity still for La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: "Sidonia hosted meetings between her female and her male customers." La cuccagna was an adaptation of Emile Zola's La curée. Renata/Renée (Hesperia) is the second wife of the cunning and wealthy Saccard, who married young Renata for her money. She develops an affair with Saccard's son Max/Massimo (Alberto Collo). Saccard's sister Sidonia/Sidonie Rougon (Carloni Talli) is a professional matchmaker between men and women with financial or amorous interests. She covers this secret profession with a trade in lace. It is she who arranges the marriage of her brother and Renée.

Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. This is probably a publicity still of Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni-Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) (misspelt by IMDb as L'aiglette). This silent Italian film is an adaptation of a stage play by Dario Niccodemi. Ida Carolini Talli plays the countess of Saint-Servant, who has raised her son Enrico (Tullio Carminati) to be proud of his name and title and to cherish honour and virtue, symbolised by the feather of her aigrette. In reality, the countess is hunted by creditors, and the castle is falling apart. Enrico falls in love with Susanne Leblanc (Hesperia), wife of the banker, and in return, she loads him with money in order to restore the castle. Her husband Claudio (André Habay) is not so happy with this kind of charity...

Noble and austere mothers


Ida Carloni Talli was also highly active in Italian silent cinema. From 1912, she acted in subordinate and character parts, in 92 silent films, specialising mainly in the roles of noble and austere mothers. In the early 1910s, she acted in Cines in shorts like Anna Maria (1912), and epic films like Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913) and Marcantonio e Cleopatra/Antony and Cleopatra (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913), and the drama I due macchinisti (Enrique Santos, 1913).

Between 1912 and 1915, Carloni Talli was one of the regular supporting but also leading actresses in Cines shorts and features, together with other regulars like Leda Gys, Alberto Collo, Ignazio Lupi, Augusto Mastripietri and Amleto Novelli. From 1913 she also acted at the Celio company, affiliated with Cines. She acted in films with Francesca Bertini such as Niní Verbena (1913), L’onestà che uccide (1914) and Rose e spine (1914).

In 1915 Carloni Talli moved to Tiber Film for many films with Hesperia and Maria Jacobini but also some with Lina Cavalieri, Lina Millefleurs, Diomira Jacobini and Diana Karenne. She occasionally acted at the competing company of Caesar Film for films like Il capestro degli Asburgo (Gustavo Serena, 1915) starring Francesca Bertini

In the mid-1910s Carloni Talli acted in many diva films, e.g. La signora dalle camelie/The Lady of the Camellias (Baldassarre Negroni, 1915), L’aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) and La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) starring Hesperia, and Come le foglie (Gennaro Righelli, 1916), starring Maria Jacobini. She also played in the war propaganda films Cicueracchio (Emilio Ghione, 1915) and Guglielmo Oberdan, martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1916), and also had a part in Ghione’s crime serial I topi grigi (1918).

In the early 1920s, Carloni Talli acted at Fert Film in films with Maria Jacobini in Amore rosso (1921), La preda (1921), and Cainà (1922). She also acted as Agnese in I promessi sposi/The Betrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1923) starring Domenico Serra and Emilia Vidali, and as the Mother Superior in the American production The White Sister (Henry King, 1923) starring Lilian Gish and shot on location in Italy

Her last film was Consuelita (Roberto Roberti, 1925), starring Francesca Bertini. Ida Carloni Talli died in Milan, Italy, in 1940.

Hesperia in L'aigrette
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Hesperia and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).

Maria Jacobini in Amore rosso
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Fotominio. Ida Carloni Talli and Maria Jacobini in Amore rosso (Gennaro Righelli, 1921). Caption: Juanita goes to the corrida with her aunt Curra.

Ida Carloni Talli, Domenico Serra and Emilia Vidali in I promessi sposi (1922)
Italian postcard. Photo: Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese), Domenico Serra (Renzo), Emilia Vidali (Lucia) and Umberto Scalpellini (Don Abbondio) in I promesso sposi (Mario Bonnard, 1922), one of many adaptations of Alessandro Manzoni's classic novel. Caption: "If you want me to marry you, I'm here. The scene depicts the final scene of the story."

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian, English and Spanish) and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 24 September 2022.

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