Italy Issues Anna Magnani Stamp

To commemorate the greatly celebrated actress Anna Magnani, Italy will release a postal stamp on March 7, 2008 which would have been the 100th birthday of the legendary Roman. The honor of best actress was bestowed upon her at the Venice Film Festival in 1947 for her role in Luigi Zampa's Onorevole Angelina.

She made cinematic history as the first Italian to win an Oscar for best actress in the 1955 film The

Rose Tattoo, in a role expressly created for her by Tennessee Williams after being captivated by her, saying ''I never saw a more beautiful woman, enormous eyes, skin the color of Devonshire cream''. After 20 years of acting, Magnani first achieved international appreciation for her performance in Roma città aperta, Roberto Rossellini's neorealist classic film.

She subsequently worked with Italy 's leading directors of the time, like Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti and Pier Paolo Pasolini, and international directors the likes of Jean Renoir, Sidney Lumet and Stanley Kramer. Magnani was nominated for an Oscar for George Cukor's 1957 film Wild is the Wind, a role that won her a Silver Bear at the Berlin film Festival. She even has her very own star on Hollywood 's Walk of Fame. She was given the Italian Nastri d'argento Awards for Best Actress in 1945–46, 1947–48, 1948–49, 1951–52, and 1956; and received the Grolle d'oro Award in 1958–59. Her final cinematic appearance was a brief one in Fellini's Roma (1972). She died of cancer in Rome in 1973.