{{short description|Italian voice actress (1908–1981)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lydia Simoneschi | image = Lydia Simoneschi.jpg | caption = Simoneschi in 1950 | birth_date = {{birth date|1908|4|4|df=y}} | birth_place = Rome, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|1981|9|5|1908|4|4|df=y}} | death_place = Rome, Italy | occupation = {{hlist|Actress|voice actress|dubbing director}} | other_names = Lidia Simoneschi | father = Carlo Simoneschi | years_active = 1932–1976 | spouse = {{marriage|Franz Lehmann||1942|end=died}} | children = 2 }}
'''Lydia Simoneschi''' (4 April 1908 – 5 September 1981) was an Italian actress and voice actress.<ref name=mondo>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/voci/vocilsim.htm|title=Lydia Simoneschi's voice acting and dubbing contributions|website=Il mondo dei doppiatori, antoniogenna.net |date= |accessdate=4 January 2020|language=it}}</ref> During her career, she gave her voice to actresses mainly during the Golden Ages.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mymovies.it/biografia/?a=61107 |title=Lydia Simoneschi |author= |publisher=MYmovies |date= |accessdate= 13 March 2020}}</ref>
== Biography == Born in Rome and the daughter of silent film actor and director Carlo Simoneschi, she began her acting career when she was very young in Camillo Pilotto's stage company; in the early 1930s she made her film debut, but her inconspicuous physical appearance did not help her in front of the camera. However, her persuasive, passionate and sophisticated voice paved the way for her to become a voice actress.<ref>[https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/speciali/cronologia.htm Cronologia fondamentale dell'epoca d'oro del doppiaggio italiano Dagli albori agli anni 1970] (in Italian)</ref>
From the early 1940s until the first half of the 1960s, Simoneschi became one of the most prominent Italian voice actresses, lending her voice to almost all the greatest Hollywood and European divas which include Barbara Stanwyck, Susan Hayward, Ingrid Bergman, Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford, Olivia de Havilland, Vivien Leigh and Maureen O'Hara. In Simoneschi's animated roles, she provided the Italian voices of the Blue Fairy in ''Pinocchio'', Flora in ''Sleeping Beauty'', Madam Mim in ''The Sword in the Stone'' and the Fairy Godmother in the 1967 redub of ''Cinderella''.
One of Simoneschi's main skills was that of being able to adapt very well to the different acting styles of the numerous actresses to whom she lent her voice. From 1964 she has also been a dubbing director and kept working in this environment until her retirement in 1976: in forty years of career as a voice actress, Simoneschi is estimated to have given her voice to over five thousand films.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cineaudioteca.it/dettaglio_doppiatore.php?id=26|title=Lydia Simoneschi on Cineaudioteca|newspaper=cineaudioteca.it|accessdate=4 January 2020}}</ref>
=== Personal life === Simoneschi was married to Regia Marina member Franz Lehmann until his death in 1942. They had one son, Giorgio. She later had a second son, Gianni, with Franz Lehmann's brother Luigi on 9 May 1949.<ref>[https://www.riccichiara.com/libri/i-vincitori-del-premio-letterario-nazionale-equilibri-2019-lydia-simoneschi-di-gerardo-di-cola/ I vincitori del Premio Letterario Nazionale "EquiLibri" 2019: "Lydia Simoneschi. La voce del cinema italiano" di Gerardo Di Cola] (in Italian)</ref> In the spring of 1980 the then President of Italy Sandro Pertini named her Knight of the Republic for her artistic merits.
== Death == {{Unreferenced section|date=February 2026}} Simoneschi died in Rome on 5 September 1981, at the age of 73.
== Filmography == === Cinema === {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" !scope="col"|Year !scope="col"|Title !scope="col"|Role !scope="col"|Notes |- |rowspan=2|1932 |''The Old Lady'' | | |- |''Pergolesi'' |Nicoletta | |- |1933 |''{{ill|Non c'è bisogno di denaro|it}}'' | | |- |1936 |''Bayonet'' |Marina | |- |1958 |''{{ill|Gli zitelloni|it}}'' |Moglie del presidente del tribunale | |- |1959 |''The Moralist'' |Vera's mother | |}
== Voice work == {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" !scope="col"|Year !scope="col"|Title !scope="col"|Role !scope="col"|Notes |- |1965 |''West and Soda'' |Esmeralda |Animated film |- |1968 |''VIP my Brother Superman'' |Happy Betty |Animated film |- |1975 |''King Dick'' |Esibizionista Cicciona |Animated film |}
=== Dubbing === ==== Films (Animation, Italian dub) ==== {| class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" !scope="col"|Year !scope="col"|Title !scope="col"|Role(s) !scope="col" class="unsortable" | Ref |- |1947 |''Pinocchio'' |The Blue Fairy |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/pinocchio.htm |title=Pinocchio Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |accessdate=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |1948 |''Bambi'' |Bambi's mother |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/bambi.htm |title=Bambi Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |1959 |''Sleeping Beauty'' |Flora |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/labellaaddormentatanelbosco.htm |title=Sleeping Beauty Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |1960 |''Goliath II'' |Goliath II's mother | |- |1961 |''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' |Nanny |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/lacaricadei101-1961.htm |title=One Hundred and One Dalmatians Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |1963 |''The Sword in the Stone'' |Madam Mim |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/laspadanellaroccia.htm |title=The Sword in the Stone Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |rowspan=2|1967 |''The Jungle Book'' |Winifred |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/illibrodellagiungla.htm |title=The Jungle Book Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |accessdate=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |''Cinderella'' |Fairy Godmother (1967 redub) |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/cenerentola.htm |title=Cinderella Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref> |- |1973 |''Robin Hood'' |Lady Kluck |<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.antoniogenna.net/doppiaggio/film/robinhood.htm |title=Robin Hood Italian voice cast|publisher=Antoniogenna.net |date= |accessdate=23 September 2024}}</ref> |}
==== Notable dubbed actresses ==== {{div col|colwidth=20em}} * Lauren Bacall * Lucille Ball * Anne Baxter * Joan Bennett * Ingrid Bergman * Clara Calamai * Claudette Colbert * Valentina Cortese * Joan Crawford * Linda Darnell * Danielle Darrieux * Bette Davis * Yvonne De Carlo * Olivia de Havilland * Marlene Dietrich * Joan Fontaine * Ava Gardner * Lillian Gish * Susan Hayward * Katharine Hepburn * Betty Hutton * Jennifer Jones * Lila Kedrova * Deborah Kerr * Angela Lansbury * Vivien Leigh * Gina Lollobrigida * Sophia Loren * Myrna Loy * Ida Lupino * Silvana Mangano * Michèle Morgan * Maureen O'Hara * Eleanor Parker * Donna Reed * Ginger Rogers * Eleonora Rossi Drago * Jane Russell * Margaret Rutherford * Simone Signoret * Barbara Stanwyck * Gene Tierney * Alida Valli * Shelley Winters * Jane Wyman {{div col end}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons category-inline}} * {{IMDb name|0800563|Lydia Simoneschi}} * {{BTVA person}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Simoneschi, Lydia}} Category:1908 births Category:1981 deaths Category:Actresses from Rome Category:Italian film actresses Category:Italian voice actresses Category:Italian stage actresses Category:Italian radio actresses Category:Italian voice directors Category:Burials at the Cimitero Flaminio Category:20th-century Italian actresses