Maria Gambarelli

{{Short description|Italian-American ballerina and actress (1900–1990)}} {{Infobox person | name = Maria Gambarelli | image = File:Maria Gambarelli White.jpg | image_size = | caption = Gambarelli in the 1930s | birth_date = {{birth date|1900|4|7|df=yes}} | birth_place = La Spezia, Liguria, Italy | death_date = {{death date and age|1990|2|4|1900|4|7|df=yes}} | death_place = Huntington, New York, U.S. | other_names = Gamby | occupation = {{hlist|Dancer|actress}} | years_active = 1908–1968<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/24/nyregion/reflections-on-a-stagestruck-life.html|title = Reflections on a Stagestruck Life|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 24 April 1988|last1 = Delatiner|first1 = Barbara}}</ref> | spouse = {{marriage|Edward Fenton|1935}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/09/obituaries/maria-gambarelli-fenton-89-a-metropolitan-opera-ballerina.html|title=Maria Gambarelli Fenton, 89, A Metropolitan Opera Ballerina|newspaper=The New York Times|date=9 February 1990|last1=Dunning|first1=Jennifer}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/08/01/archives/even-on-waterfront-people-like-to-own-pools.html|title = Even on Waterfront, People Like to Own Pools|newspaper = The New York Times|date = August 1970|last1 = Cook|first1 = Joan}}</ref> }}

'''Maria Gambarelli''' (7 April 1900 – 4 February 1990) was an Italian-American ballerina and actress. She was born in La Spezia, but raised in the United States. Between 1938 and 1941 she was prima ballerina at the Metropolitan Opera.<ref>The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia p.165</ref> She was considered to be the greatest dancer trained at the Metropolitan Opera ballet school.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Maria Gambarelli {{!}} Broadway Photographs|url=https://broadway.cas.sc.edu/content/maria-gambarelli|access-date=2021-03-20|website=broadway.cas.sc.edu}}</ref>

==Selected filmography== [[File:Le amiche 1955 Maria Gambarelli Eleonora Rossi Drago.png|thumb|Gambarelli (left) in the 1955 film ''Le Amiche''|200px]] * ''La Fiesta de Santa Barbara'' (1935) * ''Here's to Romance'' (1935) * ''Hooray for Love'' (1935) * ''Doctor Antonio'' (1937) * ''Le Amiche'' (1955) * ''The Prince with the Red Mask'' (1955)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Bibliography== * Salvatore J. LaGumina, Frank J. Cavaioli, Salvatore Primeggia & Joseph A. Varacalli. ''The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2003.

==External links== *{{IMDb name|0303684}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gambarelli, Maria}} Category:1900 births Category:1990 deaths Category:American ballerinas Category:Italian ballerinas Category:American film actresses Category:Italian film actresses Category:Actors from La Spezia Category:Actresses from Liguria Category:Italian emigrants to the United States Category:20th-century American actresses Category:20th-century American ballet dancers