{{Short description|Italian actress (1915–1998)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox person | name = Vanna Vanni | image = Non ti conosco più (1936) Vanna Vanni.png | alt = | caption = Vanni in ''I Don't Know You Anymore'' (1936) | birth_name = Maria Angelica Giovanna Pegna | birth_date = {{Birth date|1915|01|07|df=yes}} | birth_place = Florence, Italy | death_date = {{Death date and age|1998|03|06|1915|01|07|df=yes}} | death_place = Rome, Lazio, Italy | other_names = Vanna Pegna | occupation = Actress | years_active = 1930–1943 }} '''Vanna Vanni''' (7 January 1915<ref name="Lancia">{{cite book |author1= Lancia, Enrico |author2= Poppi, Roberto |title=Dizionario del cinema italiano. Le attrici |location=Rome |publisher= Gremese Editore |date=2003 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y_WFEVsGvhYC&q=Vanna+Pegna&pg=PA361 |isbn= 9788884402141 |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> – 6 March 1998) was an Italian film actress. She was in thirty-one films between 1930 and 1943.
== Life and career == Vanni was born in Florence<ref name="Lancia"/> as '''Maria Angelica Giovanna Pegna'''. She has been described as a graceful and elegant brunette,<ref name="Lancia"/> and the ''New York Times'' film critic, Frank Nugent, wrote in a review of ''I've Lost My Husband!'' that she was "one of the prettiest girls in the Italian film industry."<ref>{{cite news |author= Nugent, Frank S. |author-link=Frank Nugent |title= Movie Review: At the Cinecitta |work=The New York Times |date=20 October 1939 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9403EED8143EE23ABC4851DFB6678382629EDE |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref>
Her first cinematic role was in ''Perché no?'' (1930), directed by Amleto Palermi, and in her first films she was credited as '''Vanna Pegna'''.<ref name="Lancia"/> Vanni was one of the most prolific actresses in Italian cinema between mid-1930s and 1940s; specialized in comedy films, she got some critical acclaim for her dramatic turn in Esodo Pratelli's ''Se non son matti non li vogliamo''.<ref name="Lancia"/> She also worked with directors such as Raffaello Matarazzo, Gennaro Righelli, Giorgio Simonelli, and Eduardo De Filippo.<ref name="Lancia"/>
She retired from film in 1943 and died in Rome in 1998.
== Selected filmography== *''Perché no?'' (1930) (as Vanna Pegna) *''The Doctor's Secret'' (1931) (as Vanna Pegna) *''Il serpente a sonagli'' (1935) (as Vanna Pegna) * ''Golden Arrow'' (1935) *''La gondola delle chimere'' (1936) *''Sette giorni all'altro mondo'' (1936) *''I Don't Know You Anymore'' (1936) *''L'uomo che sorride'' (1936) *''King of Diamonds'' (1936) *''I fratelli Castiglioni'' (1937) *''I've Lost My Husband!'' (1937) * ''The Boarders at Saint-Cyr'' (1939) * ''The Knight of San Marco'' (1939) * ''The Faceless Voice'' (1939) *''L'imprevisto'' (1940) * ''A Husband for the Month of April'' (1941) *''Se non son matti non li vogliamo'' (1941) * ''Torrents of Spring'' (1942) *''Non ti pago!'' (1942) *''4 ragazze sognano'' (1943) *''Non mi muovo!'' (1943) *''Ti conosco, mascherina!'' (1943)
==References== {{Reflist}} *{{cite book |title= I film: Tutti i film italiani dal 1930 al 1944 |author1= Chiti, Roberto |author2= Lancia, Enrico |date= 2005 |publisher= Gremese |isbn= 9788884403513 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UlKjE82BEe4C&q=Vanna+Vanni&pg=PA125 |access-date=8 March 2016}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *{{IMDb name|0889246|Vanna Vanni}} *{{cite web |title=L'imprevisto |via=YouTube|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bLAVLJbbmw |access-date=10 March 2016}} (short clip)
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanni, Vanna}} Category:1915 births Category:1998 deaths Category:Italian film actresses Category:20th-century Italian actresses Category:Actresses from Florence