Acting
Veronica Lazăr
Born 1938-10-06 · Bucharest, Romania
Veronica Lazăr (6 October 1938 – 8 June 2014) was a Romanian-born Italian actress. Lazăr was born in Bucharest in 1938. She graduated from the Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography (where she also obtained a degree in psychology, which she practiced until 1994, dealing mainly in couples therapy) and subsequently played roles in Romanian theatre [notably a run of Right You Are (if you think so) in 1963-64]. She fled her home country to escape communism and eventually settled in Italy in 1965. She managed to learn the Italian language in only a few weeks and had planned to move on to the United States or Israel, but became entranced with Rome. There, she met and married Italian actor Adolfo Celi with whom she had two children, director Leonardo Celi and actress Alessandra Celi. She made her screen debut as Marlon Brando's deceased wife in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris (1972), and also appeared in some of the director's subsequent films, La Luna (1979), The Sheltering Sky (1990), and Besieged (1998). Lazăr is probably best known internationally for her role as the demonic Mater Tenebrarum in Dario Argento's Inferno (1980), as well as the ill-fated Martha in Lucio Fulci's The Beyond (1981). She later appeared in Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) in a role that was removed from the North American version (though she is still billed in the end credits). Her other films included Michelangelo Antonioni's Identification of a Woman (1982), My Sister and I (1987), Towards Evening (1990), The Prince's Manuscript (2000) and Ginostra (2002). She had an extensive career in (mostly) Italian television, where she was often the lead or one of the lead characters. Lazăr headlined the 1978 adaptation of The Elective Affinities, Giacinta (1980) and was a big part of the 1989 BBC miniseries Summer's Lease. Her last role was that of the main character Lorenzo's loving grandmother in Bertolucci's Me and You (2012). Veronica Lazăr was a renowned woman of culture and a cultural ambassador between Italian and Romanian cinema (the latter, a position she began in 1989). She was a linguistic interpreter and was seen as a symbolic figure with a protective aura by her countrymen in both Italy and Romania. She was also president of the Itaro Art Foundation and was instrumental in its 2007 retrospective on Romanian cinema held in Rome and Pisa. She was heavily involved with the acting students at Teatro Valle and often would cook meals for them at her home and bring them to the theatre. The students there nicknamed her "Nonna Veronica." Lazăr also coordinated the construction of a hospital in Mali over the course of a year, on orders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When she returned to Italy, she brought with her African fabrics, statues, and carpets, many of which were still in her home when she died. Lazăr loved to play cards, share with her friends, and had a special affinity for the sea. At her funeral, she wanted her 18-year-old niece, a career musician already, to play the theme from Schindler's List throughout the Jewish cemetery in Prima Porta where she was laid to rest. Description above from the Wikipedia article Veronica Lazăr, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Acting credits
6.9A recently widowed American begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman.
Last Tango in Paris
1972
6.9New Yorker Liza Merril inherits an old hotel in Louisiana and invests her savings to reopen the place, unaware that the hotel houses the body of a dead painter murdered decades earlier, and that the location is about to become a gateway to Hell.
The Beyond
1981
6.3While touring in Italy, a recently-widowed American opera singer has an incestuous relationship with her 15-year-old son to help him overcome his heroin addiction.
Luna
1979
6.6A young man returns from Rome to his sister's satanic New York apartment house.
Inferno
1980
6.2Four tales, each centered on a woman, journey inward to explore the enigmatic reality of their lives, connecting through a single narrative thread.
Beyond the Clouds
1995
5.4A young policewoman slowly goes insane while tracking down an elusive serial rapist/killer through Italy when she herself becomes a victim of the brutal man's obsession.
The Stendhal Syndrome
1996
6.5An American couple drift toward emptiness in postwar North Africa.
The Sheltering Sky
1990
6.2An introverted teenager tells his parents he is going on a ski trip, but instead spends his time alone in his mom's basement. But things didn't go as planned after his half sister joins him.
Me & You
2012
10.0Coming back from work by night, shy watchmaker Tommaso runs over a girl with his car, luckily without serious consequences. Next day he finds her waiting for him at his door. She asks him for help, as she can't remember anything prior to the incident.
The Blonde
1993
6.8In 19th-century Italy, Giacomo Leopardi channels his debilitating illness and isolation into poetry.
Leopardi
2014
5.9Movie director Niccolò has just been left by his wife. Subsequently he embarks on an obsessive relationship with a young woman who eventually leaves him and disappears while searching for her, he meets a variety of other willing girls. This gives him the idea of making a movie about women's relationships. He starts to search for a woman who can play the leading part in the movie.
Identification of a Woman
1982
6.7While in exile in Italy, an African woman finds herself trying to get back home and free her imprisoned husband. But the only man that can help her do so is in love with her.
Besieged
1998
6.5Carlo is a responsible sibling who deals with his black-sheep sister Silvia in this situation comedy. When Silvia returns after many years to attend her mother's funeral, Carlo deals with the fallout caused by her many love affairs. Carlo is convinced to kidnap Silvia's child whom she left in a Hungarian children's home, but she soon abandons Carlo and the baby when she takes up with a British rock star.
My Sister and I
1987
4.4An FBI Agent from America and his bride and young child travel to the Sicilian island of Ginostra to solve the murder of a key witness.
Ginostra
2003
7.1Italy, 1977. Professor Bruschi is a retired widower who lives according to a strict routine he set for himself. An ardent old-style communist, he has always been at odds with the unconventional lifestyle led by his son and his hippieish girlfriend Stella. When their four-year-old daughter is left in his care out of the blue after the two break up, the old professor becomes a sort of father figure to the girl, growing fond of her. However he's once again challenged when Stella also arrives for a stay in his elegant villa, reclaiming custody of her daughter.
Towards Evening
1990
7.0Created by his son Leonardo, this portrait of Adolfo Celi reconstructs his personal and artistic journey between Italy and Brazil. Through interviews, film clips, testimonials, photos, and extraordinary footage from the Celi family's personal archive, we will revisit the places that shaped his life.
Adolfo Celi, a Man for Two Worlds
2006
NRAngela Wyler asks police chief Valerio Strada to find Christine, her twin, who she hasn't heard from in two years and who had a stormy relationship with the officer years back.
Twins
2012
6.0This documentary examines the life and legacy of controversial Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci through interviews with his colleagues, each of whom answers the question, "What is your fondest memory of Lucio Fulci?". The responses are as varied as the people who knew the late writer-director, providing a nuanced look at the man behind such gory grindhouse classics as City of the Living Dead and The House by the Cemetery.
Paura: Lucio Fulci Remembered - Volume 1
2008
8.0In Italy, set in the early 1930s, a missing Swedish millionaire (Erland Josephson) is the target of a journalist (Rüdiger Vogler) who sets out to discover exactly what happened to the man and whether or not he is still alive. The biggest lead he has is the millionaire's attractive mistress (Brigitte Fossey), and the story takes off from there.
Un caso d'incoscienza
1985
9.0Loose adaptation of Italy's national epic, Alessandro Manzoni's “The Betrothed”. In war-torn 17th century Italy, shady feudal lord Don Rodrigo eyes young and beautiful Lucia, who loves—and is reciprocated by—commoner Renzo. The two lovers plan to marry in secret, but Rodrigo discovers it and they are forced to flee their village, becoming separated and each facing many dangers, including the Plague.
Renzo e Lucia
2004
5.2A 20th-century prostitute (Dominique Sanda) arranges for her lover (Michele Placido) to wed a wealthy, dying millionairess (Isabelle Huppert) in Venice.
The Wings of the Dove
1981
5.7After the death of his mother a man returns to his hometown Palermo in southern Italy in order to get hold of the legacy. Once there he is forced to participate in various crimes commited by the mafia.
The Dark Sun
1990
8.2A solitary, disappointed, proud and educated old man meets and becomes the teacher of an intelligent, clumsy, middle-class, young would-be writer.
The Prince's Manuscript
2000