ROME -- Italian actress Giulietta Masina, widow of world-famous film director Federico Fellini, has died of cancer in a Rome clinic, her doctors said Wednedsay. She was 73.
The tiny, frail actress died at 11:15 a.m. Tuesday in the private Columbus Clinic, where she had been treated intermittently since September. Her death came only a few months after that of her husband of 50 years.
Professor Paolo Pola, head of the specialist team that treated her, said Masina died of cancer that started in her lungs and spread to her brain. He said at the request of the actress and her relatives, she had never been told the exact nature of her illness.
Friends said her condition was undoubtedly worsened by the ordeal that began when her husband suffered a stroke in his hometown, the Adriatic beach resort of Rimini, on Aug. 3, 1993. He died of heart failure in a Rome clinic Oct. 31, after lying in a coma for 15 days.
Fellini was the world-famed director of such classic films as 'La Dolce Vita,' and he and Masina had been married since 1943. Their 50th wedding anniversary occurred shortly before Fellini died, also aged 73.
From the time they married in wartime Rome, Fellini, known as 'The Maestro,' masterminded most of Masina's acting career.
He co-authored radio shows in which she started her career as an actress and later directed some of her most successful films.
Their first big international success was with the 1954 movie 'La Strada,' one of four Fellini films that won Oscars as best foreign film.
Co-starring in La Strada with Anthony Quinn, Masina played the role of a waif-like street entertainer, a type of character she portrayed in several other films, including 'Juliet of the Spirits' and 'The Nights of Cabiria.'
In her latter years, Masina lived a sheltered life, always close to her husband. She was clearly shattered by Fellini's death and the scene at the end of his funeral service in Rome, when she waved to his casket with a rosary in her hand as it was carried from the church, made a profound impression on onlookers.
The casket bearing Masina's body was taken to the clinic chapel, where it will be viewed by a restricted number of relatives and friends, clinic officials said. The funeral service will be held at a Rome church Thursday and the family will later take the casket to Rimini, so that Masina can be buried beside Fellini.
