Marisa Pavan

The Weight of a Doubled Surname

In 1956 Marisa Pavan lost the Oscar to Jo Van Fleet. That night the press only wanted to ask about her twin sister, Pier Angeli, who was already a worldwide star. But Pavan had something her sister lacked: on set, her temperament was far more no-nonsense and professional.

Hollywood didn't need two twins.

John Ford cast her in The Price of Glory in 1952, when she barely spoke English. The director wanted a European face untainted by the habits of California acting schools. So he signed her to a seven-year contract with Fox, which guaranteed a salary but took away her freedom to choose scripts.

In 1955, she landed the role that changed her standing in the industry. Anna Magnani insisted that Pavan play her daughter in The Rose Tattoo. The chemistry between them was so real that many critics thought they were actually family. She won the Golden Globe and became one of the most sought-after actresses of that year.

Success in Magnani's Shadow

But the film industry is fickle with foreign actresses. After shooting The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit in 1956 alongside Gregory Peck, her profile began to fade into supporting roles. Studios couldn't decide whether to sell her as a Mediterranean beauty or as a character actress.

And her bet on commercial cinema didn't pay off.

In 1956 she married French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont. The union lasted until his death in 2001 and took Pavan away from the spotlight of Los Angeles. She decided she preferred to live in Europe and take on projects that would let her stay close to her family in France.

She shot Solomon and Sheba in 1959, replacing her sister in some projects she turned down. But interest from major American producers cooled quickly. Her career shifted to television and French theater, where she found roles with more nuance than in Hollywood blockbusters.

The phone didn't ring as often anymore.

The Golden Retreat on the Côte d'Azur

During the seventies and eighties she appeared in TV series such as Wonder Woman and Vacaciones en el mar. They were paying jobs that allowed her to keep her home in Gassin. She felt no nostalgia for the golden age of the studios, because she always saw film as a craft, not a religion.

In 1991, she made the film Adieu je t’aime and soon after decided to step away from the cameras for good. She devoted herself to managing her husband's legacy and keeping a private life away from photographers. She never wanted to write a scandalous memoir about her sister or her co-stars.

She died on December 6, 2023, at her home in Saint-Tropez. She was 91 years old and was the last survivor of a way of understanding film that no longer exists. The funeral was held in the strictest privacy, with only a handful of flowers and no television camera crews present.