Details

Release year: 1954

Storyline

A care-free girl is sold to a traveling entertainer, consequently enduring physical and emotional pain along the way.

Top credits

Directors

Federico Fellini

Writers

Cast

Anthony Quinn — Zampanò
Giulietta Masina — Gelsomina
Richard Basehart — Il matto
Aldo Silvani — Colombaioni detto 'Signor Giraffa'

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Awards

1 win & 1 nomination

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Did you know

• Federico Fellini had an extraordinarily difficult time finding producers who were willing to back the film. Several of the producers who had previously financed Fellini's work felt that the script was promising but that the film would be unlikely to turn a profit. Other potential backers were turned off by Fellini's insistence that his wife, Giulietta Masina, should play the role of Gelsomina. Fellini began shooting the film before any financial backers had officially signed on.

• Anthony Quinn was working on Angels of Darkness (1954) with Giulietta Masina when she introduced him to her husband, Federico Fellini. He was immediately convinced that the Mexican-born actor would make the perfect Zampanò the strongman in his new film, which was to become La Strada (1954), and implored him to accept the role. The nonplussed actor, who had no idea who Fellini was, initially turned him down, but Fellini was persistent, pestering him for days about the project. Shortly thereafter, Quinn spent the evening with Ingrid Bergman and her husband, director Roberto Rossellini. After dinner, the three watched Fellini's most recent film, the comedy-drama I Vitelloni (1953), and Quinn realized with astonishment that the crazy Italian filmmaker who had been hounding him for days was a genius.

• Walt Disney expressed serious interest in creating an animated feature based on Gelsomina, and there was interest from doll manufacturers and sweets firms to use her name. "I could have lived on Gelsomina for twenty years," Fellini said.