
Rafaela Ottiano
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rafaela Ottiano (4 March 1888 – 18 August 1942) was an Italian-born American stage and film actress. Born in Venice, Italy, she emigrated with her parents to the United States, and was processed at Ellis Island, in 1910. Ottiano established herself as a stage actress in Europe before arriving in Hollywood in 1924 and appearing in American motion pictures. Ottiano's first film was in the John L. McCutcheon-directed drama The Law and the Lady (1924) opposite actors Len Leo, Alice Lake, and Tyrone Power, Sr. Ottiano was part of the original 1928 Broadway cast of the Mae West hit play Diamond Lil and reprised her role as Rita when the play was made into a film as She Done Him Wrong (1933), directed by Lowell Sherman. Throughout the 1930s, Rafaela Ottiano would often specialize in roles as sinister, maleveolent, or spiteful women, such as her role in the Tod Browning-directed horror film The Devil-Doll (1936), opposite Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan. Other notable film roles for Ottiano include Lena in As You Desire Me (1932) with Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore, and Hedda Hopper; Mrs. Higgins in the Shirley Temple musical-comedy Curly Top (1935); as a matron in the crime-drama Riffraff (1936), starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy; and as Suzette, Greta Garbo's devoted maid, in the Edmund Goulding-directed drama Grand Hotel (1932). When Grand Hotel was turned into a Broadway Musical in 1989, her character was renamed Rafaela Ottiano in honor of the actress. Ottiano's last film was the musical comedy I Married an Angel (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. During her career in film, she appeared in approximately 45 motion pictures, opposite such actors as Barbara Stanwyck, Conrad Nagel, Peter Lorre, Zasu Pitts, and Katharine Hepburn. Ottiano lived in the Times Square area during the Prohibition Era and never married. She died in 1942 in East Boston, Massachusetts of intestinal cancer at the age of 54. Description above from the Wikipedia article Rafaela Ottiano, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
- Known ForActing
- Born2 March 1888 (age 137)
- Place of BirthVenice, Italy
Rafaela Ottiano

- Known ForActing
- Born2 March 1888 (age 137)
- Place of BirthVenice, Italy

The Adventures of Martin Eden
1942

Topper Returns
1941

A Little Bit of Heaven
1940

Victory
1940

Vigil in the Night
1940

The Long Voyage Home
1940

Paris Honeymoon
1939

Suez
1938

I'll Give a Million
1938

Marie Antoinette
1938

Maytime
1937

Seventh Heaven
1937

The League of Frightened Men
1937

The Devil-Doll
1936

That Girl from Paris
1936

Anthony Adverse
1936

Mad Holiday
1936

Riffraff
1936

One Frightened Night
1935

Curly Top
1935

The Florentine Dagger
1935

Remember Last Night?
1935

Enchanted April
1935

We're Only Human
1935

The Lottery Lover
1935

The Last Gentleman
1934

A Lost Lady
1934

Mandalay
1934

Great Expectations
1934

She Done Him Wrong
1933

Ann Vickers
1933

Bondage
1933

Female
1933

Grand Hotel
1932

As You Desire Me
1932

The Washington Masquerade
1932

Night Court
1932
