Milly

Born in 1905, Carla Mignone, better known as Milly, was one of Italy's greatest singers. As a child, she already performed in a trio formed by her brother Toto, her sister Mity and herself. Later on, she became a soubrette for the company Za Bum, whose manager was Mario Mattoli. She sang to the very end, generations of fans following her despite her refusal to take refuge behind comfortable clichés. She was also an actress, in the movies (an ingénue in Italian ' white telephone' comedies, a nun in Renato Castellani's "Nella citta l'inferno'' , the drugged depraved mother in Bernardo Bertolucci's "The Conformist". Also active in the theater (Jenny in Giorgio Strehler's version of 'The Three Penny Opera', 1956) and in television, she spent twelve years of her life in New York appearing successfully at the Waldorf Astorie Rainbow Room and on Broadway (1936-1948), as well as in two forgotten American movies. When she passed out in 1980, all unanimously regretted the fascinating black-clad lady, whose unconventional songs had accompanied them for fifty years.