Agostino DeLaurentiis (his original name) came from the Naples area and, like Sophia Loren and other Neapolitans, went to Rome and made it big in the movie business. DeLaurentiis had many faults and was not easy to like. However, he produced two of Italy's best post-war movies: Bitter Rice with Silvia Mangano (who later became Mrs. DeLaurentiis) and Nights of Cabiria, a Fellini picture that splendidly captures the Roman sensibility of the time.
The photograph shows Ms. Mangano in a scene from Bitter Rice. The animal is uncredited, hardly an unusual situation for performers in a DeLaurentiis production. Another Bitter Rice curiosity is that the Italian language version does not feature Mangano's voice. Lydia Simoneschi, Italy's grande dame of vocal dubbing, was the voice of Mangano's character. This vocal substitution was not unusual: Simoneschi dubbed Sophia Loren, Lea Masari, and Gina Lollobrigida, and other marquee Italian actresses in a variety of pictures.
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