Mimi Aguglia

Aguglia was born in the wings of the St. Cecile Theatre in Palermo on 21 December 1884,{{cite journal|title=Tuesday's Highlights|journal=Radio and Television Mirror|date=July 1940|volume=14|issue=3|page=46|url=http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-Mirror/40/Mirror-1940-Jul.pdf|accessdate=5 March 2015}} while her mother, actress Giuseppina Di Lorenzo Aguglia, was playing Desdemona in Othello.{{Cite book |last=Estavan |first=Lawrence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FZiUg_Xz2I0C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA79&dq=Mimi%20Aguglia&pg=PA79#v=onepage&q=Mimi%20Aguglia&f=false |title=The Italian Theatre in San Francisco: Being a History of the Italian-language Operatic, Dramatic, and Comedic Productions Presented in the San Francisco Bay Area Through the Depression Era, with Reminiscences of the Leading Players and Impresarios of the Times |last2=Burgess |first2=Mary A. |last3=Burgess |first3=Mary Wickizer |date=1991 |publisher=Wildside Press LLC |isbn=978-0-89370-464-3 |language=en}} Her father was actor Ignazio Aguglia.{{Cite book |last=Aleandri |first=Emelise |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3qx0PH1jwG4C&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA64&dq=Mimi%20Aguglia&pg=PA62#v=onepage&q=Mimi%20Aguglia&f=false |title=The Italian-American Immigrant Theatre of New York City |date=1999 |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |isbn=978-0-7385-0097-3 |pages=62-64 |language=en}} "I have never studied for the stage at all," she told The New York Times in 1908. "I am the daughter of artists and was born an artist."{{Cite news |date=22 November 1908 |title=Mimi Aguglia Here to Act in Tragedy; Sicilian Actress and Her Company to Produce "Malia" Under Charles Frohman |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/11/22/104813732.html?pageNumber=11 |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=The New York Times |pages=11 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}}

Aguglia became a noted actress in her own right, touring in Europe, North Africa, and South America from a young age. Edmondo de Amicis described her as "a hundred demons in a little body with an angel face."{{Cite book |last=Muscio |first=Giuliana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OgY1EAAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA44&dq=Mimi%20Aguglia&pg=PA43#v=onepage&q=Mimi%20Aguglia&f=false |title=Napoli/New York/Hollywood: Film between Italy and the United States |date=2018 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-7940-1 |pages=43-45 |language=en}} She appeared in London in a Sicilian drama, La zolfara, and in Cavalleria rusticana and Morte civile, all in 1908.{{Cite book |last=Wearing |first=J. P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5JWAgAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PA394&dq=Mimi%20Aguglia&pg=PA394#v=onepage&q=Mimi%20Aguglia&f=false |title=The London Stage 1900-1909: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel |date=2013 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-9294-1 |pages=393-395 |language=en}}{{Cite journal |date=March 18, 1908 |title=Heard in the Green Room |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYI4AQAAMAAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&dq=Mimi%20Aguglia&pg=RA1-PA310#v=onepage&q=Mimi%20Aguglia&f=false |journal=The Sketch |volume=61 |pages=310}} Her American stage debut came later in 1908, starring in Malia, a Sicilian tragedy. She returned to New York in 1913, performing Salome and Electra in Italian with her own company.{{Cite news |date=22 December 1913 |title=Mimi Aguglia Arrives; Italian Actress and Her Company Will Play in Tragedy Here |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/12/22/100670000.html?pageNumber=9 |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=The New York Times |pages=9 |language=en |issn=0362-4331}} Djuna Barnes said of Aguglia in 1913 that she "entered into America as spice and pepper into a good pot roast."{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Diane |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJ1ADwAAQBAJ&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&lpg=PT74&dq=Mimi%20Aguglia&pg=PT74#v=onepage&q=Mimi%20Aguglia&f=false |title=Djuna Barnes' Consuming Fictions |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-15966-1 |language=en}}

Aguglia studied English to broaden her opportunities on the American stage.{{Cite news |last=Reed |first=John |date=1917-08-26 |title=Sicilian Star Plays on New York Bowery and Learns English |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-tribune-sicilian-star-plays-on-new/169532568/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=Star Tribune |pages=35 |via=Newspapers.com}} From the 1930s until her death Aguglia was a working character actress in Hollywood. She also had one Broadway credit, in The Whirlwind (1919–1920). She recorded two songs in Italian for the Columbia label in 1926.{{Cite web |title=Mimi Aguglia |url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/mastertalent/detail/354282/Aguglia_Mimi |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=Discography of American Historical Recordings}} She played in The Goldbergs on CBS radio in the early 1940s. She also worked at radio station WOV, broadcasting in Italian.File:Mimi Aguglia in Malia.jpg

Aguglia married director Vincenzo Ferraú in 1906, and had three children, two of whom worked in radio. Her daughter Argentina Brunetti (1907–2005), born in Buenos Aires, was also an actress.{{Cite web |last=Vallance |first=Tom |date=2 January 2006 |title=Argentina Brunetti; Actress cast in mother roles |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107025501/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/argentina-brunetti-6112836.html |access-date=2025-04-04 |website=The Independent Online}}{{Cite news |date=1965-12-28 |title=Italian Actress to Play Indian |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-call-italian-actress-to-play/169532975/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=The Morning Call |pages=30 |via=Newspapers.com}} Her husband died in 1942, and Aguglia died in 1970, at the age of 85, in Woodland Hills, California.{{Cite news |date=1970-08-03 |title=Aguglia, Mimi (death notice) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-aguglia-mimi-dea/169533066/ |access-date=2025-04-04 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=28 |via=Newspapers.com}}

• The Last Man on Earth (1924)
• Primavera en otoño (1933)
• The Outlaw (1943)
• Carnival in Costa Rica (1947)
• Captain from Castile (1947)
• Cry of the City (1948)
• That Midnight Kiss (1949)
• Deported (1950)
• Right Cross (1950)
• The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
• Cuban Fireball (1951)
• The Rose Tattoo (1955)

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{{commons category|Mimi Aguglia}}

• {{IMDb name|id=0013405|name=Mimi Aguglia}}
• {{IBDB name|29432}}

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Category:1884 births

Category:1970 deaths

Category:Actresses from Catania

Category:Italian stage actresses

Category:Italian film actresses

Category:Place of death missing

Category:20th-century Italian actresses