Clara Calamai

Clara Calamai (7 September 1909 – 21 September 1998) was an Italian actress. Career Calamai's first acting role was in the 1938 war film Pietro Micca, directed by Aldo Vergano. In Alessandro Blasetti's The Jester's Supper (1942), Calamai briefly appeared topless in a scene. The scene is commonly credited with being the first time that an actress had appeared topless in an Italian sound film, although Vittoria Carpi showed a bare breast for a moment in the 1941 film La corona di ferro (The Iron Crown), which was also directed by Blasetti. Calamai stated in a later interview that the original script did not have the character revealing herself this way and did not want to do the scene, but felt compelled by the director to do it and gave in when she was promised a closed set. Nevertheless, many people reportedly saw the film many times because of the topless scene. Her most remembered role was in the film Luchino Visconti's Ossessione (1943), in which she played Giovanna, the ill-fated female protagonist.