Rafaela Ottiano

Rafaela Ottiano (March 4, 1888 – August 14, 1942) was an Italian-American actress. She was best known for her role as Grusinskaya's maid Suzette in Grand Hotel (1932) and as Russian Rita in She Done Him Wrong (1933). Early life Rafaela Ottiano was born on March 4, 1888, in Venice, Italy, as the second child and daughter of the six children of Antonio, a musician, and Maddalena Polcari Ottiano, a housewife. Her mother immigrated to United States in 1880, where she met her father who came four years after and married him in 1885. Ottiano was named after her paternal grandmother and older sister. Her sisters were Rafaela Bellizia Ottiano, who died in infancy, and Maria Fransesca "Francis" De Stefano, who moved with her to New York on April 30, 1899. Her brothers were Pasquale "Patsies", James, who both of them became a musician, and Augustino Ottiano. In 1910, she immigrated to the United States with her parents and was processed at Ellis Island, and lived in Boston with her family. Ottiano worked as a saleslady in a New York City department store before she began her acting career. Personal life In 1913, Ottiano's youngest sister, Maria Fransesca, was married to Carmen De Stefano, a shoe cutter, and later had two children, Vincent and Madeline De Stefano. The marriage of Maria Fransesca later made their family residence in Maverick St. had to be sold in between 1917 and 1920, where the couple took their part of the profits and later purchased a house at 382 Lovell St. in East Boston. The house was valued at USD 6000 in 1930, and the three unmarried Ottiano brothers; Patsies, James, Augustino, later moved with them as did their uncle and aunt, Nelson and Jennie Mottola.