Ida Carloni Talli (1860-1940) was an important Italian stage actress, who also acted in 92 Italian silent films between 1912 and 1924.
![Emilia Vidali and Ida Carloni Talli in I promessi sposi]()
Italian postcard. Photo: Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese) and Emilia Vidali (Lucia) in I promessi sposi/The Betrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922).
Ida Carloni Talli was born in Rome, Italy, in 1860.
She started as an amateur actress and became highly regarded among the companies of this kind. In 1887, she entered the legitimate theatre - or ‘in arte’ as they used to say - with the company of Giuseppe Pietriboni.
Subsequently, she became first actress at the Fava company, where she made her mark with La trilogia di Dorina by Gerolamo Rovetta.
She became company leader with Virgilio Talli – whose wife she became, assuming his name - and with Ettore Paladini for a couple of years, obtaining great success with audiences and critics with La parigina (La Parisienne) by Henry Becque (Milan, 1890) and in The Father by August Strindberg (Teatro Valle, Rome, 1893).
Her name is mentioned in the joint company Tovagliari-Carloni Talli-Pezzinga at which she collaborated with Baghetti Aristide and in 1899 she was at the company of Luigi Ferrati.
She was an admired interpreter both in drama and comedy, working with major companies, such as Andò-Leigheb, Emanuel, Garavaglia, and Ruggeri-Borelli.
Subsequently she withdrew from the theatre and taught for years at the School of Eleonora Duse at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Among her many pupils were Anna Magnani and many other famous actresses.
![Ida Carloni Talli, Domenico Serra and Emilia Vidali in I promessi sposi (1922)]()
Italian postcard. Photo: Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese), Domenico Serra (Renzo), Emilia Vidali (Lucia) and Umberto Scalpellini (Don Abbondio) in I promesso sposi (Mario Bonnard, 1922), one of many adaptations of Alessandro Manzoni's classic novel. Caption: "If you want me to marry you, I'm here. The scene depicts the final scene of the story."
![Ida Carloni Talli in La cuccagna]()
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5078. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Publicity still for La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: "Sidonia hosted meetings between her female and her male customers."La cuccagna was an adaptation of Emile Zola's La curée. Renata/Renée (Hesperia) is the second wife of the cunning and wealthy Saccard, who married young Renata for her money. She though develops an affair with Saccard's son Max/Massimo (Alberto Collo). Saccard's sister Sidonia/Sidonie Rougon (Carloni Talli) is a professional matchmaker between men and women with financial or amorous interests. She covers this secret profession with a trade in lace. It is she who arranges the marriage of her brother and Renée.
Ida Carloni Talli was also highly active in the Italian silent cinema. From 1912, she acted in subordinate and character parts, in 92 silent films, specializing mainly in the roles of noble and austere mothers.
In the early 1910s she acted in Cines in shorts like Anna Maria (1912), epic films like Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913) and Marcantonio e Cleopatra/Antony and Cleopatra (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913), and the drama I due macchinisti (Enrique Santos, 1913).
Between 1912 and 1915, Carloni Talli was one of the regular supporting but also leading actresses in Cines shorts and features, together with other regulars like Leda Gys, Alberto Collo, Ignazio Lupi, Augusto Mastripietri and Amleto Novelli.
From 1913 she also acted at the Celio company, affiliated with Cines. She acted in films with Francesca Bertini such as Niní Verbena (1913), L’onestà che uccide (1914) and Rose e spine (1914).
In 1915 Carloni Talli moved to Tiber Film for many films with Hesperia and Maria Jacobini but also some with Lina Cavalieri, Lina Millefleurs, Diomira Jacobini and Diana Karenne.
She occasionally acted at the competing company of Caesar Film for films like Il capestro degli Asburgo (Gustavo Serena, 1915) starring Francesca Bertini
In the mid-1910s Carloni Talli acted in many diva films, e.g. La signora dalle camelie/The Lady of the Camellias (Baldassarre Negroni, 1915), L’aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) and La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) starring Hesperia, and Come le foglie (Gennaro Righelli, 1916), starring Maria Jacobini.
She also played in the war propaganda films Cicueracchio (Emilio Ghione, 1915) and Guglielmo Oberdan, martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1916), and also had a part in Ghione’s crime serial I topi grigi (1918).
In the early 1920s, Carloni Talli acted at Fert Film in films with Maria Jacobini in Amore rosso (1921), La preda (1921), and Cainà (1922).
She also acted as Agnese in I promessi sposi/The Betrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1923) starring Domenico Serra and Emilia Vidali, and as the Mother Superior in the American production The White Sister (Henry King, 1923) starring Lilian Gish and shot on location in Italy.
Her last film was Consuelita (Roberto Roberti, 1925), starring Francesca Bertini.
Ida Carloni Talli died in Milan, Italy, in 1940.
![Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette]()
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. This is probably a publicity still of Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni-Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) (misspelled by IMDb as L'aiglette). This silent Italian film is an adaptation of a stage play by Dario Niccodemi. Ida Carolini Talli plays the countess of Saint-Servant, who has raised her son Enrico (Tullio Carminati) to be proud of his name and title, and to cherish honour and virtue, symbolised by the feather of her aigrette. In reality the countess is hunted by creditors, the castle is falling apart. Enrico falls in love with Susanne Leblanc (Hesperia), wife of banker, and in return she loads him with money in order to restore the castle. Her husband Claudio (André Habay) is not so happy with this kind of charity...
![Hesperia in L'aigrette]()
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Hesperia and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian, English and Spanish) and IMDb.
Italian postcard. Photo: Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese) and Emilia Vidali (Lucia) in I promessi sposi/The Betrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1922).
In arte
Ida Carloni Talli was born in Rome, Italy, in 1860.
She started as an amateur actress and became highly regarded among the companies of this kind. In 1887, she entered the legitimate theatre - or ‘in arte’ as they used to say - with the company of Giuseppe Pietriboni.
Subsequently, she became first actress at the Fava company, where she made her mark with La trilogia di Dorina by Gerolamo Rovetta.
She became company leader with Virgilio Talli – whose wife she became, assuming his name - and with Ettore Paladini for a couple of years, obtaining great success with audiences and critics with La parigina (La Parisienne) by Henry Becque (Milan, 1890) and in The Father by August Strindberg (Teatro Valle, Rome, 1893).
Her name is mentioned in the joint company Tovagliari-Carloni Talli-Pezzinga at which she collaborated with Baghetti Aristide and in 1899 she was at the company of Luigi Ferrati.
She was an admired interpreter both in drama and comedy, working with major companies, such as Andò-Leigheb, Emanuel, Garavaglia, and Ruggeri-Borelli.
Subsequently she withdrew from the theatre and taught for years at the School of Eleonora Duse at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. Among her many pupils were Anna Magnani and many other famous actresses.
Italian postcard. Photo: Ida Carloni Talli (Agnese), Domenico Serra (Renzo), Emilia Vidali (Lucia) and Umberto Scalpellini (Don Abbondio) in I promesso sposi (Mario Bonnard, 1922), one of many adaptations of Alessandro Manzoni's classic novel. Caption: "If you want me to marry you, I'm here. The scene depicts the final scene of the story."
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5078. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Publicity still for La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917). Caption: "Sidonia hosted meetings between her female and her male customers."La cuccagna was an adaptation of Emile Zola's La curée. Renata/Renée (Hesperia) is the second wife of the cunning and wealthy Saccard, who married young Renata for her money. She though develops an affair with Saccard's son Max/Massimo (Alberto Collo). Saccard's sister Sidonia/Sidonie Rougon (Carloni Talli) is a professional matchmaker between men and women with financial or amorous interests. She covers this secret profession with a trade in lace. It is she who arranges the marriage of her brother and Renée.
Noble and austere mothers
Ida Carloni Talli was also highly active in the Italian silent cinema. From 1912, she acted in subordinate and character parts, in 92 silent films, specializing mainly in the roles of noble and austere mothers.
In the early 1910s she acted in Cines in shorts like Anna Maria (1912), epic films like Quo vadis? (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913) and Marcantonio e Cleopatra/Antony and Cleopatra (Enrico Guazzoni, 1913), and the drama I due macchinisti (Enrique Santos, 1913).
Between 1912 and 1915, Carloni Talli was one of the regular supporting but also leading actresses in Cines shorts and features, together with other regulars like Leda Gys, Alberto Collo, Ignazio Lupi, Augusto Mastripietri and Amleto Novelli.
From 1913 she also acted at the Celio company, affiliated with Cines. She acted in films with Francesca Bertini such as Niní Verbena (1913), L’onestà che uccide (1914) and Rose e spine (1914).
In 1915 Carloni Talli moved to Tiber Film for many films with Hesperia and Maria Jacobini but also some with Lina Cavalieri, Lina Millefleurs, Diomira Jacobini and Diana Karenne.
She occasionally acted at the competing company of Caesar Film for films like Il capestro degli Asburgo (Gustavo Serena, 1915) starring Francesca Bertini
In the mid-1910s Carloni Talli acted in many diva films, e.g. La signora dalle camelie/The Lady of the Camellias (Baldassarre Negroni, 1915), L’aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) and La cuccagna (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) starring Hesperia, and Come le foglie (Gennaro Righelli, 1916), starring Maria Jacobini.
She also played in the war propaganda films Cicueracchio (Emilio Ghione, 1915) and Guglielmo Oberdan, martire di Trieste (Emilio Ghione, 1916), and also had a part in Ghione’s crime serial I topi grigi (1918).
In the early 1920s, Carloni Talli acted at Fert Film in films with Maria Jacobini in Amore rosso (1921), La preda (1921), and Cainà (1922).
She also acted as Agnese in I promessi sposi/The Betrothed (Mario Bonnard, 1923) starring Domenico Serra and Emilia Vidali, and as the Mother Superior in the American production The White Sister (Henry King, 1923) starring Lilian Gish and shot on location in Italy.
Her last film was Consuelita (Roberto Roberti, 1925), starring Francesca Bertini.
Ida Carloni Talli died in Milan, Italy, in 1940.
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. This is probably a publicity still of Tullio Carminati and Ida Carloni-Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917) (misspelled by IMDb as L'aiglette). This silent Italian film is an adaptation of a stage play by Dario Niccodemi. Ida Carolini Talli plays the countess of Saint-Servant, who has raised her son Enrico (Tullio Carminati) to be proud of his name and title, and to cherish honour and virtue, symbolised by the feather of her aigrette. In reality the countess is hunted by creditors, the castle is falling apart. Enrico falls in love with Susanne Leblanc (Hesperia), wife of banker, and in return she loads him with money in order to restore the castle. Her husband Claudio (André Habay) is not so happy with this kind of charity...
Italian postcard by IPA CT Duplex, no. 5105. Photo: Tiber Film, Roma. Hesperia and Ida Carloni Talli in L'aigrette (Baldassarre Negroni, 1917).
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian, English and Spanish) and IMDb.