Lydia Quaranta — Motography’s Gallery of Picture Players (1913) 🇺🇸
Lydia Quaranta [Lidia Quaranta]] became a photoplayer simply by accident.
True, she had ambitions photoplayward but was at a loss how to realize them until the Messina earthquake solved the problem for her. During that catastrophe she was visiting kin-folk in Messina and when the earthquake depopulated the little city, killing and maiming the biggest part of its unfortunate dwellers, Miss Ouaranta was among the first to volunteer as a nurse.
She became known throughout the city as the “angel of mercy,” and was photographed a number of times, during the course of her work, by motion picture camera men.
Happening to see herself on the screen, she was seized with the inspiration which meant her becoming a picture star; obtaining a print of one of the films showing her at work in the hospital, she sent it to the Itala company and obtained a place in that company’s cast.
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Collection: Motography Magazine, May 1913