The BRUNETTI family

About Argentina: Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 31 August 1907.  She began her show business career at the age of three with a walk on role in the opera, Cavalleria Rusticana and followed her mother's footsteps in the theater performing supporting roles on stages throughout Europe, and South America. In 1937, She was placed under contract to MGM Pictures and began dubbing the voices of Jeanette MacDonald, Norma Shearer in Italian. Next she began her career as the narrator of the Voice of America, interviewing famous Hollywood movie stars for broadcast in Italy. At the same time she began her movie debut in the classic "It's a Wonderful Life", as Mrs. Martini. Throughout her varied career she has also written and performed in daily radio shows, authored books, wrote music and acted in over 60 television programs & 95 movies (see Filmography) in which she mainly played multi- ethnic roles, the most notable being Dean Martin's mother in "The Caddy", during which Dean sang the now classic song, "That's Amore" to her. During her last year with us, Argentina lived in Rome Italy with her son and daughter-in-law still keeping active, writing, teaching Italian and working on a book spanning three generations of her show business family, called "In Sicilian Company"... Argentina was a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association ("Golden Globes" Awards presenters), The Screen Actors Guild (SAG), American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA) and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) (presenters of the "Oscars")... Argentina passed away at 98 years of age on 20 December 2005, the same day and month as her first major film, "It's a Wonderful Life" was released...And what a wonderful life it was...To find out more, read her bio novel, "In Sicilian Company", now available at book stores across America or on line at amazon.com

About Miro: Also born in a theatrical family, but in New York City’s Little Italy in 1908, Miro Brunetti was soon taken by his parents to Italy, where he grew up in Naples…He was accepted and graduated with honors from the Italian Merchant Marine Academy and became an officer with a promising career, only to have it all vanish due to an unfortunate sports accident, where he suffered nerve damage in his leg. This forced him to be medically retired at the age of twenty. Seeing no hope for his future in pre WWII Italy, he returned to the U.S. and became one of the first to dub American films in Italian. At Columbia Studios he met Argentina and they were soon married. Both began their journalistic careers together with the Voice of America, interviewing the major Hollywood stars. This led to Miro’s joining the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and becoming one of its pioneers in making it the vibrant organization that it is today. Miro soon became one of the leading foreign correspondents in Hollywood until his untimely death at age 58 from cancer.

About Mario & Daniela: Argentina’s only son was born in San Francisco California in 1940, raised and educated in Los Angeles, Mario graduated from Cal State University and joined the U.S. Air Force, where he served with distinction until his retirement as a Colonel in 1992…Mario's family propensity for journalism has been evidenced throughout his military career as well as afterwards, in numerous articles written for newspapers, newsletters and other commercial publications world wide…In 2004, he and his wife, Daniela who reside in Rome, Italy  who both coordinating and researching for Argentina’s weekly weblog, took over the entire operation when Argentina sadly passed away in December of 2005 …

About Mimi: Mimi Aguglia was born in Palermo, Sicily, on a theater stage in 1884, when her mother, Giuseppina Aguglia, a famous Sicilian actress, was playing Desdemona in William Shakespeare's "Othello"… The newborn was first named Giroloma in honor of her grandfather, but everyone called her by her nick name: Mimi… Before she was four years old, Mimi was singing and dancing as a warm-up act before her mother's dramatic performances… By age 16 she was given supporting roles and soon became a major leading lady… At 18 she met Baron Vincenzo Ferrau’, a Sicilian nobleman, and soon, against her parents' wishes, Mimi and Vincenzo eloped… Together with her theatrical colleagues, Angelo Musco and Giovanni Grasso, the first Sicilian Theatrical Company was born, with Vincenzo as the producer… The Company began touring Italy, performing plays in Sicilian dialect and became so successful that they expanded their tour throughout Europe and played command performances before heads of state, including the Kings of Spain and England as well as the Austrian Emperor… Mimi became one of the leading theatrical divas of her time and enjoyed the company of such personages as international opera star Enrico Caruso and the inventor of the telegraph, Guglielmo Marconi… She then began to perform plays in Spanish and English… Her international tours soon included the U.S., Canada as well as Central and South America… In Mexico her Company's performance even created a cease-fire between revolutionary leader Pancho Villa's forces and federal troops during the Mexican Revolution, so all could enjoy her performance… While in New York, writer Henry Miller saw Mimi perform and included a multi-page glowing critique of her work in one of his major novels, "Plexus, the Rosy Crucifixion"… In 1945 Mimi became a naturalized American citizen and expanded her work to include motion pictures in the U.S., Italy and Mexico… She had three children, one of whom, Argentina Brunetti, became a leading Hollywood motion picture character actress and journalist… Mimi continued to work as a character actress into her 80s… On 31 July, 1970 she died of a stroke at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California….

About Giuseppina: Countess Giuseppina Di Lorenzo- Aguglia was born in Palermo, Sicily in 1856… When her parents died, her three brothers decided to divide the family fortune among themselves and wanted to put Giuseppina in a convent…Instead, she eloped with a Choir director and former seminarian…Together they joined a theatrical company and she soon became a major star of the Italian theatre…Her pregnancy with their first child ended spectacularly, when she was playing Desdemona in "Othello" and the child was actually born on the stage…They called the baby, Mimi…For more details read “In Sicilian Company” by Argentina Brunetti…