Rafaela Ottiano

Rafaela Ottiano (March 4, 1888 – August 14, 1942) was an Italian-American actress. She was best known for her role as Suzette in Grand Hotel and as Russian Rita in She Done Him Wrong (1933).

Early life Ottiano was born on March 4, 1888, in Venice, Italy as the second child and daughter of the six children of Maddalena Polcari (1869–1914), a housewife, and Antonio Ottiano (1859–1915), a musician. Her brothers were Pasquale "Patsies" (1892–1938) and James (1896–1971), both musicians, and Augustino Ottiano (1898–1987).

Career From the original Broadway production of Grand Hotel (l to r): Henry Hull, William Nunn, Eugenie Leontovich, Lester Alden, and Rafaela Ottiano (1930). Ottiano began acting at age 18 and established herself as a stage actress in Europe before arriving in Hollywood in 1924 and appearing in American movies. She appeared on Broadway in Sweeney Todd (1924), the Mae West play Diamond Lil (1928), and the play version of Grand Hotel (1930). She made her film debut in the John L. McCutcheon-directed drama The Law and the Lady (1924) with Len Leo, Alice Lake, and Tyrone Power, Sr.

Ottiano was part of the original 1928 Broadway cast of the hit play Diamond Lil, written by and starring Mae West. She reprised her role as Rita when the play was adapted for the movie She Done Him Wrong (1933), directed by Lowell Sherman.

Throughout the 1930s, she often specialized in roles as sinister, malevolent, or spiteful women, such as her role in the Tod Browning-directed horror film The Devil-Doll (1936), with Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan.

Other notable film roles for Ottiano include Lena in As You Desire Me (1932) with Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Erich von Stroheim, Owen Moore, and Hedda Hopper, Mrs. Higgins in the Shirley Temple musical-comedy Curly Top (1935), as a matron in the crime-drama Riffraff (1936), starring Jean Harlow and Spencer Tracy, and as Suzette, Greta Garbo's devoted maid in the Edmund Goulding-directed drama Grand Hotel (1932).

In 1940, she starred in Victory, a melodramatic film which was adapted from novel by the same name by Joseph Conrad, and she was credited for her amusing incidental performance by The New York Times. Ottiano's last film was the musical comedy I Married an Angel (1942), starring Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. During her film career, she appeared in approximately 45 motion pictures, with actors such as Barbara Stanwyck, Conrad Nagel, Peter Lorre, Zasu Pitts, and Katharine Hepburn.

When Grand Hotel was turned into a Broadway musical in 1989, her character was renamed Rafaela Ottiano in honor of the actress, who had appeared on Broadway in 1930 in the original play version of the Vicki Baum novel and in the subsequent movie adaptation.

Partial filmography

The Law and the Lady (1924) - Ma Sims Married ? (1926) - Maid Grand Hotel (1932) - Suzette Night Court (1932) - Evil Tongued Neighbor (uncredited) As You Desire Me (1932) - Lena The Washington Masquerade (1932) - Mona She Done Him Wrong (1933) - Russian Rita Bondage (1933) - Miss Trigge Ann Vickers (1933) - Mrs. Feldermans Female (1933) - Della - Alison's Maid (uncredited) Mandalay (1934) - Madame Lacalles All Men Are Enemies (1934) - Filomena The Last Gentleman (1934) - Retta Barr A Lost Lady (1934) - Rosa Great Expectations (1934) - Mrs. Joe Enchanted April (1935) - Francesca Lottery Lover (1935) - Gaby's Maid The Florentine Dagger (1935) - Lili Salvatore One Frightened Night (1935) - Elvira Curly Top (1935) - Mrs. Higgins Remember Last Night? (1935) - Mme. Bouclier Crime and Punishment (1935) - Landlady (uncredited) We're Only Human (1935) - Mrs. William Anderson (uncredited) Riffraff (1936) - Matron The Devil-Doll (1936) - Malita Anthony Adverse (1936) - Signora Buvino Mad Holiday (1936) - Ning That Girl from Paris (1936) - Nikki's Personal Maid (uncredited) Seventh Heaven (1937) - Madame Frisson Maytime (1937) - Ellen The League of Frightened Men (1937) - Dora Chapin The Toy Wife (1938) - Felicianne (uncredited) Marie Antoinette (1938) - Louise - Marie's Maid (uncredited) I'll Give a Million (1938) - Proprietress Suez (1938) - Maria De Teba Paris Honeymoon (1939) - Fluschotska Vigil in the Night (1940) - Mrs. Henrietta Sullivan (uncredited) The Long Voyage Home (1940) - Bella A Little Bit of Heaven (1940) - Mme. Lupinsky Victory (1940) - Madame Makanoff Topper Returns (1941) - Lillian - the Housekeeper The Adventures of Martin Eden (1942) - Marie Sylva I Married an Angel (1942) - Madelon (uncredited)