Silvana Mangano (Italian pronunciation: [silˈvaːna ˈmaŋɡano]; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian actress.Raised in poverty during World War II, Mangano trained as a dancer and worked as a model before winning a "Miss Rome" beauty pageant in 1946. This led to work in films; she achieved a notable success in Bitter Rice (1949) and continued working in films for almost four more decades.