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=Miriam Battista=

Miriam Caramella Josephine Battista (July 14, 1912 - December 22, 1980), known professionally as Miriam Battista, was an American actress and writer who gained fame as a child acting on the stage and in silent films. As an adult, she acted on Broadway and in summer stock, appeared with her husband Russell Maloney on their own television talk show, and co-wrote several shows with him.

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Early life and early career
Miriam Battista was born Miriam Caramella Josephine Battista in 1912 in New York, New York to Raphael Battista and Clara Rufolo (born Cleonice Rufolo), both Italian immigrants. She began performing in 1916 at the age of four in A Kiss for Cinderella, a Broadway play starring Maude Adams, in which she had an uncredited role as the youngest of a group of war orphans. Other Broadway appearances followed, including small roles in Daddy Long Legs with Henry Miller (actor) in 1917, A Doll’s House with Alla Nazimova in 1918, and Daddies with Jeanne Eagles in 1919.

Battista broke into silent films in 1918 with a credited role in Nazimova’s Eye for Eye, playing the little sister of Nazimova’s character. That led to her being cast by director Frank Borzage as the crippled girl Minnie Ginsberg in Humoresque, the role which made her a star. The famous author Elinor Glyn was so impressed by her performance that she wrote a screenplay for Battista, whom she called “the greatest actress of the screen.” (This screenplay was never filmed.) Battista subsequently appeared in many other silent films, especially in roles that called for her to cry on camera. In an unpublished memoir, she stated “I had no trouble crying. Tears came easily and if they didn't, my mother took me behind the scenes and spanked me until I cried.” Battista also toured the vaudeville circuit, playing Juliet in the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet with child actor Charles Eaton. After her mother’s death in 1924, her career stalled.

Career as a adult
In 1931, Battista took leading roles in several Italian-language films made in New York, including Santa Lucia Luntana and Così è la vita. She also returned to the Broadway stage, appearing in The Honor Code in 1931. Among other Broadway appearances during the next decade, she had a singing role in the Ziegfeld musical Hot-Cha! with Bert Lahr, played opposite Humphrey Bogart in Our Wife, and enjoyed an unusually long run in the comedy No More Ladies. She was generally unlucky in the Broadway productions she chose, which usually ran for only a few performances. However, she found frequent work in summer stock and in the road companies of successful Broadway productions like The Women.

In 1934, Battista married dancer Paul Pierce. They divorced slightly over a year later in 1935. In 1938, she eloped with New Yorker staff writer Russell Maloney. Battista’s writing talent was recognized when the New Yorker published her short story No Sugar Please in the April 20, 1940 issue. She and Maloney had a daughter, Amelia, in 1945. They collaborated on several projects, including an English translation of Die Fledermaus for the Philadelphia Opera Company (1943), a television talk show called The Maloneys on the Dumont Television Network (1947-1948) , and the book and lyrics for a musical, Sleepy Hollow, which cost $230,000 and ran for only 12 performances (June 3, 1948 - June 12, 1948). Maloney died three months later on September 3, 1948. On December 14, 1948, Battista married Lloyd Rosamond, a radio producer and long-time friend. She and her daughter moved with him to Los Angeles in 1960, where he died in 1964. After her husband’s death, Battista moved back to New York City, where she died of complications from emphysema on December 22, 1980.

http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/BE052404/miriam-battista-seated-on-couch-smoking�4 Notice in Variety, November 11, 1938: http://www.varietyultimate.com/archive/issue/DV-11-11-1938-6�5 Marriage certificate dated December 14, 1948, New York, signed by Rabbi Joseph Wise, in the possession of Amelia Rosamond Hard.�