I first saw her in the epic Jesus of Nazareth as Queen Herodias. Sadly, few obituaries about her are available as of today and none of them seem to mention this role, focusing instead on the few Hollywood films she made. Maybe to the U.S. media she was more of a European star. I also remember her from (IMO) one of the most touching moments in Oscar history: Ingrid Bergman won for Orient Express. Valentina was also nominated for Day for Night, which was somehow a best-picture nominee during the previous Academy Awards (WTF was up with that rule ?). Ingrid turned her acceptance speech into a salute to her friend Valentina. Nowadays they start the stopwatch and the winner quickly blurts out "I'd like to thank (insert 50 names here)" before the 'get the hell off the stage' music drowns them out.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/201...rtese-obituary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky5sW4no_cg