Who Do You Think You Are? Episode 1.06 Susan Sarandon

Oscar winner Susan Sarandon has three children and has always had a passion for her family history. She has two family mysteries that she wants to solve: what ever happened to her grandmother Anita, and where is Anita's family from? Anita disappeared when Susan's mother was two. Susan has always felt like the black sheep of her family, and hopes that maybe she and Anita share a connection. Susan has only a laminated picture of her grandmother, but no other clues to who she may have been. Everything she's heard about her grandmother deals with how she abandoned her children. Susan fears that her mother might not want to go into detail about her sad past in this emotionally charged search.

Susan travels to Virginia to talk to her mother Leonora about Anita. Leonora says the laminated picture of Anita came from a New York nightclub, like the Copacabana. Susan's mother believes Anita was a showgirl or dancer. When Leonora was nine or ten, she learned her mother wasn't dead, but it wasn't until 1939 (six years later) that they reunited. After that, they lost contact. The only photo Leonora has of her and Anita together is from their last meeting, which was taken in a distorted fun house mirror. This is the most information Susan has ever learned about her grandmother.

Susan makes her way back to New York City and meets with Megan Smolenyak from ancestry.com to learn more about Anita. Fortunately for Susan, Anita left a big paper trail, starting with her birth certificate. Using this, Susan learns that Anita's parents, Mansueto and Angelina Rigali both came from Italy, but it doesn't say from where. Anita was one of nine children. Only three survived childhood, including Anita. Using the 1920 Census, Susan learns Anita's mother Angelina passed away when Anita was only 12 years old. It also shows that Anita grew up with her father, an older sister named Rita, and younger brother Joseph.

Susan looks at her grandmother's marriage record, which shows that Anita was only 15 when she got married. Susan's grandfather was 21 at the time. Focusing on the date of the marriage, (February 1st, 1921) Susan realizes that her grandmother was actually only 13 when she wed. On top of that, she was already pregnant. Susan feels bad for Anita because her mom died at a young age and she seemed to be robbed of a childhood.

Susan meets with Italian immigration historian Dr. Mary Brown to learn more about Anita's childhood. Susan takes a look at Angelina and Mansueto's marriage certificate. They were married in New York and lived in a very crowded area, where it was very hard to tell if someone was sick. Dr. Brown tells Susan that her great-grandparents were living in a death trap. During the early part of the 20th century, the Lower East Side of Manhattan was rampant with extreme poverty. Most of the rooms were dark and airless, and disease spread quickly. This is most likely the reason why so many of Anita's siblings and her mother Angelina died. All of this gives Susan a new sense of what her grandmother went through as a child.

Susan and her son Miles meet at the New York Public Library to find out more about Anita's parents, Angelina and Mansueto. Using a surname search, they find out that her great-grandparents are from Tuscany, Italy. Susan takes the next step and travels to Florence, Italy. She reflects on how she has always felt at home in her travels to Italy and now she knows why. Susan hopes to find that her great-grandparents Angelina and Mansueto had a nice life before their struggles in America began.

In Florence, Susan meets with researcher Cinzia Rossello and learns that Mansueto was born in Tuscany in 1855. By the time he was 20, Mansueto was a landowner. Susan decides to travel to the small town of Coreglia where her great-grandfather was born. She visits the church where Mansueto and many of her ancestors were baptized, dating back 10 generations all the way to Michele Rigali, who was born in 1640. Susan is amazed that she's been able to trace her deep Italian roots.

Knowing her great-grandfather Mansueto was a statue maker, Susan meets with local guide Gabriele Calibrese to find out when Mansueto left Coreglia for America. In 1888, Mansueto was one of the first waves of figurine makers to travel to the United States. Gabriele shows Susan documentation revealing that Mansueto was 32 when he immigrated to America. Turns out that by the time Mansueto was a sculptor, life was hard in Coreglia for artists such as he. Susan takes comfort in knowing that Mansueto was an artist, but is heartbroken at all the loss he faced in America.

Mansueto lived until he was 72 years old, but Susan feels that his life was filled with tragedy. She journeys back to New York to pay her respects at the grave where he's buried alongside his wife and young children. When Susan visits the Rigali family plot, she sees there's no gravestone or markings for the nine people buried there. Saddened, Susan thinks she should get a marker for the site. However, she knows Anita isn't buried there, and she still has to find out what happened to her grandmother.

Susan learns from Professor Burton Peretti that her grandmother was probably part of the high-priced night life in New York City. Burton tells Susan that her grandmother didn't leave much evidence for them, but he has found Anita's marriage license from 1932. Anita married Ben Kahn, a salesman, and she was a homemaker. Susan is shocked when she finds out there's no record of Anita's divorce from Susan's grandfather.

Susan is hot on the trail of grandmother Anita's "other" life, the one she and her mother have never been able to uncover. Looking at the year on Anita's marriage license to Ben in 1932, Susan deduces that Anita was still married, because she didn't get divorced before 1939. Anita was progressive in marrying Ben, who was a Jewish man. Anita was Roman Catholic, and a mixed marriage was a risky thing to do, even for people in show business.

Susan and Miles look up the name Anita Kahn. Using records from the New York Public Library, they find Anita's address. However, it appears Anita and Ben were living separately only a year after their marriage. Susan uses Anita's birth date to locate her death certificate. The closest match Miles and Susan can find is Anita Fiorentino, who died in 1984 in Rockland County, New York. If this Anita Fiorentino is Susan's grandmother, it would mean that she only lived an hour away from Susan.

In order to confirm that Anita Fiorentino is her grandmother, Susan goes to the New City Library in Rockland County to search the obituaries -- and it's confirmed. Anita was 71 when she died. It also turns out that Anita didn't have any children with her last husband, Dominic. The birth date on the obituary is wrong, and Susan thinks this is because Anita wanted to hide the secrets of her early years.

Susan visits the house where Anita used to live, and knocks on the door to see if anyone's home. She walks around the neighborhood, hoping to find someone who might have known Anita. Turns out that Anita used to say that she got Frank Sinatra his start. Susan's mother loves Frank Sinatra and Susan has met him before -- maybe Anita was the key to this connection.

Susan knows Dominic had some nieces who may who may know more about Anita. Susan goes to their house to meet with them for the first time. Sharon and Sandra tell Susan they heard their Uncle Dominic had met Anita in one of the clubs in the city. They share pictures of Anita with Susan, who learns that her grandmother didn't talk much about her past. The nieces share a sketch of Anita in her early years and it looks just like Susan.

Susan is grateful to have solved the mystery of Anita, who was only living an hour away from Susan her whole life. Her heart goes out to Anita; maybe its best that she never got to meet her, if only to tell her that her daughter Leonora turned out okay. Maybe it would have been too much for Anita to take in her later years. Susan feels close to Anita and believes they share a certain special connection.