Actress. A prolific artist with numerous stage and screen credits, she shall probably be remembered for her distinguished career as an acting teacher. Raised in Manhattan within the theatrical milieu, she broke show business at around six as part of the Children’s Opera Group. In the early 1940s, Delia followed her mother’s film career to Hollywood and gradually gained experience on the local scene before making her 1953 silver screen bow in the Frank Sinatra classic “From Here to Eternity”. She was to study with Lee Strasberg at The Actors Studio in New York, later teaching there as well, and was to receive her M.F.A. from UCLA in 1965 and her Ph.D. from the same institution in 1969. A professor of Theatre Arts at UCLA from 1969 until her 2011 retirement, she was seen on the big screen in “Fatso” and “The Competition” (both 1980) and 1986’s “Shadow Play”, as well as in the television series “Kojak”. Delia presented master classes throughout America as well as in Canada, Israel, and several European countries, earned her final screen credit in 1991 on “Quantum Leap”, was a noted painter and sculptor whose work was shown in several major galleries, and published the 2003 “Friendly Enemies: Maximizing The Director-Actor Relationship”. Following her retirement to Professor Emerita status, she remained in Los Angeles and died following a brief illness. (bio by: Bob Hufford)  Family links:  Parents:  Renata Vanni (1909 – 2004)