《泰坦尼克号》背后的真实爱情故事 “杰克”享年92岁

爱思英语编者按：近期3D版《泰坦尼克号》在全球热映，杰克和罗斯的感人爱情故事令人唏嘘不已。两位主人公的“真人版”随即曝光。由莱昂纳多·迪卡普里奥饰演的杰克，其现实原型是一名石匠，名叫艾米里奥（Emilio Portaluppi），而影片中由凯特·温斯莱特饰演的罗斯，在现实生活中是大亨阿斯特尔（John Jacob Astor）的妻子Madeleine Talmage Astor，也就是阿斯特尔夫人。

当时在泰坦尼克上，艾米里奥是二等舱乘客，阿斯特尔夫人则身在头等舱。单就船票价格而言，两者相去甚远。在当地媒体的报道中，真人版“杰克”并未在4月14日夜如影片所述葬身海底，而是去世于1974年，享年92，可谓寿终正寝。与阿斯特尔夫人在泰坦尼克上的恋情，艾米里奥一直保持缄默，直至晚年，才在接受采访之机透露些许。真实纪录片将借意大利电视台历史频道与广大观众面世，在这桩迄今为止世上最大的沉船事件中，搭乘泰坦尼克号的意大利公民总计37人，仅3人生还。

真实版“杰克”与影片中迪卡普里奥饰演的男主角经历极其相似，除了凭借一系列的运气登上泰坦尼克后对阿斯特尔夫人一见钟情、并被邀请参加泰坦尼克头等舱晚宴以外，在纽约，艾米里奥供职于当地一家知名石器行，艺术造诣和天赋有口皆碑。沉船之后，他被Carpathia 14号救生艇救起。直至晚年他才对意大利媒体谈及自己在泰坦尼克上的这段亲身经历。值得一提的是，当时登上救生艇时，艾米里奥迫不得已换上了一身女装，这也是事后生还者名单上其真实姓名被冠以“艾米里奥夫人”的原因所在。另外，艾米里奥向造船公司索赔2.5万美金，生还后，他曾一度服役于意大利军队、参加第一次世界大战，并在未与第一任妻子离婚的情况下再婚。

The Real Titanic Love Story

Though the grave of a real J. Dawson exists, and has proved boundless spectulation for Titanic history buffs, one Titanic passenger had a similar real-life love story to the fictionalized character Jack Dawson in James Camerons' movie.

Emilio Portaluppi was an Italian artist who changed his travel plans to join the Titanic at the last minute. He traveled as a second class passenger, according to new archival research into the elusive Titanic survivor. And though he may not have had the charms of Leonardo DiCaprio's character in Cameron's 1997 blockbuster movie, Portaluppi was a romantic with first class tastes.

He had a crush on an upper class married American woman who was traveling with her husband on the doomed ship. She was no one less than Madeleine Astor, the young and beautiful wife of millionaire John Jacob Astor IV. By the time she returned to New York she would be a widow.

Recently reconstructed through late interviews given to Italian local newspapers, Portaluppi's story is now revealed in a new documentary, "The Italians on the Titanic."

"It is reasonable to think that his story was the starting point for Cameron's screenplay," Ezio Savino and Stefano Giussani, the documentary authors, said.

The show, which airs today on the Italian version of the History Channel, tells the little known story of 37 Italians, mostly third class passengers, waiters and workers hired by Luigi Gatti, the manager of the Titanic's exclusive A La Carte Restaurant.

All but three of the Italians onboard died during the sinking. Thirty-year-old Portaluppi was one of the fortunate survivors, but exactly how he managed to escape the disaster is still a mystery.

Commonly thought to be one of only four passengers pulled from water and rescued in lifeboat 14, Portaluppi never made it clear how he managed to survive. For decades, he refused to talk about that tragic April night.

"Only in the last years of his life, when he returned to Italy, he told the tale of his Titanic journey to local journalists," Claudio Bossi, the author of "Titanic," printed by Italian publishing house Giunti, told Discovery News.

To reconstruct Emilio's life, Bossi pieced together newspaper cuttings ranging from 1912 to 1974, the year of Portaluppi's death at 93.

Born in 1881 in Arcisate, near Varese in northern Italy, Portaluppi first came to the United States in 1903. He started work in Barre, Vt., but within a short time he moved to Milford, N.H., where he found various jobs requiring his skill as a stonecutter, designer and draughtsman (technical illustrator).

Indeed, he was much respected for his extraordinarily talent. An article published in the Milford Cabinet in April 1912 reported as much, just after the disaster. "He is an artist, and has become well known here through his work in the school of design which he taught in 1910-1911, and where he developed some excellent work," the article stated.

It added that in 1911 Portaluppi carved a piece in Milford granite and "was watched by hundreds of stonemen who believed the difficult feat could not be accomplished."

According to the documentary, Portaluppi worked on symbolic reliefs for the New York Stock Exchange Building and on the restoration of the Astor's Beechwood Mansion in Newport, R.I. There he would have met Colonel John Jacob Astor IV, one of the country's wealthiest men.

In 1910, Portaluppi separated from his wife, an Italian woman whom he had married in America in 1903. She returned to Italy with their daughter and there they would remain the rest of their lives.

"At the time of the sinking, Portaluppi was returning to his home in Milford, following a visit to his family in Italy. Perhaps he had hoped his wife would return with him to the U.S.," Bossi said.

In later interviews, Portaluppi said that he had originally booked a ticket on another White Star liner, Oceanic II, but then changed it after receiving a telegram from the Astors to join them on the Titanic's maiden voyage, embarking out of Cherbourg, France.

For Portaluppi, the telegram came as an unexpected and unique opportunity, like it did too for the fictional and talented artist Jack Dawson. In James Cameron's movie, Dawson wins a third class ticket for the maiden voyage during a last-minute card game in Southampton, U.K., just before the Titanic begins her journey across the English Channel to France and then on to meet her fate in the Atlantic.

Traveling back home to New York after holidaying in Egypt, the Astors invited Portaluppi to join them on the Titanic. Portaluppi later said that they wanted him to work on some new outdoor statues in their Newport villa.

The Italian man couldn't believe his luck. Although he had bought a second class ticket, he traveled first class as a guest of the Astors.

"Portaluppi was already in his mid 80s when he revealed that he had a crush on Madeleine Astor. But he did not add much. He was a gentleman," Bossi said.

Like Jack, Emilio was invited to dinner in first class on April 14, 1912. He had retired to bed when the Titanic collided with the iceberg. Thinking that the ship had reached New York and was docking, he left his cabin in a bathrobe and went on deck.

"It was plain that something serious had happened, so Mr Portalupi returned to his stateroom to get dressed. Once back on deck, he found that the lifeboats had been unlashed and were being hurriedly filled with women," wrote the Milford Cabinet.

Exactly what happened then remains a mystery.

Portaluppi provided many versions of his survival story. Following the example of others and wearing a life-belt, he took a 50 foot leap into the ocean's chilly waters, swam to a huge cake of ice, and managed to keep afloat until he was seen and picked up by one of the lifeboats.

In another, more improbable version, he noticed that a boat was being lowered near him. As there were no women where he stood, he attempted to board, but lost his footing and fell into the ocean.

He then swam in the icy waters for two hours until he was pulled out by those in lifeboat 14, one of the last boats to leave the Titanic. With all the other survivors, he reached New York on April 18 aboard the Carpathia.

The unlikely two hour swim version is confirmed by a Jan. 16, 1913 New York Times story, which reported that Portaluppi sued the Ocean Steam Navigation Company for $25,000 for personal injury and property.

"I was in the water of the Atlantic Ocean for upward of two hours, suffering excruciating pain of body and agony of mind, and have been and will be caused great pain and suffering," read Portaluppi’s legal claim.

Immediately after the rescue, rumors also spread that he had entered the lifeboat dressed as a woman.

"Women and children first" was the noble edict ruling on the Titanic, and men who disobeyed risked being shot.

Emilio was first listed as "Mrs. Portaluppi" when the names of the rescued were transmitted by Carpathia’s wireless.

In his later interviews, Portaluppi again changed the story, adding that he drank half a bottle of cognac before jumping in the ocean with a nacre gun in his mouth. He swam in the chilly waters until Lady Astor, on lifeboat 14, pleaded the sailors to pick him up.

Matching the film's horrific depiction of dead people turned into human Popsicles, Portaluppi told of half-frozen men floating near him, described a living child hanging on his mother's cadaver, and, as is depicted in Cameron's film, recalled that as the night wore on, only the voices in the lifeboats broke the deadly silence.

After the disaster, he continued an adventurous life. Naturalized as a United States citizen, he joined the Italian army during World War I. He returned to the US in 1919, but made several other journeys back and forth to Italy.

Although he never legally divorced his wife, he married another woman in New York in 1934; evidence also points to a third wife in later years.

In 1965, at 84, Portaluppi made his final voyage to Italy aboard the S.S. Cristoforo Colombo. He remained in Italy until his death in 1974 at 92.

"We will never know the truth. It is possible that he managed to simply board a lifeboat and that he made up everything," Bossi said.

"And yet...?" he added.