the servant?

No. Maria was unable to help herself when these low class gigolos came along, hence the man in the closet and the one over the balcony (with whom she was dancing when the count first saw her). She was made pregnant by one of the count's servants (probably the chauffeur going by what went on earlier). She was going to let her baby become the count's heir, but he never gave her the time to make this known to him before he shot her and her lover.

Thank you for your answer jack that was perfect! You helped me get an A!

Since Maria was a peasant herself, she did not think it was beneath her dignity to dally with the help. But what incredible lack of judgment to believe that as long as you are bringing a child into the world, your very sophisticated nobleman husband won't mind passing off a lowborn bastard as the heir to hundreds of years of excellent breeding. Too bad Maria didn't realize how much the Count and his sister (herself as sterile as her brother) valued their exalted, yet extinct, bloodlines, and that contaminating their hallowed pedigree with the servant's progeny would spell her doom. When Maria and her lover are killed, their unborn child is killed with them. The noble Count was guilty of a triple homicide.

Excellent performances by Brazzi, Bogart, and Gardner, although I am completely mesmerized every time I see this flick by the gorgeous Warren Stevens (he and Adam West of Batman fame looked so much alike) and the dynamic Marius Goring. Edmond O'Brien is fascinating too, but I find it hard to see how he won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar over the likes of Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden and Rod Steiger, who were all so great in On The Waterfront; not to mention Kirk Douglas, Peter Lorre, and Paul Lucas (each of whom were not nominated for Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea) or Jack Carson (not nominated for A Star Is Born), who portrayed an even more terrific Hollywood heel than the tough-as-nails executive played by the charismatic Stevens in Contessa.

Did anyone else notice that Diana Decker (who was also great in a bit part in the 1962 classic Lolita) had a scene-stealing role as the nasty, drunken starlet who goes into a jealous tirade directed towards the delicate Maria? Another plus: the lovely and talented Valentina Cortese played the Countess/sister-in-law of Ava Gardner. She would lose the 1973 Best Supporting Actress Oscar to a far less deserving Ingrid Bergman. Cortese, a genuine member of the Italian nobility (and widow of the great Richard Basehart), had been nominated for her terrific performance in Francois Truffaut's classic Day For Night.