Amedeo Nazzari
Amedeo Nazzari | |
---|---|
Nazzari in the 1950 film Il Brigante Musolino | |
Born |
Salvatore Amedeo Carlo Leone Buffa December 10, 1907 Cagliari, Italy |
Died |
November 7, 1979 71) Rome, Italy | (aged
Years active | 1936–1976 |
Spouse(s) | Irene Genna (1957 - 1979) |
Amedeo Nazzari (Cagliari, 10 December 1907 – Rome, 7 November 1979) was an Italian actor. Nazzari was one of the leading figures of Italian classic cinema, often considered a local variant of the Australian-American star Errol Flynn. Although he emerged as a star during the Fascist era, Nazzari's popularity continued well into the post-war years.
Early career
Nazzari was born as Salvatore Amedeo Buffa in Sardinia, and although he moved to Rome he always retained a slight trace of his native accent.[1] While Nazzari was keen on gaining film contracts much of his early experience was in the theatre. He entered a contest organised by Twentieth Century Fox to find an Italian actor to fill the boots of the recently deceased screen star Rudolph Valentino, but lost out to Alberto Rabagliati.[2] He was rejected after screen tests by Italian professionals, who found him too tall, thin and gloomy of expression.[3]
Nazzari made his debut in Ginevra degli Almieri (1935), following a recommendation from Elsa Merlini.[4] His first read role came with the 1936 film Cavalry, and he followed it up with The Castiglioni Brothers (1937). His breakthrough came with the 1938 film Luciano Serra, Pilot (1938) where he played a First World War veteran who returns to fight for Italy during the Abyssinian War. Nazzari was transformed into a matinee idol, the most bankable star of Italian cinema.[5] Following the film, Nazzari was invited to join the Fascist Party by Benito Mussolini, but declined saying "Thank You Duce! I would prefer not to concern myself with politics, occupied as I am with more pressing artistic commitments".[6]
Fascist film star
Despite declining to join the party Nazzari, along with a handful of other actor such as Fosco Giachetti, was considered the model of a Fascist male. Most of his film roles from this point present him as a masculine (often military) figure. His emergence as a star coincided with a major drive by the Italian government to rebuild the country's film industry which had declined since its heyday in the silent era. This policy involved large-scale government funding of films and the construction of the massive Cinecittà studio complex in Rome. The number of films produced each year climbed rapidly, with Nazarri a particularly prolific actor (making six films in 1939 and eight in 1941).[7] During the era he appeared opposite most of the leading Italian actresses including Alida Valli, Lilia Silvi, Luisa Ferida, Mariella Lotti, Assia Noris, Vera Carmi and Clara Calamai, often more than once.
Nazzari was almost always cast as a straightforward hero, and he closely protected his public persona to avoid any negative roles. An exception was the historical comedy-drama film The Jester's Supper (1942) in which he plays a loutish figure. Nazzari made four films with Alida Valli that included the comedies Unjustified Absence (1939) and Apparition (1944). Following Italy's entry into the Second World War in 1940, Nazzari combined romances and comedies, with occasional more propagandistic productions. Amongst the more political was Bengasi (1942), an anti-British war film set in Libya. Nazzari portrays an Italian patriot who masquerades as a collaborator with the British occupiers of Bengazi in order to steal their battle plans. It was the only time he featured alongside the other great male star of the era, Fosco Giachetti.
Later career
Star of Italian cinema during the 40's and 50's. He made several melodramas with Raffaello Matarazzo, such as Catene in 1949. Nazzari acts himself in Federico Fellini's Nights of Cabiria.
Awards
- David di Donatello Special David, For a life dedicated to cinema with passionate professionality and extraordinary success.
- Venice Film Festival Best Actor in the Year of Count Volpi's Concession for Caravaggio, il pittore maledetto, 1941
- Nastro d'Argento Best Actor for Il bandito, 1947
Selected filmography
- Ginevra degli Almieri (1935)
- Cavalry (1936)
- The Castiglioni Brothers, (1937)
- Luciano Serra, Pilot (1938)
- Unjustified Absence (1939)
- Cose dell'altro mondo 1939
- La grande luce (Montevergine) 1939
- Scarpe grosse 1940
- Centomila dollari 1940
- E sbarcato un marinaio 1940
- I mariti - Tempesta d'amore 1941
- L'ultimo ballo (1941)
- Caravaggio (1941)
- La cena delle beffe 1941
- Fedora 1942
- Giorni felici 1942
- Sleeping Beauty (1942)
- Bengasi (1942)
- La bisbetica domata 1942
- La donna della montagna 1943
- Il romanzo di un giovane povero 1943 di Guido Brignone
- Quelli della montagna 1943
- Apparizione 1943
- Harlem 1943
- Un giorno nella vita 1945
- Fatalità 1946
- Il bandito 1946
- Il cavaliere del sogno (Donizetti) 1946
- Un giorno nella vita 1946
- La figlia del capitano 1947
- When the Angels Sleep (1947)
- Unexpected Conflict (1948)
- The Wolf of the Sila (1949)
- Catene 1949
- Il vedovo allegro 1949
- Il Brigante Musolino 1950
- Tormento 1950
- Donne e briganti 1950
- Alina 1950
- Romanticismo 1951
- Ultimo incontro 1951
- I figli di nessuno 1951
- Il tradimento 1951
- Sensualità 1952
- Il Brigante di Tacca del Lupo 1952
- Processo alla città 1952
- Altri tempi 1952
- Siamo tutti assassini 1952
- Chi è senza peccato... 1952
- Un marito per Anna Zaccheo 1953
- Il mondo le condanna 1953
- Proibito 1954
- Appassionatamente 1954
- Torna! 1954
- Pietà per chi cade 1954
- L'intrusa 1955
- L'angelo bianco 1955
- L'ultimo amante 1955
- Le notti di Cabiria 1957
- Il cielo brucia 1957
- Malinconico autunno 1958
- Anna di Brooklyn 1958
- La Maja desnuda 1959
- Il mondo dei miracoli 1959
- Policarpo, "ufficiale di scrittura" 1959
- La contessa azzurra 1960
- I due nemici 1961
- The Corsican Brothers (1961)
- Nefertiti, regina del Nilo 1961
- Antinea, l'amante della città sepolta 1961
- Il Gaucho 1964
- Frenesia dell'estate 1964
- Il papavero è anche un fiore 1966
- The Column (1968)
- Le clan des siciliens 1969
- The Valachi Papers 1972
- Derrick - Season 3, Episode 14: "Der Mann aus Portofino" (1976)
- Melodrammore - E vissero felici e contenti 1978
References
Bibliography
- Amedeo Nazzari written by Piero Pruzzo and Enrico Lancia. Collana "Le stelle filanti", Gremese Editore, Roma, 1983.
- Amedeo Nazzari. Il divo,l'uomo, l'attore by Simone Casavecchia, with an interview to Evelina Nazzari, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Roma, 2007) in the 100 Anniversary of the birth of the actor (1907/2007). Sito ufficiale del C.S.C.
- Amedeo Buffa in arte Nazzari written by Maria Evelina Buffa. Collana "Cinema italiano", Edizioni Sabinae, Roma, 2008.
- Gundle, Stephen. Mussolini's Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy. Berghahn Books, 2013.
External links
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