Skip to main content

Amedeo Nazzari: The Once and Future Idol

He’s been called the “mustachioed matinee idol,” but a newfound interest in 1950s melodramas has made him an international arthouse legend.

Amedeo Nazzari was born Salvatore Amedeo Buffa on Dec. 10, 1907, in Sardinia. Assuming his maternal grandfather’s last name and moving to Rome during the 1930s to pursue a career in acting, he found an immediate place in theater but struggled to break into film because of his towering height and slim build.

Nazzari landed small film parts during the mid-’30s before scoring the title role in Goffredo Alessandrini’s 1938 “Luciano Serra, pilota” (Luciano Serra, Pilot), about an American pilot attacked by Ethiopian soldiers. The film won the Mussolini Cup for Best Italian Film at the 6th Venice International Film Festival and launched Nazzari’s silver-screen career.

Although he rose to fame during tumultuous times and was personally invited by Mussolini to join the Fascist Party, Nazzari remained politically neutral and worked prolifically in postwar Italy. In 1946, he won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Ernesto in Alberto Lattuada’s “Il bandito” (The Bandit), the story of World War II prisoners of war sent home from Germany.

 

Raffaello Matarazzo’s 1949 “Catene” (Chains) was the first in a string of dramatic films appreciated by Italians while neorealism had its grip on the international audience. Nazzari plays Gugliemo, an honest, everyday man working as a mechanic. When a thief pulls into his garage after the getaway vehicle breaks down, Gugliemo’s life spirals out of control. The episode leads to a reunion between Gugliemo’s wife (Yvonne Sanson) and her aggressive ex-fiancé. Although she begs him to leave her in peace, he doesn’t let up and eventually presents her with a deadly ultimatum. The film is featured in a wonderful scene in Giuseppe Tornatore’s 1988 “Cinema Paradiso” in which the entire audience is in tears. 

Anna and Carlo just can’t catch a break in Matarazzo’s 1950 follow-up, “Tormento.” Nazzari and Sanson play lovers facing impossible odds. When Anna’s evil stepmother berates her in front of Carlo, he takes her away to live with him. Anna writes to her father for help, but her stepmother does not give him the letters. When Carlo asks his shady employer for an advance, a fight breaks out, and Carlo is wrongfully accused of murder. Just as he is sentenced to prison for 20 years, Anna learns that she is pregnant. Despite Carlo’s incarceration, the two decide to marry. Anna gets by working odd jobs while caring for their daughter, Angela, but the demands of motherhood become overwhelming when Angela falls ill. Carlo’s lawyer reaches out to Anna’s father, who is so devastated to learn that his wife hid his daughter’s letters, he suffers a fatal heart attack. Anna feels her only option to save Angela’s life is to ask for help from her stepmother. She agrees on the condition that Anna give up Angela altogether and check into an institution for wayward women. The tears flow as she leaves, but there is some redemption in the end. 

 

That same year, Nazzari costarred in Giorgio Pastina’s drama, “Alina,” with Gina Lollobrigida in the title role as a desperate woman trying to make ends meet. When Alina’s father died, Paolo, a family friend, took her in. With intentions of curbing the town gossip, he married her. A much older man, Paolo, falls ill, and Alina is burdened with becoming the breadwinner. Having no skills, she resorts to smuggling drugs over the France-Italy border. During one of her jobs, she meets Giovanni (Nazzari), a card dealer at a high-society French supper club. After their initial meeting in which Giovanni mistakes Alina for a burglar and knocks her out, the two develop a kinship. When Giovanni helps Alina and her cohorts run from the police, he realizes his love for her and pledges to stay in Italy if they reach the border alive. Nazarri had the opportunity to offer some comedy relief in “Alina,” and he embraced it.

A small but memorable part in Federico Fellini’s 1957 “Nights of Cabiria,” a decade later along with supporting roles in Henri Verneuil’s 1969 “Le clan des siciliens” (The Sicilian Clan) and Terence Young’s 1972 “The Vallachi Papers” brought Nazzari some international exposure before his death in 1979. 

 

Six of Matarazzo’s dramas featuring Nazzari are available to stream on Criterion Channel. The others are available to stream on Amazon. Click on the titles for direct links.


-Written by Jeannine Guilyard for the December, 2021 issue of Fra Noi Magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Federico Fellini: A Look into the Life and Career of an Icon

A Fellini family portrait  “The term became a common word to describe something on the surface you can say is bizarre or strange, but actually is really like a painter working on a film,” said Martin Scorsese when asked to define “Felliniesque,” an adjective inspired by one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. The oldest of three children, Federico Fellini was born in the seaside town of Rimini in 1920. His father was a traveling salesman, so his mother was left to do the bulk of raising the children. One can argue that Fellini was born for his destiny. “You could tell that even as a child, he was different and unique. He was very intelligent, well above average. He was always the one to organize things, direct the others, make up games. He could control the other kids with just a look, said Fellini’s sister, Maddalena, in an interview with journalist Gideon Bachmann.  Not only was Fellini directing the children, but he was also putting on shows and charging ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Alessandro Gassmann: Born to Act

Alessandro Gassmannin his directorial debut "Razzabastarda" Alessandro Gassmann is the son of the iconic Italian actor/director Vittorio Gassman and French actress Juliette Mayniel. He was born in 1965 and grew up around cinema royalty.  He made his cinema debut in 1982 at the age of 17 in his father's autobiographical film, "Di padre in figlio." He went on to study his craft under his father's direction at the Theatre Workshop of Florence.  Vittorio Gassman was very active in theater and seemed just as comfortable on stage as he did in front of the camera. Known for his powerful interpretations of Dante's "Inferno" and "Paradiso," it is no surprise that he nurtured his son's acting aspirations on stage before he launched his career in television and film. One of Gassmann's strong qualities, which he undoubtedly inherited from his father is his incredible range and ease in going from genre to genre. He can play ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Extraordinary Career and Legacy of Dino De Laurentiis

Producer Dino De Laurentiis was one of the most prolific filmmakers ever, having produced or co-produced more than 600 films during a career that spanned seven decades. His legacy continues not only through the work of his children and grandchildren but also through a new generation of filmmakers in his Italian hometown. De Laurentiis was born in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius on Aug. 8, 1919, in the city of Torre Annunziata, located just minutes from the ruins of Pompeii. As a child, he worked at a local pasta factory owned and operated by his father. That experience had a profound effect on him, shaping a lifelong passion for food and an appreciation for business. At the age of 17, he decided to leave home for the big city. He arrived in Rome and enrolled in the prestigious film school, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. After attending the school for about a year, he managed to produce one film in 1940, The Last Combat , before having to leave Rome temporarily for m...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Sweetness and Genius of Giulietta Masina

Fellini and Masina on the set of "La Strada" As open-hearted and sunny as Federico Fellini was dark and complex, they were perfect counterpoints during a half-century of marriage and professional collaboration.  Nicknamed a  “female Chaplin” and described by Chaplin himself as  the actress who moved him most,  Giulietta Masina confronted the tragedy of her characters with an eternal innocence and enthusiasm that gave Italians hope in the most challenging of times.  Born in 1921 in San Giorgio di Piano, a commune north of Bologna, Masina was the oldest of four children born to a father who was a music professor and violinist and a mother who was a grade-school teacher. Her parents sent her as a child to live in Rome with her widowed aunt while she attended school there. As Masina took an early interest in gymnastics, her aunt saw in her a passion for performing and encouraged her to pursue acting. So after high school, Masina attended Rome’s La...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Legend of Alberto Sordi - Rome's Eternal Son

′′They will always judge you, whether you behave well or if you behave badly. So screw it and live as you want but above all don't listen to anyone.′′  - Alberto Sordi By giving his fellow Italians something to laugh about during tumultuous times, he emerged as his generation’s King of Comedy. One of Italy’s best-loved personalities, Alberto Sordi played a pivotal role in Italian cinema from the end of World War II to the postwar economic boom of the 1950s. During those tumultuous years, he gave his countrymen a hearty laugh when they might have otherwise cried. Former Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi perhaps said it best: “Alberto Sordi interpreted the feelings of Italians, especially in their most difficult and tough moments.” Born in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome in 1920, Sordi grew up in a creative household. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father, a professional musician for the Rome Opera House. A young Sordi joined the children’s choir o...
Post a Comment
Read more