Skip to main content

Cinematic Charmer Walter Chiari

The lightheartedness with which Walter Chiari graced the screen was a defining trait in his life. It led to dramatic professional successes as well as personal travails that seemed better suited for one of his movies.

Born Walter Annicchiarico in Verona to Pugliese parents on March 8, 1924, Chiari spent his teenage years excelling in sports, earning championships in boxing, bocce and swimming. During the early 1940s, he worked as a radio technician and bank clerk. While at the bank, he became known for his imitations of Adolf Hitler, which ultimately got him fired. That proved to be a blessing in disguise, motivating him to give acting a try. He started out in theater while maintaining side jobs as a cartoonist and writer.


At the start of World War II, Chiari enlisted in the Italian navy and contributed to the newspaper L’Orizzonte as a satirical cartoonist. In January 1944, he participated in an amateur stage competition in which he revived his imitation of Hitler. The performance was a hit and unofficially launched his acting career. Three years later, he landed the lead role in Enrico Scotti’s 1947 “Vanità,” and the following year, shared the screen with Alberto Sordi in Eugenio Devoto’s ensemble film, “Che Tempi.”

 

Chiari’s breakout role was as Alberto Annovazzi in Luchino Visconti’s 1951 “Bellissima” (Beautiful). Chiari’s breakout role was Alberto Annovazzi in Luchino Visconti’s 1951 “Bellissima” (Beautiful). The film follows Maddalena Cecconi (Anna Magnani) who answers a Cinecittà casting call for her 7-year-old daughter, Maria. After Maria wanders off, she is spotted by Alberto, a handsome, smooth-talking talent recruiter. He becomes infatuated with Maddalena and convinces her to press on with her daughter’s auditions. Through this process, their lives are turned upside down. In a mad rush to train her daughter for the stage, Maddalena schedules a photo shoot for a professional headshot, enrolls Maria in dance and acting lessons, buys her a costume and pays off Alberto, who promises favors and preferential treatment. In the end, after witnessing first-hand the lack of morals within the film industry, Maddalena learns a valuable life lesson. Chiari calls on his natural finesse and happy-go-lucky quality to charm Maddalena and to give his character an air of indifference.

Chiari appeared in numerous films and stage productions throughout the ’50s, including Mark Robson’s 1957 American romcom “The Little Hut,” which starred Ava Gardner and David Niven. Chiari and Gardner fell in love during the making of the film and began a passionate affair.

 

The ‘60s also proved to be a prolific decade for Chiari. Among his many successes is Dino Risi’s 1964 feel-good film, “Il Giovedi” (The Thursday). The film takes place over the course of one Thursday when Dino Versini (Chiari) spends the day with his 8-year-old son, Robertino. Having separated from the boy’s mother, Dino has not been around for much of Robertino’s life and does not really know him. The boy whose mother is of upper class, proves to be wise and worldly beyond his years, teaching his father about honesty, integrity and responsibility. That one eventful Thursday spent together transformed the lives of both father and son.

In 1969, he married actress Alida Chelli but life was about to take a dark turn. Chiari’s recreational drug use was widely known within his film circles and was overlooked because of his profession. However, that all changed on May 20, 1970 when he was arrested in Rome on charges of cocaine possession and drug trafficking. He spent 70 days in jail, missing the birth of his only child, Simone. 

 

Chiari’s career did not rebound after his incarceration. However, he had success in an American production with Dino De Laurentiis as the executive producer. Based on the true story of mafia informant Joe Valachi, Terence Young’s 1972 “The Vallachi Papers” is a comprehensive account of the Cosa Nostra in America during the 1930s. The film boasts a spectacular international cast that includes Charles Bronson as Joe Valachi, Lino Ventura as Vito Genovese, Amedeo Nazzari as Gaetano Reina and Chiari as a hitman named Gap. The story is told from Valachi’s point-of-view as he recounts how he got involved with organized crime and the power transfers and bloodshed he witnessed along the way. Chiari is outstanding as a charming, confident jokester who becomes Valachi’s friend and confidant. His weakness for beautiful women ultimately does him in after he’s caught having an affair with the don’s wife.

 

Chiari continued to work in theater and film over the next two decades. He passed away on December 20, 1991 of a sudden heart attack. His son, Simone Annicchiarico, is a popular presenter and was cohost of Italy’s Got Talent. 


The aforementioned films are available to stream on Amazon. Click on the titles for direct links.


Written by Jeannine Guilyard for the February 2022 issue of Fra Noi Magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A Conversation with Actor Mirko Frezza of David di Donatello Winner "Il più grande sogno"

The 2017 David di Donatello award show, which took place on Monday, was an exciting event that celebrated many great contemporary talents of Italian cinema.  I was fortunate to have seen most of the nominees.  Among my personal favorites  is Michele Vannucci's  Il più grande sogno  simply because it is based on one of the most inspiring, beautiful stories I've ever  heard, and the person behind that story is as authentic and down-to-earth as they come. The film won the 3 Future Award, which is determined by the public. With Director Michele Vannucci and Actor Mirko Frezza I first saw  Il più grande sogno last September when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival. I didn't make it to Venice, but thanks to a great online platform called Festival Scope , which offers a handful of premieres to be screened on the web, I felt like I was there. The film itself blew me away, and then when I realized it was based on a true story, I knew t...

The Timeless Talent of Stefania Sandrelli

On screen since the tender age of 14, she has captivated audiences for more than 50 years with a compelling combination of strength and vulnerability. She achieved stardom at just 14 years old playing the angelic cousin of a love-struck Marcello Mastroianni in Pietro Germi’s “Divorce Italian Style.” More than half a century later, she is still going strong and remains one of Italy’s most esteemed actors. Stefania Sandrelli was born on June 5, 1946, in Viareggio in the province of Lucca in northern Italy. As a child, she studied music and dance. Then in 1960, she won a beauty pageant and was featured on the cover of Le Ore magazine. Her purity captivated the country and shortly thereafter, movie offers began pouring in. Just one year later, she made her cinema debut in three feature films: Mario Sequi’s Gioventù di notte , Luciano Salce’s The Fascist, and Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style . She instantly became a star and before long was a key figure in Italy’s legend...

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...

Film at Lincoln Center honors Monica Vitti with retrospective featuring restored classics

Photo Courtesy of Archivio Luce-Cinecitt à A retrospective dedicated to the films of Italian cinema icon Monica Vitti will be held from June 6 to June 19 at Lincoln Center in New York City.  The 14-film series, titled "Monica Vitti: La Modernista," is presented by Film at Lincoln Center and Cinecittà and marks the first North American retrospective celebrating Vitti's 35-year career. "We are pleased to partner with Cinecittà to celebrate one of Italy's most revered actresses," said Film at Lincoln Center Vice President of Programming Florence Almozini. "It is a privilege to present decades' worth of films from Monica Vitti's illustrious and prolific career, especially with many restored versions of her legendary works." Monica Vitti, a key figure in film history, began her career in the mid-1950s and quickly became a captivating presence on screen. Her collaboration with director Michelangelo Antonioni produced memorable films in the 196...

The Anthology Film Archives Presents: The Italian Connection: Poliziotteschi and Other Italo-Crime Films of the 1960s and '70's

June 19 – June 29 Influenced both by 1960s political cinema and Italian crime novels, as well as by French noir and American cop movies like "Dirty Harry" and "The French Connection," many Italian filmmakers in the late-60s and early-70s gradually moved away from the spaghetti western genre, trading lone cowboys for ‘bad’ cops and the rough frontier of the American west for the mean streets of modern Italy. Just as they had with their westerns, they reinvented the borrowed genre with their inimitable eye for style and filled their stories with the kidnappings, heists, vigilante justice, and brutal violence that suffused this turbulent moment in post-boom 1970s Italy. The undercurrent of fatalism and cynicism in these uncompromising movies is eerily reminiscent of the state of discontent in Italy today. ‘The Italian Connection’ showcases the diversity and innovation found in the genre, from the gangster noir of Fernando Di Leo’s "Caliber 9" ...