Enrico Maria Salerno

Enrico Maria Salerno
Salerno in Long Night in 1943 (1960)
Born	(1926-09-18)18 September 1926 Milan, Italy
Died	28 February 1994(1994-02-28) (aged 67) Rome, Italy
Occupation(s)	Actor, voice actor, director, television presenter
Years active	1946–1994
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Children	5, including Chiara Salerno
Relatives	Vittorio Salerno (brother)

Enrico Maria Salerno (18 September 1926 – 28 February 1994) was an Italian actor, voice actor and film director.^[1] He was also the voice of Clint Eastwood in the Italian version of Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy films, and the voice of Christ in The Gospel According to St. Matthew directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Biography

Enrico Maria Salerno was born in Milan on 18 September 1926, son of Antonino Salerno, an Italian lawyer originally from Erice (in province of Trapani, Sicily) and Milka Storff, a Yugoslav violinist. At only 17, he joined the Italian Social Republic as an officer of the Republican National Guard at the AA.UU. "Varese". With the fall of the Italian Social Republic is imprisoned in the concentration camp of Coltano, near Pisa.

Actually the real name of the actor was Enrico. It was during the first theatrical experiences that he decided to place the name of Mary alongside his name, probably as an affectionate tribute to his mother Milka (corresponding to the Italian Maria).^[2] Among the most representative figures of the Italian show in the second half of the twentieth century, in his acting career he plays 102 theatrical performances, he shoots 92 films as performer, 3 as director, countless tv-movies, hundreds of hours of TV broadcasts, hundreds of hours of Radio.

After a small collaboration with Piccolo Teatro di Milano, from 1954 to 1955 (and more years) he worked in Teatro Stabile in Genoa, with Fyodor Dostoevsky, Pirandello, William Shakespeare, Vittorio Alfieri and Giraudoux successful stage adaptations.

In 1960, with Ivo Garrani and Giancarlo Sbragia, he founded the stage company "Nuova Compagnia degli Associati". In 1963 he starred in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by Edward Albee, co-starring Sarah Ferrati, stage direction by Franco Zeffirelli. In 1966 he was the star of Byron's Manfred, in the role of an actor reciting the musical score by Schumann, conducted by Claudio Abbado, directed by Mauro Bolognini.

In 1970 he made his direction film debut with the love drama box office and award-winning film Anonimo Veneziano. He was directed by many great film directors, as Mario Monicelli, Roberto Rossellini, Valerio Zurlini, Florestano Vancini, Dino Risi, Dario Argento, Luigi Comencini, Luigi Magni, Antonio Pietrangeli.

In 1991 he acted as the father of Six Characters in Search of an Author by Pirandello, directed by Franco Zeffirelli.

Personal life

Married to Fioretta Pierella, he had four children: Giovanbattista, Edoardo, Pietruccio and Nicola. He then married in Laura Andreini. He was a former boyfriend of actress and Silvio Berlusconi’s soon-to-be wife Veronica Lario.

He had three brothers: Giovanbattista (artist & art professor), Fernando (music composer) and Vittorio (film director). He had a long relationship with Valeria Valeri, with whom he had a daughter, Chiara Salerno, also a dubbing actress.

Death

Salerno died in Rome of lung cancer on 28 February 1994 at the age of 67. After his death, an award in support of contemporary drama was dedicated to his memory.

Filmography as film director

• The Anonymous Venetian (Anonimo veneziano) (1970)
• Cari genitori (1973)
• Eutanasia di un amore (1978)
• Disperatamente Giulia TV miniseries (1989)
• Il barone TV miniseries (1995)

Selective filmography as actor

Notes

External links

• Enrico Maria Salerno at IMDb
• Enrico Maria Salerno at AllMovie

This page was last edited on 1 February 2023, at 22:17