Osvaldo Valenti
Born(1906-02-17)17 February 1906
Istanbul, Turkey
Died30 April 1945(1945-04-30) (aged 39)
Milan, Italy
Cause of deathExecution by firing squad
OccupationActor
Years active1928–1945
Military career
AllegianceItalian Social Republic
Service/branchDecima Flottiglia MAS
Years of service1944–1945
RankLieutenant

Osvaldo Valenti (17 February 1906 – 30 April 1945) was an Italian film actor.[1] Valenti starred in several successful Italian movies of the late 1930s and early 1940s, such as the famous The Iron Crown and The Jester's Supper. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1928 and 1945. He and his lover, Luisa Ferida, were executed by partisans in Milan, Italy, due to their links with Fascism. Their story was portrayed in the 2008 film Wild Blood.

Biography

Osvaldo Valenti was born in Istanbul, Turkey to a Sicilian carpet trader and a wealthy Lebanese woman of Greek descent.

In 1915 the family left Turkey for Italy, settling first in Bergamo and then in Milan. He attended high schools in St. Gallen, Switzerland and in Würzburg, Bavaria and subsequently enrolled in the law faculty of the Catholic University of Milan.[2]

Two years later, he left the university and went to live first in Paris then in Berlin, where made his acting debut with a supporting role in the German silent drama film Hungarian Rhapsody, directed by Hanns Schwarz (1928).

At the beginning of the 1930s, he returned to Italy and worked with film directors Mario Bonnard (Five to Nil, 1932) and Amleto Palermi (La fortuna di Zanze, 1933 and Creatures of the Night, 1934).

In 1935, Valenti met the famous film director Alessandro Blasetti, who gave him a role in the comedy film The Countess of Parma (1937). Valenti played the role of Guy de la Motte in Blasetti's Ettore Fieramosca (1938) gaining appreciation from both critics and the public alike. The success of the movie allowed him to star in many successful films and to be sought after by many leading directors. In 1939, while working on An Adventure of Salvator Rosa (1940), directed by Alessandro Blasetti, he met the actress Luisa Ferida. The pair became romantically involved and had a son, Kim, who died 4 days after his birth.[2]

The Second World War

After the fall of the Fascist regime in 1943, Valenti joined the Republic of Salò, and moved to Venice together with his mistress Luisa Ferida, renouncing a contract for two films to be shot in Spain in early 1944.

Cinematographic activity restarted in Venice at the Cinevillaggio, created by the Minister of Popular Culture of the Italian Social Republic Fernando Mezzasoma. In 1944, Valenti shot what would be his last movie, Piero Ballerini's Fatto di cronaca.

Valenti and Ferida then moved to Bologna. In April 1944, Osvaldo joined, with the rank of lieutenant, the Decima Flottiglia MAS, an elite commando unit led by Junio Valerio Borghese.[2] The couple then moved to Milan. During the liberation of the city on April 25, 1945, they were arrested by members of the Italian Resistance and shot five days later without trial. When they were executed, Ferida was expecting another child. They are buried in the Cimitero Maggiore di Milano.

Partial filmography

References

  1. ↑ "Osvaldo Valenti". MyMovies. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Puppa 2020.

Bibliography

  • Brunetta, Gian Piero (1993) [1979]. Storia del cinema italiano. Vol. II (Il cinema del regime 1929-1945). Rome: Editori Riuniti.
  • Reggiani, Odoardo (2001). Luisa Ferida, Osvaldo Valenti. Ascesa e caduta di due stelle del cinema. Milan: Spirali.
  • Gundle, Stephen (2013). Mussolini's Dream Factory: Film Stardom in Fascist Italy. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-78-238244-7.
  • Puppa, Paolo (2020). "VALENTI, Osvaldo". Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Volume 97: Trivulzio–Valeri (in Italian). Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana. ISBN 978-8-81200032-6.
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