Osvaldo Valenti


Osvaldo Valenti was an Italian film actor. 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 Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, to a Sicilian carpet trader and a wealthy Lebanese woman.
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.
Two years later, he left the university and went to live first in Paris and then in Berlin, where he made his acting debut with a supporting role in the German silent drama film Hungarian Rhapsody, directed by Hanns Schwarz.
At the beginning of the 1930s, he returned to Italy and worked with film directors Mario Bonnard and Amleto Palermi.
In 1935, Valenti met the famous film director Alessandro Blasetti, who gave him a role in the comedy film The Countess of Parma. Valenti played the role of Guy de la Motte in Blasetti's Ettore Fieramosca 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, 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.

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 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. The couple then moved to Milan. During the liberation of the city on 25 April 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

Hungarian Rhapsody – Der FähnrichFive to Nil – BarenghiLa signorina dell'autobus – GiacomoLa fortuna di zanze Ragazzo – Malvivente di borgataCreatures of the Night The Dance of Time The Countess of Parma – Duca di FaddaQueen of the Scala Mia moglie si diverte – Tommy BoldenEttore Fieramosca – Guy de la MotteLa signora di Montecarlo A Thousand Lire a Month – Gabriele CorodiThe Widow – Padova, il pittoreThe Fornaretto of Venice – Alvise DuodoFrenzy – SigfridoHurricane in the Tropics – Il tenente RegueroAn Adventure of Salvator Rosa – Lamberto d'ArcoUna lampada alla finestra – DickFanfulla da Lodi – Franco di GenovaLove Trap – Il conte di BrazeuilAntonio Meucci – Giuseppe Garibaldi giovaneBeyond Love – Livio SabelliAbandonment – LeonardBoccaccio – BertoLa leggenda azzurra – L'ufficiale stranieroLa zia smemorata – Paolo RavelliCaptain Fracasse – Il duca Ruggero di VallombrosaI pirati del golfo Idyll in Budapest – SandorGiuliano de' Medici – Franceschino de' PazziThe King of England Will Not Pay – Il secondo AntellesiThe Iron Crown – EribertoBeatrice Cenci – Giacomo CenciDon Buonaparte – MasoThe Mask of Cesare Borgia – Cesare BorgiaThe Secret Lover – ValentiniFirst Love – Giovannino CafieroIl vetturale del San Gottardo – MortensLa sonnambula – Il conte Osvaldo MerolaSancta Maria – JackThe Jester's Supper – Giannetto MalespiniThe Two Orphans – PietroSleeping Beauty – Don Vincenzo CaramandolaOrizzonte di sangue – AliosciaFedora – Vladimiro YariskineLuisa Sanfelice – NelsonPiazza San Sepolcro – Napoleone da giovaneKnights of the Desert – Il capitano SerraGli ultimi filibustieri – Ramon de la SierraLa valle del diavolo – Il barone RiderHarlem – Chris ShermanEnrico IV – Il conte Enrico Di Nolli / Enrico IVThe Innkeeper – Cavaliere di Ripafratta
  • ''Fatto di cronaca''