Walter Chiari


Walter Annicchiarico, known as Walter Chiari, was an Italian stage and screen actor, mostly in comedy roles.

Biography

Walter Annicchiarico was born in Verona, Italy on 8 March 1924 to a family originally from Apulia. During World War II, he joined the Decima Flottiglia MAS and was then drafted into the Wehrmacht. He was sent to a German anti-aircraft squad engaged in Northern France in Normandy where he was slightly wounded in the fighting during D-Day. Captured, he was taken to the American prisoner camp of Coltano. Chiari appeared in films such as The Little Hut, Bonjour Tristesse, Chimes at Midnight and The Valachi Papers. He appeared opposite Anna Magnani in Luchino Visconti's film Bellissima.
In 1951, Luchino Visconti offered him the role of the young lover, in Bellissima; he continued in the theater, in the musical comedy with Delia Scala in 1956 with Buonanotte Bettina and in 1958 with Il gufo e la gattina, and in 1960 with Sandra Mondaini, Ave Ninchi and Alberto Bonucci with Un mandarino per Teo, all by Garinei and Giovannini, but also in the prose theater, acting in 1961 in The Gay Life, in 1965 with Gianrico Tedeschi in the comedy Luv by Murray Schisgal and, in 1966, with Renato Rascel in La strana coppia by Neil Simon.
File:Era lei che lo voleva!.png|thumbnail|left|Chiari and Lucia Bosè in Era lei che lo voleva
During the making of The Little Hut, he met Ava Gardner, and he started a relationship with the American superstar.
He starred in They're a Weird Mob, the last of the Powell and Pressburger films, based on a popular Australian novel by John O'Grady. His then girlfriend, Italian singer and actress Alida Chelli, also appeared in the film; the two married in 1969, and had one son, television presenter Simone Annicchiarico, before their 1972 divorce. He also appeared in the Australian film Squeeze a Flower in 1970.
In 1970, he was arrested and jailed in Rome on suspicion of cocaine possession and trafficking. After his release and partial acquittal, his career never recovered. The Italian state television was off-limits for him, and all he could aspire to were bit parts in low-key comedies and local television appearances, and on theatre.
Chiari died of a sudden heart attack in Milan, at home, on 21 December 1991. His gravestone bears the line he once mentioned to director Dino Risi as his favourite choice for an epitaph: "Don't worry, I'm merely catching up with sleep". His grave is in the Civico Mausoleo Palanti in the Cimitero Monumentale di Milano.

Filmography

  • Vanity
  • Toto Tours Italy as Bruno
  • Che tempi! as Eugenio Devoto
  • The Elusive Twelve as Carletto Esposito / Brandoletti
  • The Cadets of Gascony as Walter Mantoni
  • That Ghost of My Husband as Gianni Alberti
  • Abbiamo vinto! as Giorgio Silvestri
  • Arrivano i nostri as Walter Introcci, l'autista
  • It's Love That's Ruining Me as Walter Palaccioni
  • O.K. Nerone as Fiorello Capone
  • The Steamship Owner as himself
  • Era lui... sì! sì! as Walter Milani
  • Bellissima as Alberto Annovazzi
  • Sardinian Vendetta as Gualtiero Porchiddu
  • The Dream of Zorro as Don Raimundo Esteban
  • Five Paupers in an Automobile as Paolo
  • L'ora della verità as Un client du cabaret
  • We Two Alone as Walter
  • Poppy as Gualtiero / Walter
  • Viva il cinema!
  • It Was She Who Wanted It! as Walter Martini
  • Cinema d'altri tempi as Marcello Serventi
  • Viva la rivista!
  • Siamo tutti Milanesi
  • What Scoundrels Men Are! as Bruno
  • A Day in Court as Don Michele
  • Of Life and Love as Il commissario
  • Gran varietà
  • Avanzi di galera as Giuseppe Rasi
  • It Happened at the Police Station as Luigi Giovetti
  • Vacanze d'amore as Momo
  • Nanà as Fontan
  • Je suis un sentimental as Dédé la Couleuvre
  • Accadde al penitenziario as Walter Polacchi
  • Io piaccio as Professor Roberto Maldi
  • Red and Black
  • Mio zio Giacinto as Caballero elegante
  • Donatella as Guido
  • Wives and Obscurities as Frank Cattabriga, suo figlio
  • The Little Hut as Mario
  • Bonjour tristesse, directed by Otto Preminger as Pablo
  • Festa di maggio as Gilbert
  • Amore a priva vista as Luigi
  • I zitelloni as Marcello
  • La ragazza di piazza San Pietro as Roberto Gradi
  • The Friend of the Jaguar as Augusto
  • Parque de Madrid as Alberto
  • Lui, lei and il nonno as Eugenio
  • Le sorprese dell'amore as Ferdinando Aloisi
  • I baccanali di Tiberio as Cassio, the Cicerone
  • Vacanze in Argentina as Il barista
  • Un mandarino per Teo as Teo Tosci
  • Femmine di lusso as Walter
  • Un dollaro di fifa as Mike
  • Ferragosto in bikini as 'Harold' Pasquale Esposito
  • Caccia al marito as Himself
  • La moglie di mio marito as Giulio
  • Bellezze sulla spiaggia as Walter Crocci
  • Walter and i suoi cugini as Walter Colasuonno / Rosario Colasuonno / Nicola Colasuonno
  • Mariti a congresso
  • La ragazza sotto il lenzuolo as Bruno
  • I magnifici tre as Pablo
  • Copacabana Palace as Ugo
  • I motorizzati as Valentino
  • Terrible Sheriff as Bull Bullivan
  • Gli Italiani and le donne as Renato Nelli
  • The Shortest Day as L'avvocato difensore
  • The Attic as Gabriele
  • The Reunion as Cesarino
  • Obiettivo ragazze as Antonio Zanelli
  • Le motorizzate as Walter
  • The Swindlers as Dr. Corti
  • Gli onorevoli as Salvatore Dagnino
  • Follie d'estate as uomo della 'Vanoni'
  • La donna degli altri è sempre più bella as Walter, il bagnino
  • Heroes of the West as Mike
  • The Thursday as Dino Versini
  • Let's Talk About Women as Philanderer
  • I maniaci as The Sicilian hitchhiker / Car driver / Pasquale Taddei / Client of Night-clubs
  • I gemelli del Texas as Ezechiel / Joe
  • Le tardone as Bortolo Masteghin
  • Här kommer bärsärkarna as Pollo
  • The Sucker
  • Thrilling as Bertazzi
  • Falstaff as Mr. Silence
  • Made in Italy as Enrico
  • Me, Me, Me... and the Others as Sandro
  • Ischia operazione amore as Enrico Laterra - aka Trema la terra
  • They're a Weird Mob as Nino Culotta
  • Love Italian Style as Il venditore di uova / Antonio / Flavio / 007 / Il viaggiatore / Roberto Matrasso
  • The Most Beautiful Couple in the World as Walter
  • Caprice Italian Style as Paolo
  • Monte Carlo or Bust! as Angelo
  • Squeeze a Flower as Brother George
  • The Valachi Papers as Gap
  • Don't Hurt Me, My Love as Paolo De Simone
  • Zig Zag as Walter, le clochard
  • Son tornate a fiorire le rose as Paolo De Simone
  • La banca di Monate as Ragionier Adelmo Pigorini
  • Per amore di Cesarina as Davide Camporesi
  • Passi furtivi in una notte boia as Pompeo Piretti
  • Come ti rapisco il pupo as Sterzi - Jimmy's father
  • La bidonata as Renato
  • Ride bene... chi ride ultimo as Loris Martegani
  • Tanto va la gatta al lardo... as Teodoro Casadei
  • Ridendo and scherzando as Giorgio
  • Belli and brutti ridono tutti as Don Enzo
  • Tre sotto il lenzuolo as Giorgio Mori
  • Romance as Giulio
  • Kafka la colonia penale
  • Traces of an Amorous Life as Giorgio