Eduardo Ciannelli

Eduardo Ciannelli
Eduardo Ciannelli
	Cianelli in 1954
Born	30 August 1888; Ischia, Italy
Died	8 October 1969 (aged 81); Rome, Italy
Resting place	Cimitero Flaminio, Provincia di Roma, Lazio, Italy
Other names	Edward Ciannelli
Occupation(s)	Singer, actor
Years active	1917–1969
Spouse	Alma Wolfe (m. 1918; died 1968)
Children	2

Eduardo Ciannelli (30 August 1888 – 8 October 1969) was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli.

Early life

Ciannelli was born in Lacco Ameno,^[1] on the island of Ischia, where his father, a doctor, owned a health spa. He studied surgery at the University of Naples, and worked briefly as a doctor, but his love of grand opera and the dramatic stage won out and he became a successful baritone, singing at La Scala and touring Europe.

He went to the United States from the Port of Naples as a first cabin saloon passenger on board the steamship San Guglielmo, which arrived at the Port of New York on 19 March 1914. In New York, he appeared on Broadway in Oscar Hammerstein II's first musical Always You and later in Rose-Marie. He appeared in Theatre Guild productions in the late 1920s, co-starring with the Lunts (Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne), and Katharine Cornell. During that period, he appeared in Uncle Vanya, The Inspector General, and The Front Page. In 1935, he played Trock Estrella in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset on Broadway and repeated his performance in the film version (1936). He played Cauchon in Shaw's Saint Joan in 1936, after which he left Broadway permanently, except for one notable occasion when he returned to play in Dore Schary's play The Devil's Advocate in 1961 and receive a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor.

Career on screen

His Hollywood career consists of close to 150 film and television appearances. Notable among these are Marked Woman (1937) with Bette Davis, Strange Cargo (1940) with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, and perhaps his most famous role, as the fanatical Thuggee guru in Gunga Din (1939) with Cary Grant. In the 1940 serial Mysterious Doctor Satan, he played the eponymous villain, an evil scientist with an army of robots.

In the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he divided his time among Italian films such as The City Stands Trial, directed by Luigi Zampa,^[2] Attila (1954) with Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren, Helen of Troy (1956), appearances in American TV shows such as Climax Mystery Theater, The Time Tunnel, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Johnny Staccato, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor, Dr. Kildare and a few films including Houseboat (1958), The Visit (1964), The Chase (1966) with Marlon Brando, and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969), with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani.

Personal life and death

Ciannelli was married to Alma Wolfe from 1918 until her death (1968). They had two sons, Eduardo and Lewis E. Ciannelli, who is also an actor.^{[citation needed]}

On 8 October 1969, Ciannelli died in Rome,^[3] and was interred in the Cimitero Flaminio.^{[citation needed]}

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Director	Notes
1917	The Food Gamblers	The Italian	Albert Parker
1931	Così è la vita
1933	Reunion in Vienna	Pofferoff aka Poffy	Sidney Franklin
1935	The Scoundrel	Maurice Stern	Charles MacArthur
1936	Winterset	Trock Estrella
1937	Criminal Lawyer	Larkin	Jimmy Anderson (assistant)
1937	Marked Woman	Johnny Vanning	Michael Curtiz
1937	The League of Frightened Men	Paul Chapin	Alfred E. Green
1937	The Girl from Scotland Yard	Franz Jorg	Robert G. Vignola
1937	Super-Sleuth	Professor Herman	Ben Stoloff
1937	On Such a Night	Ice Richmond	Ewald André Dupont
1937	Hitting a New High	Andreas Mazzini	Raoul Walsh
1938	Law of the Underworld	Rocky	Lew Landers
1938	Blind Alibi	Mitch	Lew Landers
1939	Risky Business	Philip Decarno	Arthur Lubin
1939	Gunga Din	Guru	George Stevens
1939	Society Lawyer	Jim Crelliman	Edwin L. Marin
1939	Bulldog Drummond's Bride	Henri Armides	James P. Hogan
1939	The Angels Wash Their Faces	Martino	Ray Enright
1940	Strange Cargo	Telez	Frank Borzage
1940	Outside the Three-Mile Limit	Dave Reeves	Lewis D. Collins
1940	Zanzibar	Koski	Harold Schuster
1940	Forgotten Girls	Gorno	Phil Rosen
1940	Foreign Correspondent	Mr. Krug	Alfred Hitchcock
1940	The Mummy's Hand	The High Priest	Christy Cabanne
1940	Mysterious Doctor Satan	Doctor Satan
1940	Kitty Foyle	Giono	Sam Wood
1941	Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery	Count Brett	James P. Hogan
1941	Sky Raiders	Felix Lynx	Ray Taylor
1941	They Met in Bombay	Giovanni Riccio, Hotel Manager	Clarence Brown
1941	I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island	Dr. Victor Martel	Lew Landers
1941	Paris Calling	Mouche	Edwin L. Marin
1942	Dr. Broadway	Vic Telli	Anthony Mann
1942	Cairo	Ahmed Ben Hassan	W. S. Van Dyke
1942	You Can't Escape Forever	Boss Greer	Jo Graham
1943	For Whom the Bell Tolls	Johnny Salvini	Sam Wood	Uncredited
1943	They Got Me Covered	Baldanacco	David Butler
1943	The Constant Nymph	Roberto	Edmund Goulding
1943	Adventures of the Flying Cadets	Kurt von Helger, alias Corby	Ray Taylor
1944	Passage to Marseille	Chief Engineer	Michael Curtiz
1944	The Mask of Dimitrios	Marukakis	Jean Negulesco
1944	The Conspirators	Police Colonel Almeida	Jean Negulesco
1944	Storm Over Lisbon	Blanco	George Sherman
1945	Dillinger	Marco Minelli	Max Nosseck
1945	A Bell for Adano	Maj. Nasta	Henry King
1945	Incendiary Blonde	Nick the Greek	George Marshall
1945	Crime Doctor's Warning	Nick Petroni	William Castle	Uncredited
1946	Gilda	Cartel Member	Charles Vidor	Uncredited
1946	Perilous Holiday	Señor Aguirre	Edward H. Griffith
1946	The Wife of Monte Cristo	Jacques Antoine	Edgar G. Ulmer
1946	Heartbeat	Baron Ferdinand Dvorak	Sam Wood
1946	Joe Palooka, Champ	Florini	Reginald Le Borg
1947	California	Padre	John Farrow
1947	Seven Keys to Baldpate	Cargan	Lew Landers
1947	The Lost Moment	Father Rinaldo	Martin Gabel
1947	The Crime Doctor's Gamble	Maurice Duval	William Castle
1947	Rose of Santa Rosa	Don José de Garfias	Ray Nazarro
1948	I Love Trouble	John Vega Caprillo	S. Sylvan Simon
1948	On Our Merry Way	Maxim	King Vidor
1948	To the Victor	Firago	Delmer Daves
1948	The Creeper	Dr. Van Glock	Jean Yarbrough
1949	Prince of Foxes	Art Dealer	Henry King	Uncredited
1950	Volcano	Giulio	William Dieterle
1950	Fugitive Lady	Ralph Clementi
1950	Pact with the Devil	Giacomo Mola	Luigi Chiarini
1950	The Fighting Men	Barone Occhipinti	Roberto Savarese
1950	Rapture	Arnaldo	Goffredo Alessandrini
1951	The People Against O'Hara	Sol 'Knuckles' Lanzetta	John Sturges
1951	It's Love That's Ruining Me	Capo delle spie	Mario Soldati
1952	Lieutenant Giorgio	Barone di Polia	Raffaello Matarazzo
1952	The City Stands Trial	Alfonso Navona	Luigi Zampa
1952	Prisoners of Darkness	Marchese Rionero	Enrico Bomba
1953	Voice of Silence		G. W. Pabst
1953	Sul ponte dei sospiri	Inquisitore
1953	I Vinti	Claudio's father	Michelangelo Antonioni
1953	The Ship of Condemned Women	Michele	Raffaello Matarazzo
1954	The Stranger's Hand	Dr. Vivaldi	Mario Soldati
1954	Mambo	Il padre di Giovanna	Robert Rossen
1954	Uomini ombra	Ammiraglio Zora
1954	Attila	Onegesius, counsellor to Attila	Pietro Francisci
1954	Proibito	Vescovo	Mario Monicelli
1954	La tua donna	Public Prosecutor	Giovanni Paolucci
1955	New Moon	don Giuseppe	Luigi Capuano
1956	Helen of Troy	Andros	Robert Wise
1956	I Love Lucy	Mr. Martinelli
1957	Il ricatto di un padre	Alessandro Arlandi
1957	Monster from Green Hell	Mahri	Kenneth G. Crane
1958	Tumulto de Paixões
1958	Houseboat	Arturo Zaccardi	Melville Shavelson
1959	Wagon Train	Clyrio Soriano
1962	The Untouchables	Gregory Pindar / Joe Genna
1962 - 1965	Insight	Friedrich Nietzsche / Prisoner
1964	The Visit	Innkeeper	Bernhard Wicki
1964	Grand Canyon Massacre	Eric Dancer	Stanley Corbett
1966	The Chase	Party Guest	Arthur Penn	Uncredited
1966	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Arturo 'Fingers' Stilletto / Carlo Farenti
1967	The Time Tunnel	Count Enrico Galba
1967	The Spy in the Green Hat	Arturo 'Fingers' Stilletto	Joseph Sargent
1968	The Brotherhood	Don Peppino	Martin Ritt
1969	Mackenna's Gold	Prairie Dog	J. Lee Thompson
1969	Stiletto	Don Andrea	Bernard L. Kowalski
1969	The Secret of Santa Vittoria	Luigi	Stanley Kramer
1969	Boot Hill	Judge Boone	Giuseppe Colizzi
1970	The Syndicate: A Death in the Family	Parker	Piero Zuffi	(final film role)

Selected Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes

1958	Have Gun - Will Travel	Renato Donatello	Season 1 Episode 23: "Bitter Wine"
1959	Have Gun - Will Travel	The Father	Season 2 Episode 39: "Gold and Brimstone"
1962	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Priest	Season 7 Episode 19: "Strange Miracle"
1962	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Mr. Marino	Season 7 Episode 20: "The Test"