Luciano Albertini
Luciano Albertini , as Francesco Vespignani (born November 30, 1882 in Lugo di Romagna , † January 6, 1945 in Budrio ) was an Italian actor , producer and silent film star of the Italian and German sensational and historical film genres.
Life
Born in Francesco Vespignani, he was a sports enthusiast from an early age. In Forlì near his native Lugo, he joined the “Virtus” gymnastics club. After graduating from technical college, he completed his naval service in the Italian Navy as a naval gymnastics instructor in Turin and as a cabin boy. He completed his physical education at the École Pechin in Lyon , France . Eventually Vespignani joined the Circus Busch . After marrying the artist Domenica Meirone in 1905 in Marseille, Vespignani put on his own trapeze act with eight people, which toured as "Les Albertini". His specialty became the so-called death spiral. When war broke out in 1914, he returned to his native Italy and enlisted in the military (navy).
In Turin the well-trained, muscular artist and sportsman was hired as an actor by the film production company "Società Anonima Ambrosio" in the year Italy entered the war (1915) due to his stately physical appearance. Vespignani was given the stage name Luciano Albertini and appeared in various insignificant historical spectacles until the end of the First World War, in which only his physical attributes were in the foreground. With the circus and artist material La spirale della morte , in which Albertini was able to demonstrate his circus skills, he achieved his breakthrough with the public in 1916. His greatest success from 1917 was the portrayal of the athletic biblical hero Samson (in the original: Sansone ), with whom Albertini went into film series until 1920. Often his second wife Linda Albertini now stood by his side in the role of the "sansonette".
In the meantime Albertini had founded his own production company in Turin in 1918, the "Albertini Film". One of his last Italian film roles was Baron Frankenstein, who creates a monster, in 1920. The following year the actor went to Berlin, where he re-founded "Albertini-Film GmbH" and played hero roles in German sensational films. Despite being very popular at times, he was unable to prevail over the much more imaginative, sporty, daring and eloquent German colleague Harry Piel in the long run .
In Berlin, where he is said to have lived in a villa in Siemensstadt , he and Marlene Dietrich are said to have been major attractions in the Sportpalast . He was also said to have a love affair with his multiple film partner Anna Gorilowa (“ Mister Radio ”, “Human Lives in Danger!”).
A film excursion to Hollywood , where he appeared at the beginning of 1924 in the 15-part serial The Iron Man , which was released in Germany in April 1925 as a three-part series under the title Paris-London-New York (subtitle: “The man made of iron”), and another to the Soviet Union , where he appeared in the second half of 1928 in Alexander Dowschenko's political propaganda film "Arsenal", which spoke out against the independence of Ukraine, had little resonance.
The advent of talkies and increasing alcoholism worsened Albertini’s economic and health situation dramatically in the course of the 1930s. After only one sound film in Germany, Luciano Albertini's film career came to an end. After starting an argument with a doorman in Berlin, Albertini was admitted to a mental hospital for the first time. Eventually he returned to Italy at the end of the decade, where he settled in Bologna . Because of increasing dementia he was admitted to the Villa Flora there. Albertini died in the final phase of the Second World War in the psychiatric clinic San Gaetano in Budrio, less than 37 kilometers from his place of birth, mentally deranged.
Filmography (selection)
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literature
- Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 1: A - C. Erik Aaes - Jack Carson. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 52.
Web links
- Luciano Albertini at the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Luciano Albertini at European Film Star Postcards (2017)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Albertini, Luciano . In: Kurt Mühsam, Egon Jacobsohn: Lexikon des Films . Lichtbildbühne publishing house, Berlin 1926, p. 6.
- ↑ a b c Luciano Albertini. European Film Star Postcards, October 19, 2010 ( Memento from November 27, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Albertini, Luciano |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Vespignani, Francesco (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Italian actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 30, 1882 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lugo di Romagna , Italy |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 6, 1945 |
| Place of death | Budrio , Italy |