Amedeo Nazzari

Amedeo Nazzari was an Italian actor. Nazzari was one of the leading figures of Italian classic cinema, often considered a local variant of the AustralianAmerican star Errol Flynn. Although he emerged as a star during the Fascist era, Nazzaris popularity continued well into the postwar years.

Amedeo Nazzari was born as Salvatore Amedeo Buffa in Cagliari, Sardinia in 1907 and he later adopted as his professional name the name of his maternal grandfather, Amedeo Nazzari, a person who had been the President of the Court of Appeal of Vicenza in Venetia and later took the same position in Cagliari. Although Salvatore Amedeo eventually moved to Rome, he always retained a slight trace of his native Sardinian accent. While Nazzari was keen on gaining film contracts much of his early experience was in the theatre. He entered a contest organised by Twentieth Century Fox to find an Italian actor to fill the boots of the recently deceased screen star Rudolph Valentino, but lost out to Alberto Rabagliati. He was rejected after screen tests by Italian professionals, who found him too tall, thin and thought he had a too gloomy expression.

Source: Wikipedia