Eros Buttaglieri was born in Bagnolo di Po, Rovigo, Italy in 1925.
He was a painter who emigrated to Rome to perform his military service and
decided to stay there, starting to work first on television, then in the cinema
next to such important figures as Alberto Sordi, Clara Calamai, Alida Valli,
Massimo Serrato, Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini and Franco Zeffirelli. Obviously
he was never a huge star, but made enough
films to make a living and be happy, maybe dreaming of something more, as in
1981 when he played a lawyer of the Marquis Onofrio Del Grillo in "
Il marchese del grillo" by Mario Monicelli,
along with Alberto Sordi. As a boy he lived in Ficarolo and, once, said that
once at the local cinema he stole a poster for the film "Anna
Karenina" by Clarence Brown, 1935, with Greta Garbo, Fredric March and
Basil Rathbone. That poster Eros attached to the wall near his bed and, for
years, every night, before falling asleep he stopped to look at it daydreaming.
As fate would have Eros, on two occasions, in 1970 and in 1995, found himself
starring in two television drama series loosely based on the popular novel by
Lev Tolstoy directed, first by Sandro Bolchi in a production for RAI and then
by Fabrizio Costa for Mediaset . In the first "Anna Karenina", Eros
starred alongside Lea Massari, Giancarlo Sbragia, Pine Coalizzi, Marina Dolfin,
Valeria Ciangottini and Sergio Fantoni; while five years later he worked with
Carol Alt, Philippe Caroti, Joachim Fhuchsberger and Adriana Asti. Somehow, the
dream came true. In an interview in 2000 at one of his painting exhibitions, he
said: "I do not reckon too much for politics, not even the humanity that
sometimes offended me. I seldom paint men and only from behind, I do not care
to see their faces." Eros has not lead an easy life, but, beyond that of
coincidences and games of fate it has been rewarding. It was at that
"Roman World" made of small jobs in large productions, auditions,
parties, lounges, knowledge and events, that Eros met, one evening, the "master"
Ghiglia who detonated his passion for painting, and his destiny changed again.
He became a full time French impressionist painter. I’ve been told a memorial
poem can be found on line which un fortunately I could not locate so it appears
Eros has passed away.
BUTTAGLIERI,
Eros [1925, Bagnolo di Po, Rovigo,
Italy - deceased] – painter, film actor.
The Ballad of Ben and Charlie – 1971 (casino patron)
Carambola – 1974 (townsman)
Tom—When I was a kid, around 1968-71, I saw on TV what I later recognized was a spaghetti western. Lately I've been intent on finding it but have had no luck and wondered if you could point me in the right direction. In this movie the classic desert landscape loomed large—a lot of bluffs and canyons—as did the haunting harmonica-based soundtrack. The hero was young, somber and clean-shaven, his dialogue not the customary western sort, a tad heavier: "I was born in violence." In my memory his friend and then nemesis was Gilbert Roland, who died a spectacular death at the end when his bolas twined around his legs and he dropped into a canyon. I have checked "Between God, The Devil And A Winchester" and "The Ruthless Four" to no avail—Gilbert dies no such death in these. It's entirely possible that my memory is playing one of its increasingly frequent tricks on me—maybe it wasn't even GR I saw, though I felt pretty sure. But can you suggest which movie this might be? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteChris Casey says it THE LAST OF THE FAST GUNS (1958) with Jock Mahoney and Gilbert Roland that you are thinking of.
ReplyDeleteThanks to both of you. I will be sure to check it out.
ReplyDelete