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Enzo Fiermonte

{{Short description|Italian film actor, director and boxer (1908–1993)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Enzo Fiermonte

| image = Beatrice Cenci (film 1941) Enzo Fiermonte (cropped).png

| alt =

| caption = Fiermonte in Beatrice Cenci (1941)

| birth_name = Vincenzo Fiermonte

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1908|07|17|df=y}}

| birth_place = Casamassima, Apulia, Italy

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1993|03|22|1908|07|17|df=y}}

| death_place = Mentana, Lazio, Italy

| nationality = Italian

| death_cause =

| parents = Donato and Lucrezia Fiermonte

| spouse = Tosca Manetti
(div. 1933)
{{marriage|Madeleine Astor
|1933|1938|end=divorced}}

| children = John Fiermonte

| other_names = William Bird

| known_for =

| occupation = Actor, Boxer

| years_active = 1941–1979

}}

Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer.

Early life

Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to Donato and Lucrezia Fiermonte.{{Cite book|title = L'avventurosa vita di Enzo Fiermonte, pugile attore|last = Memola|first = Giovanni|publisher = Edizioni dal Sud|year = 2016|isbn = 978-88-7553-216-1|location = Bari}}

Career

From 1925 to 1934, he was a professional boxer, with a lifetime record of 47 wins (11 by knockout), 17 losses (10 by knockout), and 2 draws. On June 22, 1943, he announced his permanent retirement from boxing.{{cite news|title=FIERMONTE OUT 'FOREVER.' {{!}} Announces Permanent Retirement From Boxing Activities.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9806E4D81430E033A25750C2A9609C946594D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=17 January 2017|work=The New York Times|date=23 June 1934}}

In 1937, he entered his Maserati in the Vanderbilt Cup auto race in Westbury, New York, but was not allowed to participate because he had no formal auto racing experience.{{Cite web |title=Enzo Fiermonte |url=http://www.champcarstats.com/drivers/FiermonteEnzo.htm |access-date=2024-03-27 |website=www.champcarstats.com}}

=Acting career=

File:Lo sparvero del Nilo Pampanini-Fiermonte.png and Fiermonte in a scene from the 1950 film Hawk of the Nile]]

In 1940, he starred as a boxer in Dino De Laurentiis' first film, L'ultimo Combattimento (The Last Fight), directed by Pietro Ballerini.{{cite book|last1=Moliterno|first1=Gino|title=The A to Z of Italian Cinema|date=October 12, 2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|location=Lanham, Maryland|isbn=9780810870598|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6_vG0ocP_7UC&q=L%27ultimo+Combattimento+1940&pg=PA103|access-date=17 January 2017|language=en}} Between the 1940s and the 1980s, he had acting roles in at least 116 films.

Personal life

Fiermonte was married to Tosca Manetti. In June 1933, Fiermonte's wife announced that he was seeking a divorce so he could wed Madeleine Talmage Force (1893–1940), the former wife of John Jacob Astor IV, who died aboard the RMS Titanic.{{cite news|title=LINKS MRS. DICK AND BOXER; {{!}} Fiermonte Says He Plans to Wed Former Mrs. Astor.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9801E1DA1238E333A25754C1A9609C946294D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=17 January 2017|work=The New York Times|date=17 June 1933}}

Fiermonte married Madeleine on 27 November 1933 in New York City, shortly after her divorce from her second husband, William Dick, on 21 July 1933. In 1935, they bought the former Dixie Plantation, a 600-acre estate in Charleston, South Carolina overlooking the Stono River.{{cite news|title=FIERMONTE BUYS ESTATE; Husband of Former Mrs. Astor Gets Southern Plantation.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9D0CE7D91F38E33BBC4953DFB467838E629EDE&legacy=true|access-date=17 January 2017|work=The New York Times|date=1 December 1935}}

They were divorced on 11 June 1938. He was only four years older than his stepson, John Jacob Astor VI, during the marriage. In 1944, he allegedly got engaged in Italy to Princess {{Citation needed span|Giulia von Rio|date=March 2016}}, but they never married.

Fiermonte died in March 1993 in Mentana, Italy.{{cite web|last1=B|first1=Tom|title=.Westerns...All'Italiana!: Remembering Enzo Fiermonte|url=http://westernsallitaliana.blogspot.com/2013/07/remembering-enzo-fiermonte.html|website=.Westerns...All'Italiana!|access-date=17 January 2017|date=17 July 2013}}

Selected filmography

{{Div col}}

{{div col end}}

References

{{reflist|30em}}

Further reading

  • {{Cite news |last=Henry |first=Bill |date=1937-02-27 |title=Hollywood in Sport: His Fistic Bubble Burst |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-hollywood-in-sport/153249935/ |access-date= |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=16}}

External links

  • {{IMDb name|id=0276417|name=Enzo Fiermonte}}
  • {{boxrec|id=59302}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiermonte, Enzo}}

Category:1908 births

Category:1993 deaths

Category:Italian male film actors

Category:Male Spaghetti Western actors

Category:20th-century Italian male actors

Category:Male actors from Apulia