Eduardo Ciannelli

A trained doctor and accomplished opera singer, Eduardo Ciannelli came to the United States after World War I and began a career on Broadway; it may be an irony of the Golden Era of studio filmmaking that his mellifluous voice was most frequently put to use for gangsters and lowlifes. The actor tallied over 150 movies and television shows in his long career, which kicked off with a silent film ("The Food Gamblers") and ended in the 1960s. In between, he played in such memorable classics as the fanciful Cary Grant adventure "Gunga Din" (appearing as a guru), Alfred Hitchcock's political thriller "Foreign Correspondent," the Ginger Rogers vehicle "Kitty Foyle: The Natural History of a Woman," and the lurid melodrama "Gilda," with Rita Hayworth at her most voluptuous. By the 1950s, Cianneli had built up Hollywood credits aplenty as well as a nest egg of Universal Studios B horror pictures--he had a star turn in "The Creeper," played a high priest in the "The Mummy's Hand," and had one heck of a title role in "Mysterious Doctor Satan." He then began to appear in movies produced in his native land, and as the decade went on he racked up guest appearances on American TV shows like "I Love Lucy." His career, however, ended on the big screen; one of his last credits was Stanley Kramer's Italy-set "The Secret of Santa Vittoria," in which he costarred with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani.