ASER: 15 rediscovered Italian actors

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Aldo Scarmiglia published cards of then popular Italian film stars under the abbreviation ASER. For yesterday's post, Ivo Blom selected 15 new finds of ASER cards with mostly forgotten Italian actresses. Today, EFSP presents Ivo's selection of 15 ASER cards with mostly very little-known Italian actors. Buon divertimento!


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 10. Photo: E. Mangini.

Otello Boccaccini (1910-1992) was an Italian singer and actor. Boccaccini played himself in the film Ecco la radio! (Giacomo Gentilomo, 1940), dedicated to the glories of the state radio corporation. It was his only film performance.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 31. Photo: Romeo / EIAR.

Nunzio Filogamo (1902-2002), was an Italian radio presenter, television host, actor, singer and radio director. After making his debut on the radio, he was one of the first television presenters on Italian television, in particular the first presenter of the music festival Festival di Sanremo, of which he hosted a total of five editions.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 70. Photographer: unknown.

Erminio Spalla (1897-1971) was an Italian professional heavyweight boxer, film actor and singer.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 71. Photo: Pesce / Scalera Film.

Emilio Cigoli (1909-1980) was an Italian actor, voice actor and dubbing director. His most important and best-known film performance remains that of the tragic father in Vittorio De Sica's I bambini ci guardano (1943). De Sica called him back a few years later in Sciuscià, but Cigoli's performance in Domenica d'agosto (Luciano Emer, 1950) is also worth remembering.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 89. Photo: Pesce / Scalera Film.

Italian actor and voice actor Luigi Pavese (1897-1969) was endowed with great versatility. Pavese was among the greatest character actors of Italian cinema. During his career, which lasted over forty years, he appeared in more than 170 films. Endowed with an unmistakable vocal timbre, deep and incisive, he was also an appreciated and prolific voice actor.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed., Roma), no. 96. Photo: Pesce.

Italian character actor Paolo Stoppa (1906–1988) is best known for his stage work with director Luchino Visconti. In a career of more than 50 years, he also appeared in such cinema classics as Miracolo a Milano (1951), Il Gattopardo (1962) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968).


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 134.

Italian actor and voice actor Cesare Fantoni (1905-1963) was a long-time performer in prose theatre and played in numerous works directed by Luchino Visconti, such as 'Life with Father' (1947), 'Eurydice' by Anouilh (1947), Shakespeare's 'As You Like It / Rosalinda' (1948), and Euripides' Medea (1953).


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 157.

Virgilio Riento (1889-1959) was an Italian theatre and film actor. After being one of the best-loved and most popular Italian comedians of light theatre and variety in the 1920s and 1930s, Riento made his film debut in 1936 and became the sidekick of Vittorio De Sica in several films.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 184. Photo: Luxardo.

Vittorio Ripamonti (1916-2001) was an Italian actor.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 189. Photo: Ciolfi / Aci Film.

Italian film actor Massimo Serato (1916-1989) had a career spanning over 40 years with more than 140 films. He was the virile hero of dozens of Peplum films and Spaghetti Westerns in Italy, but he also played roles in major international films.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Ed., Roma), no. 204. Photo: Vaselli / Lux Film.

Italian actor Roberto Villa (1915-2002) was the charming and relaxed star of numerous Italian comedies and adventure films of the 1930s and 1940s. After the war Villa dubbed many international films.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. 315. Photo: Gneme.

Sandro Ruffini (1889–1954) had a prolific career in Italian cinema from the early 1910s to the mid-1950s.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. unknown.

Elio Sannangelo (1926) is an Italian actor, who was active between 1935 and 1940 in film and theatre as a child actor.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. unknown. Foto: Stampa Angeli, Terni.

Fausto Tommei (1909-1978) was an Italian actor and voice actor.


Italian postcard by ASER (Aldo Scarmiglia Ed. Roma), no. unknown.

Maurizio D'Ancora, stage name of Rodolfo Gucci (1912-1983), was an Italian actor and entrepreneur.

Check out our earlier posts ASER and ASER: 15 rediscovered Italian actresses.