Enzo Cerusico (22 October 1937 – 26 November 1991) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1951 and 1984.

Career in the United States

Cerusico's first role on American television was in a 1966 episode of ''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

'' filmed in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. Producer

Sheldon Leonard Sheldon Leonard Bershad (February 22, 1907 – January 11, 1997) was an American film and television actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. Early life Sheldon Leonard Bershad was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of middle-clas ...

held a casting call for an English-speaking actor to play the kid brother of the female Italian guest star. Cerusico spoke no English but with a friend's help he memorized one line — "I studied English in the school since four years" — and managed to bluff his way into an interview with Leonard.Goodwin, Fritz. (1969, 31 May – 6 June). ''The operation was a failure ... but the patient survived''. ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corpora ...

''. Leonard realized Cerusico wasn't fluent in English but he thought the young man possessed "

Jean Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor and producer. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward. His best known credits ...

's jaunty virility and the swaggering charm of Maurice Chevalier." Leonard chose Cerusico for the ''I Spy'' guest role and Cerusico learned his lines

phonetically Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. ...

and delivered them by rote. Cerusico later played the title character in '' My Friend Tony'', an hour-long crime drama that aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 1969.

Personal life

Cerusico's family had hoped he would follow tradition and become a physician. But during his teen years, Cerusico realized he wouldn't be a good doctor and decided he "didn't want to be one among many, a mediocre." While living in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

during filming of ''My Friend Tony'', Enzo and Tiziana learned English by reading

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

's short stories and watching

Walter Cronkite Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the ''CBS Evening News'' for 19 years (1962–1981). During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the mo ...

's evening newscasts. The couple used an audio

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present ...

to record the ''

CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature st ...

'' each night and replayed the tape three times, Enzo said: "First for the separate words, then for the sentences and finally to find out what the news was." Publicity materials released in 1969 for ''My Friend Tony'' gave the 32-year-old Cerusico's age as 25.

Selected filmography

* '' Heart and Soul'' (1948) - Nelli * '' Feathers in the Wind'' (1950) - Little patriot * '' Brief Rapture'' (1951) * ''I due derelitti'' (1951) * ''

Viva il cinema! ''Viva il cinema!'' is a 1952 Italian comedy film directed by Giorgio Baldaccini and Enzo Trapani. Cast * Delia Scala as Palmina * Fiorenzo Fiorentini as Tonino * Virgilio Riento as Gambalesta * Corrado Alba as Ugo * Marilyn Buferd as ...

'' (1952) - (uncredited) * '' Red Shirts'' (1952) - Ciceruacchio's son * ''

In Olden Days ''In Olden Days'' ( it, Altri tempi, link=no, also known as ''Times Gone By'' and ''Infidelity'') is a 1952 Italian anthology film. Plot The cart of old books A good-natured peddler of old books shows his customers some works from the past ...

'' (1952) - The drummer (segment "Il tamburino sardo") * '' The Angels of the District'' (1952) - Il Capo * ''

La figlia del diavolo ''La figlia del diavolo'' or ''La fille du diable'' is a 1952 Italian historical drama film directed by Primo Zeglio and starring Massimo Serato, Paola Barbara, and Marina Vlady. Plot Garibaldi, after landing in Marsala, moves on to Naples. The ...

'' (1952) * '' Una croce senza nome'' (1952) * '' It's Never Too Late'' (1953) - Antonio Trabbi bambino * '' Guendalina'' (1957) - Postino * ''

La Dolce Vita ''La Dolce Vita'' (; Italian for "the sweet life" or "the good life"Kezich, 203) is a 1960 satirical comedy-drama film directed and co-written (with Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli and Brunello Rondi) by Federico Fellini. The film stars Marcello ...

'' (1960) - Fotografo * '' Il Mattatore'' (1960) - Benito Mesci (uncredited) * '' Siege of Syracuse'' (1960) - Giovane allievo (uncredited) * ''

Colossus and the Amazon Queen ''Colossus and the Amazon Queen'' ( it, La regina delle Amazzoni/ ''Queen of the Amazons'') is a 1960 Italian sword and sandal comedy film directed by Vittorio Sala. Cast *Rod Taylor as Pirro *Ed Fury as Glauco *Dorian Gray as Antiope *Danie ...

'' (1960) - Menandro * ''Il gobbo'' (1960) - Scheggia * '' Ghosts of Rome'' (1961) - L'uomo corteggiamento giovane * '' Tiro al piccione'' (1961) - Montaldo - the shepherd killed * ''Cronache del '22'' (1961) - (segment "Giorno di paga") * ''

Romolo e Remo ''Duel of the Titans'' ( it, Romolo e Remo, lit=Romulus and Remus) is a 1961 Italian / French film directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring Steve Reeves, Gordon Scott, and Virna Lisi. The film is about twin brothers revolt against tyranny in pr ...

'' (1961) - Numa Pompilio * ''Pugni pupe e marinai'' (1961) - Raffaele Bottari * ''

Cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

'' (1962) - Un bandit * '' Duel of Fire'' (1962) - Policeman * '' Hercules, Samson and Ulysses'' (1963) - Ulysses * ''

Blood and Black Lace ''Blood and Black Lace'' ( it, 6 donne per l'assassino, lit=6 Women for the Murderer) is a 1964 ''giallo'' film directed by Mario Bava and starring Eva Bartok and Cameron Mitchell. The story concerns the brutal murders of a Roman fashion house ...

'' (1964) - Gas Station Attendant * ''In ginocchio da te'' (1964) - Gualtiero - cousin of Carla * ''Extraconiugale'' (1964) - Manovale (segment "La doccia") * ''Una storia di notte'' (1964) - Il Matto * ''Mondo pazzo... gente matta!'' (1966) - Marco - The Cello Player * '' Me, Me, Me... and the Others'' (1966) * ' (1966) - Gru (uncredited) * ''Tre notti violente'' (1966) * ''

Maigret a Pigalle ''Maigret a Pigalle'' (''Maigret in Pigalle'') is a 1966 Italian crime film directed by Mario Landi. It is based on the novel '' Maigret al Picratt's'' by Georges Simenon. Synopsis One evening, Arlette, a stripper in a Paris nightclub called the ...

'' (1966) - Albert * '' Mi vedrai tornare'' (1966) - Lt. Saro Spampinato * '' Faustina'' (1968) - Enea Troiani * ''L'invasion'' (1970) - Piero Nato * ''Per amore o per forza'' (1971) * ''Racconti proibiti... di niente vestiti'' (1972) - Romeo * '' The Dead Are Alive'' (1972) - Alberto * ''Meo Patacca'' (1972) - Marco Pepe * ''Anche se volessi lavorare, che faccio?'' (1972) - Girasole * '' No, the Case Is Happily Resolved'' (1973) - Fabio Santamaria * '' The Five Days'' aka ''Le Cinque Giornate'' (1973) - Romolo Marcelli * ''

Zorro Zorro ( Spanish for 'fox') is a fictional character created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley, appearing in works set in the Pueblo of Los Angeles in Alta California. He is typically portrayed as a dashing masked vigilante w ...

'' (1975) - Joaquín, Don Diego's Servant * ''Amore mio spogliati... che poi ti spiego!'' (1975) - Alberto Donati * ''A.A.A. cercasi spia... disposta spiare per conto spie'' (1976) - Giovanni Sebastiano Bacchi * ''La lozana andaluza'' (1976) - Rampín * ''Occhio alla vedova'' (1976) * ''7 ragazze di classe'' (1979) - Roberto Galíndez * '' Scusi lei è normale?'' (1979) - Nicola Proietti / 'Nicole' * ''Uno scugnizzo a New York'' (1984) - Anna's Father * ''

Treasure Island in Outer Space ''Treasure Island in Outer Space'' ( it, L'isola del tesoro) is a 1987 Italian science fiction television miniseries directed by Antonio Margheriti. Plot It is based on the 1883 novel ''Treasure Island'' by Robert Louis Stevenson, setting the ...

'' (1987, TV Mini-Series) - Augustine

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cerusico, Enzo 1937 births 1991 deaths Italian male film actors Italian male child actors Male actors from Rome Deaths from cancer in Lazio 20th-century Italian male actors