title: David Hornsby

text: Hornsby portrays executive producer David Brittlesbee in "Mythic Quest", a comedy web television series starring Rob McElhenney for Apple TV+. Hornsby also served as a writer and executive producer for the show which premiered on February 7, 2020.


title: David Hornsby

text: On September 25, 2010, Hornsby married actress Emily Deschanel in Pacific Palisades, California. They have two sons together: Henry Lamar (born September 21, 2011) and Calvin (born June 8, 2015).


title: American Gigolo

text: American Gigolo is a 1980 American neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Paul Schrader, and starring Richard Gere and Lauren Hutton. It tells the story about a high-priced escort in Los Angeles (Gere) who becomes romantically involved with a prominent politician's wife (Hutton), while simultaneously becoming the prime suspect in a murder case.


title: American Gigolo

text: The film established Gere as a leading man, and was one of the first mainstream Hollywood films to include frontal male nudity from its main star. It is also notable for its Golden Globe Award–nominated musical score, composed by Giorgio Moroder, and number-one single "Call Me" by Blondie. Schrader considers it one of four similar films, which he calls "double bookends": "Taxi Driver", bookended by "Light Sleeper", and "American Gigolo" bookended by "The Walker".


title: American Gigolo

text: Julian Kay is a male escort in Los Angeles whose clientele is upper-class women. His job supports and requires an expensive taste in cars and clothes, and affords him a luxury Westwood apartment. He is blatantly materialistic, as he strives to merit inclusion into the class of people who make up his clientele. He takes pleasure in his work from being able to sexually satisfy women, offering and selling his body to women.


title: American Gigolo

text: Julian's procurer, Anne, sends him on an assignment with a wealthy old widow, Mrs. Dobrun, who is visiting town. Afterwards, he goes to the hotel bar and meets Michelle Stratton, a California state senator's wife, who becomes obsessed with him. Julian's pimp Leon sends him to Palm Springs on a "substitute" assignment to the house of Mr. Rheiman, a wealthy financier. Rheiman asks Julian to have sado-masochistic sex with his wife Judy while he is watching them. The next day, Julian berates Leon for sending him to a "rough trick" and makes it clear he declines kinky or gay assignments. Leon warns Julian that the wealthy, older women he serves will turn on him and discard him without a second thought.


title: American Gigolo

text: As Julian begins to have a relationship with Michelle, he learns that Judy Rheiman has been murdered. Los Angeles Police Department Detective Sunday identifies Julian as the prime suspect. Though Julian was with Lisa Williams, another client, on the night of the murder, she protects her marriage by not providing an alibi for Julian.


title: American Gigolo

text: Julian discovers evidence about the murder. He realizes that he is being framed and grows increasingly desperate. His clothes become rumpled, he goes unshaven and drives a cheap rental car (after painstakingly searching his Mercedes and finding Judy's jewelry that was planted in it to frame him). He neglects to pick up an important client for Anne that he had been scheduled to escort, angering Anne and causing her to shun him. Julian warns Michelle that he is in trouble and, hoping to protect her, he tells her to leave him alone.


title: American Gigolo

text: Julian concludes that Leon and Rheiman are the ones trying to frame him, and that one of Leon's other gigolos was the murderer. Julian goes to confront Leon, telling him the truth and trying to clear his name. Leon refuses to help him and remains implacable. In a fit of rage, Julian pushes Leon from the apartment balcony; although Julian immediately regrets his action and tries to save him, Leon nevertheless falls to his death. With no one to help him, Julian ends up in jail, helplessly awaiting trial for Judy's murder. Michelle reconciles with Julian by telling the police that she was with Julian the night of Judy's murder, sacrificing her reputation and marriage to save him.


title: American Gigolo

text: Paul Schrader first conceived of the idea for the film while teaching screenwriting at UCLA's film and television department. The script was one of five screenplays Schrader wrote in 1976. Schrader commented, "The character in ‘"Taxi Driver"’ was compulsively nonsexual. The character in ‘"American Gigolo"’ is compulsively sexual. He is a man who receives his identity by giving sexual pleasure but has no concept of receiving sexual pleasure.”


title: American Gigolo

text: John Travolta was originally attached to the lead role, with his casting announced by the "Los Angeles Times" in January 1978. Travolta was provided a wardrobe by Giorgio Armani and appeared in a photo spread for the trade publication "Variety" announcing his participation. The following year, Travolta dropped out of the production to deal with his mother's death and father's illness.


title: American Gigolo

text: In Travolta's absence, Barry Diller of Paramount Pictures offered the part of Julian Kay to Christopher Reeve, but Reeve turned down the million-dollar offer. Chevy Chase was also offered the role but declined. Schrader offered the part to his first choice, Richard Gere, who accepted. Gere was cast two weeks before shooting began. In 2012, Gere said he was drawn to the role partly because of its gay subtext, commenting,


title: American Gigolo

text: This is not the only role Travolta turned down only to be taken by Gere: it had happened with "Days of Heaven" (1978) and occurred again when Travolta was offered the lead in "An Officer and a Gentleman" (1982) and "Chicago" (2002). Gere's brief nude scenes marked the first time a major Hollywood actor was frontally nude in a film. According to Gere, the nudity was not in the original script.


title: American Gigolo

text: Julie Christie was originally cast in the role of Michelle Stratton but her departure was precipitated by Gere's replacement of Travolta. By the time Gere was cast, Lauren Hutton had already been hired. Meryl Streep was also offered the part of Michelle but declined because she did not like the tone of the film. Glenn Close also auditioned for a role when Travolta was still attached.


title: American Gigolo

text: Schrader called "Pickpocket" (1959) by the French director Robert Bresson an influence on the film; the composition of the final shot pays homage to that film, as does the final dialogue. Schrader later provided an introduction to the Criterion Collection DVD of "Pickpocket". On the film's ending, Schrader writes: "At the end of "American Gigolo", I wanted to perversely plunge my lizardy protagonist into icy Bressonian waters, so I lifted the ending of "Pickpocket" and gave it to Julian Kay. A grace note as unwarranted as Christ's promise to the thief on the cross". Schrader re-visited many of the themes of "American Gigolo" in his 2007 film "The Walker" and says the idea for that film came about while wondering what would have become of the Julian Kay character.


title: American Gigolo

text: The film is widely credited to have established the Giorgio Armani brand in Hollywood because the Italian designer's clothes are featured prominently in Julian Kay's wardrobe. When Gere replaced Travolta as Julian, the designer's team had to make new clothing for him as Travolta is tall, a few inches taller than Gere.


title: American Gigolo

text: The film's musical score was composed by Giorgio Moroder, who was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. The main theme song of the film is "Call Me" performed by Blondie. The song was written by Moroder and Blondie vocalist Debbie Harry, and became a huge worldwide success in 1980. It peaked at number one in several countries including the US and the UK, and became the highest-selling single of 1980 in the United States. In 1981, the song was also nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. Moroder and Harry further shared a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song.


title: American Gigolo

text: Roger Ebert gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, writing, "The whole movie has a winning sadness about it; take away the story's sensational aspects and what you have is a study in loneliness." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" also awarded 3.5 stars out of 4 and called it "an honest, compelling drama that sheds a little light in some beguilingly dark places." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" wrote in a negative review that writer-director Schrader "is awfully good at establishing inarticulate, unknowing, self-deluding characters, but he's much less effective when it comes to shepherding these characters through the contingencies of the melodrama that is supposed to ennoble them or, at least, to reveal their unsuspected moral resources." "Variety" faulted the film for an "evasiveness at its core," finding a "moral and emotional ambivalence" in Gere's character "which makes caring about his predicament and ultimate fate difficult." Charles Champlin of the "Los Angeles Times" was also negative, calling the film "such an improbable tissue of fantasies and dime-novel borrowings that from moment to moment it seems to be making fun of itself, although the joke is disguised perfectly." Roger Angell of "The New Yorker" wrote that the film "presents a humorless, "Penthouse" kind of sex, all dolled up with expensive 'real' settings, foreign cars, hi-fi sets, and designer clothes, but barely alive at its glum, soft core."


title: American Gigolo

text: In October 2014, Jerry Bruckheimer announced plans to adapt the film into a television series. In October 2016, it was announced that Neil Labute will write the series for Showtime. On June 15, 2021, Showtime gave production series order consists of ten episodes. David Hollander will be writing, directing, and showrunning the series. He is also expected to executive produced alongside Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, and KristieAnne Reed. Jon Bernthal, Rosie O’Donnell, Lizzie Brocheré, and Leland Orser were cast in starring roles while Wayne Brady was cast to guest star.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Alan Walbridge Ladd (September 3, 1913 – January 29, 1964) was an American actor and film producer. Ladd found success in film in the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in films noir and Westerns. He was often paired with Veronica Lake in films noir, such as "This Gun for Hire" (1942), "The Glass Key" (1942), and "The Blue Dahlia" (1946). "Whispering Smith" (1948) was his first Western and color film, and "Shane" (1953) was noted for its contributions to the genre. Ladd also appeared in ten films with William Bendix; both actors coincidentally died in 1964.


title: Alan Ladd

text: His other notable credits include "Two Years Before the Mast" (1946) and "The Great Gatsby" (1949). His popularity diminished in the mid 1950s, though he continued to appear in numerous films, including his first supporting role since "This Gun for Hire" in the smash hit "The Carpetbaggers" released in 1964. He died of an accidental combination of alcohol, a barbiturate, and two tranquilizers in January 1964.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, on September 3, 1913. He was the only child of Ina Raleigh (also known as Selina Rowley) (1888–1937), and Alan Ladd (1874–1917), a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham, and had migrated to the U.S. in 1907 when she was 19. His father died of a heart attack when Ladd was four. On July 3, 1918, young Alan accidentally burned down the family home while playing with matches. His mother moved to Oklahoma City, where she married Jim Beavers, a house painter (d. 1936).


title: Alan Ladd

text: In the early 1920s an economic downturn led to Ladd's family moving to California, which took four months. They lived in a migrant camp in Pasadena, California, at first and then moved to the San Fernando Valley, where Beavers went to work at FBO Studios as a painter.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd enrolled in North Hollywood High School on February 18, 1930. He became a high-school swimming and diving champion and participated in high school dramatics in his senior year, including the role of Ko-Ko in "The Mikado". His diving skills led to his appearance in the aquatic show "Marinella" in July 1933.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's performance in "The Mikado" was seen by a talent scout. In August 1933 Ladd was one of a group of young "discoveries" signed to a long-term contract with Universal Pictures. The contract had options that could continue for seven years, but they were all in the studio's favour. Ladd appeared unbilled in "Once in a Lifetime" (1932), but the studio eventually decided Ladd was too blond and too short, and it dropped him after six months. (All of Ladd's fellow "discoveries" eventually were dropped, including a young Tyrone Power.)


title: Alan Ladd

text: At 20, Ladd graduated from high school on February 1, 1934. He worked in the advertising department of the "San Fernando Sun Valley Record", becoming the newspaper's advertising manager. When the paper changed hands, Ladd lost his job. He sold cash registers and borrowed $150 to open his own hamburger and malt shop, across from his previous high school, which he called Tiny's Patio (his nickname at high school was Tiny), but he was unable to make a success of the shop.


title: Alan Ladd

text: In another attempt to break into the film industry, Ladd went to work at Warner Bros. as a grip and stayed two years. He was injured falling off a scaffold and decided to quit.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd managed to save and borrow enough money to attend an acting school run by Ben Bard, who had taught him when he was under contract at Universal. Ladd appeared in several stage productions for Bard. Bard later claimed Ladd "was such a shy guy he just wouldn't speak up loud and strong. I had to get him to lower his voice too; it was too high. I also insisted that he get himself a decent set of dentures."


title: Alan Ladd

text: In 1936, Ladd played an unbilled role in "Pigskin Parade". He had short-term stints at MGM and RKO and got regular professional acting work only when he turned to radio. Ladd had worked to develop a rich, deep voice ideal for that medium, and in 1936 he was signed by station KFWB as its sole radio actor. He stayed for three years at KFWB, working as many as 20 shows per week.


title: Alan Ladd

text: One night Ladd was playing the roles of a father and son on radio when he was heard by the agent Sue Carol. She was impressed and called the station to talk to the actors and was told it was one person. She arranged to meet him and, impressed by his looks, she signed him to her books and enthusiastically promoted her new client in films as well as on radio. Ladd's first notable part under Carol's management was the 1939 film "Rulers of the Sea", in which he played a character named Colin Farrell, at $250 per week. He also received attention for a small part in "Hitler – Beast of Berlin" (1939).


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd tested unsuccessfully for the lead in "Golden Boy" (1939) but obtained many other small roles in films such as the serial "The Green Hornet" (1940), "Her First Romance" (1940), "The Black Cat" (1941), and the Disney film "The Reluctant Dragon" (1941). Most notably, he had a small uncredited part in "Citizen Kane", playing a newspaper reporter toward the end of the film.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's career gained extra momentum when he was cast in a featured role in "Joan of Paris" (1942), a wartime drama made at RKO. It was only a small part, but it involved a touching death scene that brought him attention within the industry. RKO eventually offered Ladd a contract at $400 per week. However, he soon received a better offer from Paramount.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Paramount had owned the film rights to "A Gun for Sale", a novel by Graham Greene, since 1936 but waited until 1941 before making a movie out of it, changing the title to "This Gun for Hire". Director Frank Tuttle was struggling to find a new actor to play the role of Raven, a hit man with a conscience. Ladd auditioned successfully, and Paramount signed him to a long-term contract in September 1941 for $300 per week. "The New York Times" wrote that:


title: Alan Ladd

text: Tuttle and the studio are showing more than a passing enthusiasm for Ladd. He has been trying to get a foothold in pictures for eight years, but received no encouragement, although he tried every angle known to town—extra work, bit parts, stock contracts, dramatic schools, assault of the casting offices. Sue Carol, the former silent star who is now an agent, undertook to advance the youth's career two years ago, and only recently could she locate an attentive ear. Then, the breaks began.


title: Alan Ladd

text: According to author David Thomson in 1975, "Once Ladd had acquired an unsmiling hardness, he was transformed from an extra to a phenomenon. Ladd's calm slender ferocity make it clear that he was the first American actor to show the killer as a cold angel." John Houseman later wrote that Ladd played "a professional killer with a poignant and desolate ferocity that made him unique, for a time, among the male heroes of his day."


title: Alan Ladd

text: Both the film and Ladd's performance played an important role in the development of the gangster genre: "That the old-fashioned motion picture gangster with his ugly face, gaudy cars, and flashy clothes was replaced by a smoother, better looking, and better dressed bad man was largely the work of Mr. Ladd." – "The New York Times" obituary (January 30, 1964).


title: Alan Ladd

text: Though the romantic lead went to established star Robert Preston, Ladd's teaming in support with female lead Veronica Lake captured the public's imagination. Their overnight sensation pairing continued in three more films and included three more in guest spots in wartime all-star Hollywood musical revues.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Even during the filming of "This Gun for Hire", Paramount knew it had a potential star and announced Ladd's next film, an adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's story, "The Glass Key" (1942). This had been a successful vehicle for George Raft several years earlier, and Paramount wanted "a sure-fire narrative to carry him on his way." There had also been talk Ladd would appear in "Red Harvest", another story by Hammett, but this was never produced.


title: Alan Ladd

text: The movie was Ladd's second pairing with Lake, with Ladd offering confident support of Brian Donlevy—so confident he even ended up with Donlevy's girl. Ladd's cool, unsmiling, understated persona proved popular with wartime audiences, and he was voted by the "Motion Picture Herald" as one of the 10 "stars of tomorrow" for 1942. His salary was raised to $750 per week. According to critic David Shipman:


title: Alan Ladd

text: Paramount of course was delighted. The majority of stars were earmarked as such when they appeared on the horizon—from Broadway or from wherever they came; if it seemed unlikely that public acceptance would come with one film they were trained and built up: The incubation period was usually between two and five years. As far as Ladd was concerned, he was a small-part actor given a fat part "faute de mieux", and after his second film for them, he had not merely hit the leading-men category, but had gone beyond it to films which were constructed around his personality.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd then appeared in "Lucky Jordan" (1943), a lighter vehicle with Helen Walker, playing a gangster who tries to get out of war service and tangles with Nazis. His new status was reflected by the fact he was the only actor billed above the title. He had a cameo spoofing his tough guy image in "Star Spangled Rhythm", which featured most of Paramount's stars, and then starred in "China" (1943) with Loretta Young for director John Farrow, with whom Ladd made a number of movies. Young did not like working with Ladd:


title: Alan Ladd

text: I found him petulant... I don't remember hearing him laugh, or ever seeing him laugh. Everything that concerned him was very serious... He had a certain screen personality... but as an actor... I never made any contact with him. He wouldn't look at me. He'd say "I love you...", and he'd be looking out there some place. Finally, I said "Alan, I'm he-ere!!"... I think he was very conscious of his looks. Alan would not look beyond a certain point in the camera because he didn't think he looked good... Jimmy Cagney was not tall but somehow Jimmy was at terms with himself, always. I don't think Alan Ladd ever came to terms with himself.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's next film was meant to be "Incendiary Blonde", opposite Betty Hutton, but he was inducted into the army on January 18, after reprising his performance in "This Gun for Hire" on radio for "Lux Radio Theatre".


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd briefly served in the United States Army Air Forces' First Motion Picture Unit. Initially, he was classified 4-Funfit for military service because of stomach problemsbut he later enlisted for military service on January 19, 1943. He was posted to the Walla Walla Army Air Base at Walla Walla, Washington, attaining the rank of corporal. He attended the Oscars in March 1943, and in September he appeared in a trailer promoting a war loan drive titled "Letter from a Friend".


title: Alan Ladd

text: While Ladd was in the armed services, a number of films that had been announced for him were postponed and/or made with different actors, including "Incendiary Blonde", "The Story of Dr. Wassell", "Ministry of Fear", and "The Man in Half Moon Street". Paramount started promoting Ladd replacements, such as Sonny Tufts and Barry Sullivan. Old Ladd films were reissued with his being given more prominent billing, such as "Hitler, Beast of Berlin". He was reportedly receiving 20,000 fan letters per week. "The New York Times" reported that "Ladd in the brief period of a year and with only four starring pictures to his credit... had built up a following unmatched in film history since Rudolph Valentino skyrocketed to fame." In December 1943, he was listed as the 15th most popular star in the U.S.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd fell ill and went to the military hospital in Santa Barbara for several weeks in October. On October 28, he was given an honorable medical discharge because of a stomach disorder complicated by influenza.


title: Alan Ladd

text: When Ladd returned from the army, Paramount announced a series of vehicles for him, including "And Now Tomorrow" and "Two Years Before the Mast". "And Now Tomorrow" was a melodrama, starring Loretta Young as a wealthy deaf woman who is treated (and loved) by her doctor, played by Ladd; Raymond Chandler co-wrote the screenplay, and it was filmed in late 1943 and early 1944. According to Shipman:


title: Alan Ladd

text: It was a pitch to sell Ladd to women filmgoers, though he had not changed one iota and he did not have a noticeable romantic aura. But Paramount hoped that women might feel that beneath the rock-like expression there smouldered fires of passion, or something like. His black-lashed eyes, however, gave nothing away; it was 'take me as I am' or 'I'm the boss around here'. He never flirted nor even seemed interested (which is one of the reasons he and Lake were so effective together).


title: Alan Ladd

text: In March 1944, Ladd took another physical and was reclassified 1A. He would have to be reinducted into the army, but a deferment was given to enable Ladd to make "Two Years Before the Mast" (the release of which was postponed two years). He was meant to be re-inducted on September 4, 1944, but Paramount succeeded in getting this pushed back again to make "Salty O'Rourke". He also found time to make a cameo in a big-screen version of "Duffy's Tavern".


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's reinduction was then set for May 1945. Paramount commissioned Raymond Chandler to write an original screenplay for him titled "The Blue Dahlia", made relatively quickly in case the studio lost Ladd to the military once again. However, in May 1945, the U.S. Army released all men 30 or over from induction, and Ladd was finally free from the draft. Along with several other film stars likewise spared, Ladd promptly enlisted with the Hollywood Victory Committee for the entertainment industry's overseas arm, volunteering to tour for USO shows.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd next made "Calcutta" (1947), which reteamed him with John Farrow and William Bendix. Release for this film was delayed.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd was meant to make "California" with Betty Hutton, but he refused to report for work in August 1945. "It wasn't on account of the picture", said Ladd. "There were other issues." Ladd wanted more money, and Paramount responded by suspending him. The two parties reconciled in November with Ladd's getting a salary increase to $75,000 per film, but without story approval or the right to do outside films, which he had wanted. Exhibitors voted him the 15th-most popular star in the country.


title: Alan Ladd

text: "When a star's off the screen, he's 'dead'", Ladd later reflected. "I like my home and my security and I don't intend to jeopardize them by being difficult at work."


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's next film was "O.S.S", a wartime thriller, produced by Richard Maibaum. He then convinced Ladd that he should play the title role in an adaptation of "The Great Gatsby", to which Paramount held the film rights; Ladd became enthusiastic at the chance to change his image, but the project was delayed by a combination of censorship wrangles and studio reluctance.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Eventually, "The Blue Dahlia" was released to great acclaim (Raymond Chandler was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay), quickly followed by "O.S.S.", and finally, "Two Years Before the Mast". The first two films were solid hits, each earning over $2 million in rentals in the U.S. and Canada; "Two Years Before the Mast" was a blockbuster, earning over $4 million and ranking among the top 10 most popular films of the year. Ladd's roles in "This Gun for Hire", "The Glass Key", and "The Blue Dahlia", firmly established him as a no-nonsense tough guy in a popular genre of crime films later to become known as film noir.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd earned a reported $88,909 for the 12 months up to June 1946. (The following year, he earned $107,000.) In 1947, he was ranked among the top 10 popular stars in the U.S. That year finally had the release of "Calcutta", along with "Wild Harvest", where he reteamed with Robert Preston.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd made a cameo appearance as a detective in the Bob Hope comedy, "My Favorite Brunette" (1947), and he made another cameo in an all-star Paramount film, titled, "Variety Girl", singing Frank Loesser's "Tallahassee" with Dorothy Lamour. He was reteamed with Lake for the final time in "Saigon" (1948), then made "Whispering Smith" (1948), his first Western since he became a star (and his first movie in color). He followed this with "Beyond Glory" (1948), a melodrama with Farrow, which featured Audie Murphy in his film debut (and was released before "Whispering Smith").


title: Alan Ladd

text: Since he had become a star, Ladd continued to appear in radio, usually in dramatizations of feature films for such shows as "Lux Radio Theatre" and "Screen Directors Playhouse". He created roles played both by himself, but also other actors, including the part of Rick Blaine in an adaptation of "Casablanca". In 1948, he starred and produced "Box 13", a regular weekly series for syndication, which ran for 52 episodes.


title: Alan Ladd

text: From 1949-1951, he appeared in a nine-issue series of comic books published by DC Comics, portraying Ladd in a variety of adventurous situations; the first six issues had photos of him on the covers.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's next role was a significant change of pace, playing Jay Gatsby in the 1949 version of "The Great Gatsby", written and produced by Richard Maibaum. This film had been planned since 1946, but production was delayed due to a combination of difficulties with the censor, and Paramount's reluctance for Ladd to play such a challenging part. It was not a big success at the box office, and its mixed critical and commercial reception caused Ladd to avoid serious dramatic roles.


title: Alan Ladd

text: His next films were standard fare: "Chicago Deadline", playing a tough reporter; "Captain Carey, U.S.A.", as a vengeful ex-OSS agent, for Maibaum; and "Appointment with Danger", as a postal inspector investigating a murder with the help of nun Phyllis Calvert (shot in 1949, but not released until 1951).


title: Alan Ladd

text: Paramount purchased the screen rights to the play "Detective Story" as a possible vehicle for Ladd, and he was keen to do it, but the role went to Kirk Douglas. Ladd was cast, instead, in "Branded", a Western. In February 1950, Paramount announced that Ladd would star in a film version of the novel "Shane". Before he made this film, he appeared in "Red Mountain", produced by Hal Wallis.


title: Alan Ladd

text: In 1950, the Hollywood Women's Press Club voted Ladd the easiest male star to deal with in Hollywood. The following year, a poll from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association listed Ladd as the second most popular male film star in the world, after Gregory Peck.


title: Alan Ladd

text: In 1951, Ladd's contract had only one more year to run. "Paramount is like a home to me", he said, "and I'd like to remain on the lot for one picture a year. But I want to be free to take pictures at other studios if offered to me." The main studio Ladd was in discussion with was Warner Bros. He also received a six-year offer to make "Adventure Limited", a TV series.


title: Alan Ladd

text: In May 1951, Ladd announced he had formed Ladd Enterprises, his own production company, to produce films, radio, and TV, when his Paramount contract ended in November 1952. He optioned the novel "Shadow Riders of the Yellowstone" by Les Savage. The next month, his deal with Warner Bros. was announced: one film per year for five years. However, he expressed a desire to continue to work with Paramount.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's final three movies for Paramount were "Thunder in the East", "Shane", and "Botany Bay". Once Ladd finished "Botany Bay" in February 1952, it was announced Ladd's contract with Paramount would end early and be amended, so that he would make two more movies for the studio, at a later date. (In the end, Ladd did not make another film at Paramount until "The Carpetbaggers".)


title: Alan Ladd

text: Paramount staggered the release of Ladd's final films for the company, with "Shane" and "Botany Bay" not being released until 1953. Ladd later said that leaving Paramount was "a big upset" for him and that he only left for "business reasons...future security for the children and ourselves".


title: Alan Ladd

text: "Shane", in which he played a strong, silent, courageous title character, was particularly popular. It premiered at Radio City Music Hall in New York City in April 1953, grossing over $114,000 in its four weeks there (a large sum at the time), and earning $8 million in North America over its initial run. This led to Ladd's being voted one of the 10 most popular stars in the U.S. in 1953.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's deal with Warner Bros. was for one film per year for 10 years, starting from when his contract with Paramount expired. Warner guaranteed him $150,000 per film against 10% of the gross, making Ladd one of the better paid stars in Hollywood. His first film for Warner Bros. was "The Iron Mistress" (1952), in which Ladd played Jim Bowie.


title: Alan Ladd

text: The arrangement with Warner was not exclusive, enabling Ladd to work for other studios. He made "Desert Legion", a film at Universal Studios (1953), playing a member of the French Foreign Legion. Ladd was paid a fee and a percentage of the profits.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd signed an arrangement with Warwick Films to make three films in Britain, where the actor was very popular: a wartime saga titled "The Red Beret" (1953), with Ladd masquerading as a Canadian soldier in the Parachute Regiment, and a whaling story titled "Hell Below Zero" (1954), based on the Hammond Innes book "The White South". Both movies were co-written by Richard Maibaum, with whom Ladd had worked at Paramount. Ladd played a mountie in "Saskatchewan" for Universal in Canada and returned to Britain for his final film with Warwick, "The Black Knight" (1954), a medieval swashbuckler (a genre then in vogue), wherein Ladd played the title role. This meant Ladd spent 19 months out of the U.S. and did not have to pay tax on his income for this period. It also caused his plans to enter independent production to be deferred. Ladd's fee for his Warwick films was $200,000 against 10% of the profits, plus living expenses.


title: Alan Ladd

text: When Ladd returned to Hollywood in 1954, he formed Jaguar Productions, a new production company that released movies through Warner Bros. This was in addition to the films he made with Warner, solely as an actor.


title: Alan Ladd

text: His first film for Jaguar was "Drum Beat" (1954), a Western directed by Delmer Daves, which was reasonably successful at the box office. For Warners, he then made "The McConnell Story" (1955), co-starring June Allyson, which also proved popular. He signed to appear in some episodes of "General Electric Theater" on TV. The first of these, "Committed", was based on an old episode of "Box 13", which Ladd was considering turning into a TV series. However, despite Ladd's presence, a series did not result.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd next made "Hell on Frisco Bay" (1955), a film for Jaguar also starring second-billed Edward G. Robinson and Joanne Dru, co-written by Martin Rackin and directed by Frank Tuttle, his old "This Gun for Hire" associate. Rackin wrote and produced Ladd's subsequent film, titled "Santiago", which he made for Warner Bros. For Jaguar, Ladd produced, but did not appear in, "A Cry in the Night".


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's instincts for choosing material was proving increasingly poor: George Stevens offered him the role of Jett Rink in "Giant" (1956), which he turned down because it was not the lead; James Dean took the part, and the film became one of the big hits of the decade. He was meant to return to Paramount to make "The Sons of Katie Elder", but he bought himself out of his Paramount contract for $135,000; the film was made a decade later, with John Wayne and Dean Martin, and was a big hit.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Instead, Ladd signed a new four-year contract between Jaguar and Warner Bros., with his company having a budget of $6.5 million. The first film made under it was "The Big Land" (1957), a Western. He made "Farewell to Kennedy", another TV film for "General Electric Theater"; he hoped this would lead to a series, but that did not happen.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd then received an offer to star in "Boy on a Dolphin" (1957), a film being made in Greece for 20th Century Fox. In March 1957, it was announced that WarnerBros. and Jaguar had renegotiated their agreement and that Jaguar would now make 10 films for the studio, of which Ladd was to appear in at least six, starting with "The Deep Six" (1958). Warner Bros. provided all the financing and split profits with Jaguar 50/50. The second film under the contract was "Island of Lost Women", which Ladd produced but did not appear in.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd's next film as an actor saw him co-star with his son David in "The Proud Rebel", made independently for Samuel Goldwyn Jr. According to Shipman, Ladd's "performance is his best work, sincere and likable (due perhaps to an odd resemblance in long shot to Buster Keaton), but the film did not have the success it deserved; Ladd's own fans missed the bang-bang and [co star] Olivia de Havilland's fans were not persuaded that any film she did with Ladd could be that good." He announced a six-picture deal with Warwick Productions but ultimately did not work for Warwick again. MGM hired Ladd to make "The Badlanders", a Western remake of "The Asphalt Jungle", but like many of Ladd's films around this time it was a box-office disappointment.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd was considered to play the lead in "The Angry Hills", but Robert Mitchum eventually was cast. Mitchum later told a journalist that the producers met Ladd at his home after "he'd just crawled out of his swimming pool and was all shrunken up like a dishwasher's hand. They decided he wouldn't do for the big war correspondent."


title: Alan Ladd

text: For Walter Mirisch at United Artists, Ladd appeared in "The Man in the Net". He produced a pilot for a TV series, starring William Bendix, called "Ivy League". That did not go to series; neither did "The Third Platoon", another pilot Ladd produced for Paramount, written by a young Aaron Spelling where Ladd only did a voiceover. Spelling also wrote "Guns of the Timberland" for Jaguar and Warners, in which Ladd appeared; it was his last movie for Warners.


title: Alan Ladd

text: As an actor, he made "All the Young Men" with Sidney Poitier, that was released through Columbia. "One Foot in Hell" (1960), over at 20th Century Fox, had Ladd play an out-and-out villain for the first time, since the beginning of his career, but the result was not popular with audiences.


title: Alan Ladd

text: "I'd like to retire from acting", he said in 1960. "I'd produce." Ladd kept busy developing projects, some of which were vehicles for his son, David.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd also kept acting, following the path of many Hollywood stars made "Duel of Champions" (1961), a peplum in Italy. Back in Hollywood, he made "13 West Street", as a star and producer, for Ladd Enterprises.


title: Alan Ladd

text: "I'll go to work again when the right story comes along", said Ladd. He joined the board of 38 Inc., a new film producing company, which announced plans to make a movie out of a Ben Hecht script.


title: Alan Ladd

text: In 1963, Ladd's career looked set to make a comeback, when he took a supporting role in "The Carpetbaggers", based on the best-selling novel. This was a co-production between Embassy and Paramount, meaning Ladd was filming on the Paramount back lot for the first time in over a decade. He also announced plans to turn "Box 13" into a feature-film script, and was hoping for cameos from old friends, such as Veronica Lake and William Bendix.


title: Alan Ladd

text: On November 29, 1937, Ladd's mother, who was staying with him following the breakup of a relationship, asked Ladd for some money to buy something at a local store. Ladd gave her the money, thinking it was for alcohol. She purchased some arsenic-based ant paste from a grocer and died by suicide by drinking it in the back seat of Ladd's car.


title: Alan Ladd

text: On November 2, 1962, Ladd was found lying unconscious in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart. The bullet penetrated Ladd's chest around the third and fourth rib, through the lungs, and bounced off the rib cage. At the time, Ladd said he thought he heard a prowler, grabbed a gun, and tripped over, accidentally shooting himself. This was accepted by the police investigating.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1601 Vine Street. His handprint appears in the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. In 1995, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd married Marjorie Jane "Midge" Harrold, a high school sweetheart, in October 1936. Their only child, Alan Ladd, Jr., was born on October 22, 1937. They divorced in July 1941 and she died in 1957, having remarried.


title: Alan Ladd

text: On March 15, 1942, Ladd married his agent and manager, former film actress Sue Carol in Mexico City. They intended to be remarried in the U.S. in July because Ladd's divorce from his first wife was not final. Carol had a daughter from a previous marriage, Carol Lee (b. July 18, 1932), whom Alan and Sue raised. In addition, they had two children of their own, Alana (born April 21, 1943, when Ladd was in the army) and David Alan (1947).


title: Alan Ladd

text: Alan Ladd, Jr., was a film executive and producer and founder of the Ladd Company. Actress Alana Ladd, who co-starred with her father in "Guns of the Timberland" and "Duel of Champions", was married to the veteran talk radio broadcaster Michael Jackson. Alana died on November 23, 2014. Actor David Ladd, who co-starred with his father as a child in "The Proud Rebel", was married (1973–1980) to "Charlie's Angels" star Cheryl Ladd (née Stoppelmoor). Their daughter is actress Jordan Ladd.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Reports of Ladd's height vary from to , with being cited most often in unofficial sources. His 1943 U.S. Army enlistment record, however, lists him as , a measurement generally deemed to be the most reliable.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd and Veronica Lake became a particularly popular pairing because, at , she was one of the few Hollywood actresses substantially shorter than he was. In his memoirs, actor/producer John Houseman wrote of Ladd: "Since he himself was extremely short, he had only one standard by which he judged his fellow players: their height." To compensate for Ladd's height, during the filming of "Boy on a Dolphin", co-starring the Sophia Loren, the cinematographer used special low stands to light Ladd and the crew built a ramp system of heavy planks to enable the two actors to stand at equal eye level. In outdoor scenes, trenches were dug for Loren to stand in. For the film "Saskatchewan", director Raoul Walsh had a hole dug for co-star Hugh O'Brian to stand in, while using the excavated dirt to build a mound for Ladd to stand, thereby overcoming the disparity in height.


title: Alan Ladd

text: In January 1964, after injuring his knees, Ladd hoped to recuperate at his house in Palm Springs. On January 29, 1964, his butler said that he saw Ladd on his bed at 10 am; when he returned at 3:30 pm, he found Ladd dead on his bed.


title: Alan Ladd

text: His death, due to cerebral edema caused by an acute overdose of alcohol, a barbiturate, and two tranquilizers containing at least two depressants, was ruled accidental. Ladd suffered from chronic insomnia and regularly used sleeping pills and alcohol to induce sleep. While he had not taken a lethal amount of any one drug, the combination apparently caused fatal interaction. Suicide was ruled out.


title: Alan Ladd

text: He was buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Ladd's funeral was held on February 1, with Edmond O'Brien giving the eulogy. Fans were allowed to see his coffin. He was buried with his wedding ring and a letter that his son David had written to him.


title: Alan Ladd

text: Ladd died a wealthy man, with his holdings including a 5,000-acre ranch at Hidden Valley and a hardware store in Palm Springs. After he died, "The Carpetbaggers" was released and became a financial success.


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: Annamarie Tendler (born June 9, 1985), known professionally as Anna Marie Tendler, is an American multimedia artist known for her work in photography, makeup and hairstyling, and textile crafts, with a notable specialty in handmade lampshades. She is the author of "Pin It!: 20 Fabulous Bobby Pin Hairstyles" and "The Daily Face: 25 Makeup Looks for Day, Night, and Everything In Between!."


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: Tendler was born in Connecticut. She is Jewish. According to an interview with "Architectural Digest", Tendler studied hairstyling at Vidal Sassoon and the Make-up Designory after graduating from high school, and then studied photography at Parsons School of Design before dropping out. She received her bachelor's degree from The New School in writing and psychology. In 2018, she began pursuing an MA degree from NYU Steinhardt in costume studies.


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: After dropping out of college her freshman year, Tendler began work as a hairstylist and makeup artist in New York City. Tendler was an early pioneer in the world of online beauty gurus. In December 2007, she created a Tumblr blog dedicated to daily makeup looks that accumulated more than 350,000 followers. Her popularity got her a writing job with "MTV Style" and the opportunity to attend NYFW 2011. Her tutorials have been featured in magazines such as "Glamour", "HelloGiggles", and "DailyCandy". In 2016, she partnered with Amy Poehler's Smart Girls to create a YouTube tutorial series combining beauty with the paranormal called "The Other Side".


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: Since 2016, Tendler has owned a business called Silk Parlor, which handcrafts Victorian style lampshades. As a makeup artist and hair stylist, she has worked on various television series and comedy specials, including: "The Old Man and the Seymour", "CollegeHumor Originals", "John Mulaney: New in Town", "Aziz Ansari: Dangerously Delicious" and "John Mulaney: The Comeback Kid". On Broadway, she worked on the shows "Oh, Hello" and "Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812".


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: In 2018, Tendler had a brief appearance in an episode of "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee" featuring her then-husband John Mulaney. In 2019, Tendler was featured in Mulaney's musical comedy special "John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch", where she discussed her greatest fears and played a cameo role in a sketch.


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: In September 2021, Tendler exhibited artwork at The Other Art Fair in Santa Monica, California. The exhibition, titled "rooms in the first house", is said by her website to "chronicle the often non-linear experiences of loss, anger, and powerlessness, as well as a reclamation of identity".


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: In February 2022, Tendler featured on Laur Wheeler's spoken word album "Birthday Card", in which she read the poem, "Well and Good."


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: Tendler married comedian John Mulaney on July 5, 2014, at the Onteora Mountain House in Boiceville, New York. Their friend, comedian Dan Levy, officiated the ceremony. On May 10, 2021, it was announced that Mulaney had decided to end their marriage. On July 23, 2021, Mulaney filed for divorce, which was finalized on January 6, 2022. Mulaney often mentioned Tendler and their French Bulldog Petunia in his stand-up routines. Tendler is now based in Connecticut.


title: Annamarie Tendler

text: In a series of tweets on October 11, 2017, she spoke out about being groped by Ben Affleck in 2014, writing, "I would also love to get an apology from Ben Affleck who grabbed my ass at a Golden Globes party in 2014".


title: Francesca Annis

text: Francesca Annis (born 14 May 1945) is an English actress. She is known for television roles in "Reckless" (1998), "Wives and Daughters" (1999), "Deceit" (2000), and "Cranford" (2007). A six-time BAFTA TV Award nominee, she won the 1979 BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the ITV serial "Lillie". Her film appearances include "Krull" (1983), "Dune" (1984), "The Debt Collector" (1999), and "The Libertine" (2004).


title: Francesca Annis

text: Annis was born in Kensington, London in 1945, to an English father, Lester William Anthony Annis (1914–2001) and a Brazilian-French mother, Mariquita (Mara) Purcell (1913–2009). Both were sometime actors and Mara a sometime singer. Mara was from a wealthy Brazilian family. The Annises moved to Brazil when Francesca was one year old, and spent six years there, returning to England when she was seven. In recollecting the years in Brazil, she described her parents as running "a nightclub on Copacabana beach", and her mother Mara "performing as a blues singer".


title: Francesca Annis

text: Annis was educated at a convent school, and trained in her early years as a ballet dancer, with training in the Russian style at the Corona Stage Academy.


title: Francesca Annis

text: Annis began acting professionally in her teens, and made her film debut in "The Cat Gang" (1959). Her first major film role was as Elizabeth Taylor's handmaiden in "Cleopatra" (1963), in which she was cast at the age of 16 while still studying Russian ballet. Her big break was as one of the leads in the 1965 West End stage musical "Passion Flower Hotel". She played Estella in a television adaptation of "Great Expectations" (1967) and presented children's television programmes. She garnered attention for her performance as Lady Macbeth in Roman Polanski's film version of "Macbeth" (1971) in which she performs the sleepwalking soliloquy nude. The critic Kenneth Tynan was present when the scene was shot:"Francesca does it very sportingly and with no fuss ... though of course the set is closed, great curtains are drawn around the acting area ... and the wardrobe mistress rushes to cover Francesca with a dressing gown the instant Roman says, 'Cut'".


title: Francesca Annis

text: Annis played the "Widow of the Web" in the 1983 science fantasy film "Krull", and starred as Lady Jessica in the 1984 David Lynch science fiction film "Dune".


title: Francesca Annis

text: She appeared as Tuppence with James Warwick as Tommy in "The Secret Adversary" (1983) and the subsequent series, "Agatha Christie's Partners in Crime" (1983–84). Annis played Jacqueline Kennedy in "Onassis: The Richest Man in the World" in 1988. She portrayed Mrs Wellington in the second film and directorial debut by Prince, "Under The Cherry Moon" (1986).


title: Francesca Annis

text: Annis pursued a stage career, playing leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, such as Luciana in Trevor Nunn's musical version of "The Comedy of Errors" (1976) and Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" alongside Ian McKellen (1977).


title: Francesca Annis

text: At the National Theatre in 1981, she played Natalya Petrovna in Peter Gill's production of Ivan Turgenev's "A Month in the Country". At the Comedy Theatre between September 2005 and January 2006, Annis starred as Ruth in "Epitaph for George Dillon" with Joseph Fiennes. She returned to the stage in April 2009, to star as Mrs Conway in Rupert Goold's National Theatre revival of J. B. Priestley's "Time and the Conways".


title: Francesca Annis

text: She appeared in television productions in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in series such as "Edward the Seventh" (1975) as Lillie Langtry, a role she reprised in "Lillie" (1978); "Madame Bovary" (1975); and "Parnell and the Englishwoman" (1991), in which she played Kitty O'Shea; as well as the miniseries "Reckless" (1998) and its 2000 sequel. Annis co-starred with Sir Michael Gambon and Dame Judi Dench as Lady Ludlow (an aristocrat opposed to the education of the lower classes) in the BBC1 costume-drama series "Cranford" (2007). More recently, Annis played a leading role in the ITV drama "Home Fires".


title: Francesca Annis

text: Annis was in a relationship with photographer Patrick Wiseman that began in 1974, raising three children, Charlotte, Taran, and Andreas. Annis began a relationship with "Hamlet" co-star Ralph Fiennes in 1995, ending her 23-year relationship with Wiseman in 1997; Fiennes in turn divorced his wife of four years, Alex Kingston. Annis is said to have "apologised to Wiseman" over their parting. Annis and Fiennes announced their separation on 7 February 2006, after 11 years together, in a parting described as "acrimonious", following rumours that he had had an affair with the Romanian singer Cornelia Crisan.


title: Francesca Annis

text: At age 64, in an interview with Tim Auld of "The Telegraph" in 2009, Annis described herself as being one that tends "to forget the bad things – I don't dwell on them. I think, 'Oh, f– it, life's too short'" and that though single, she "believes it is better to be with someone than alone", stating "I think you live a fuller life... to have someone else's input on anything – a book, a meal, your children, life, a walk – is fantastic" and expressing optimism as she looked to her future, stating "'I like to have a big open canvas. I am a glass-half-full person. Something will turn up, you know, and whatever it is it'll be fine'".


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto II, full name Umberto Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria di Savoia (15 September 190418 March 1983), was the last King of Italy. He reigned for 34 days, from 9 May 1946 to 12 June 1946, although he had been "de facto" head of state since 1944 and was nicknamed the May King ().


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto was the only son among the five children of King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena. In an effort to repair the monarchy's image after the fall of Benito Mussolini's regime, Victor Emmanuel transferred his powers to Umberto in 1944 while retaining the title of king. As a referendum on the abolition of the monarchy was in preparation, Victor Emmanuel abdicated his throne in favour of Umberto in the hope that his exit might bolster the monarchy. However, the referendum passed, Italy was declared a republic, and Umberto lived out the rest of his life in exile in Cascais, on the Portuguese Riviera.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto was born at the Castle of Racconigi in Piedmont. He was the third child, and the only son, of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and his wife, Jelena of Montenegro. As such, he became heir apparent upon his birth, since the Italian throne was limited to male descendants. Umberto was given the standard military education of a Savoyard prince. During the crisis of May 1915, when Victor Emmanuel III decided to break the terms of the Triple Alliance by declaring war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he found himself in a quandary as the Italian Parliament was against declaring war; several times, the king discussed abdication with the throne to pass to The 2nd Duke of Aosta instead of Umberto. The British historian Denis Mack Smith wrote that it is not entirely clear why Victor Emmanuel was prepared to sacrifice his 10-year-old son's right to succeed to the throne in favour of the Duke of Aosta.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto was brought up in an authoritarian and militaristic household and was expected to "show an exaggerated deference to his father"; both in private and public, Umberto always had to get down on his knees and kiss his father's hand before being allowed to speak, even as an adult, and he was expected to stand to attention and salute whenever his father entered a room. Like the other Savoyard princes before him, Umberto received a military education that was notably short on politics; Savoyard monarchs customarily excluded politics from their heirs' education with the expectation that they would learn about the art of politics when they inherited the throne.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto was the first cousin of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. He was accorded the title Prince of Piedmont, which was formalised by Royal Decree on 29 September. In a 1959 interview, Umberto told the Italian newspaper "La Settimana Incom Illustrata" that in 1922 his father had felt that appointing Benito Mussolini as Prime Minister was a "justifiable risk".


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: As Prince of Piedmont, Umberto visited South America, between July and September 1924. With his preceptor, Bonaldi, he went to Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. This trip was part of the political plan of Fascism to link the Italian people living outside of Italy with their mother country and the interests of the regime.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In Brazil, visits were scheduled to the national capital Rio de Janeiro and the State of São Paulo, where the largest Italian colony in the country lived. However, a major rebellion broke out on 5 July 1924, when Umberto had already departed from Europe, imposing a change in the Royal tour. The prince had to stop in Salvador, capital of Bahia, to supply the ships, going directly to the other countries of South America. On his return, Umberto could only be received in Salvador again. Governor Góis Calmon, the Italian colony and other entities warmly welcomed the heir to the Italian Throne.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto was educated for a military career and in time became the commander-in-chief of the Northern Armies, and then the Southern ones. This role was merely formal, the "de facto" command belonging to his father, King Victor Emmanuel III, who jealously guarded his power of supreme command from "Il Duce", Benito Mussolini. By mutual agreement, Umberto and Mussolini always kept a distance. In 1926, Mussolini passed a law allowing the Fascist Grand Council to decide the succession, though in practice he admitted the prince would succeed his father.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: An attempted assassination took place in Brussels on 24 October 1929, the day of the announcement of his betrothal to Princess Marie José. Umberto was about to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Belgian Unknown Soldier at the foot of the "Colonne du Congrès" when, with a cry of 'Down with Mussolini!', Fernando de Rosa fired a single shot that missed him.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: De Rosa was arrested and, under interrogation, claimed to be a member of the Second International who had fled Italy to avoid arrest for his political views. His trial was a major political event, and although he was found guilty of attempted murder, he was given a light sentence of five years in prison. This sentence caused a political uproar in Italy and a brief rift in Belgian-Italian relations, but in March 1932 Umberto asked for a pardon for de Rosa, who was released after having served slightly less than half his sentence and was eventually killed in the Spanish Civil War.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In 1928, after the colonial authorities in Italian Somaliland built Mogadishu Cathedral ("Cattedrale di Mogadiscio"), Umberto made his first publicised visit to Mogadishu, the territory's capital. Umberto made his second publicised visit to Italian Somaliland in October 1934.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto was married in Rome on 8 January 1930 to Princess Marie José of Belgium (1906–2001), the beautiful and glamorous daughter of King Albert I of the Belgians and his wife, Queen Elisabeth ("née" Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria).


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Following the Savoyards' tradition ("Only one Savoy reigns at a time"), Umberto kept apart from active politics until he was named Lieutenant General of the Realm. He made an exception when Adolf Hitler asked for a meeting. This was not considered proper, given the international situation; thereafter Umberto was more rigorously excluded from political events. In 1935, Umberto supported the war against the Ethiopian Empire, which he called a "legitimate war" that even Giovanni Giolitti would have supported had he still been alive. Umberto wanted to serve in the Ethiopian war, but was prevented from doing so by his father, who did however allow four royal dukes to serve in East Africa. Umberto conformed to his father's expectations and behaved like an army officer; the prince also always obediently got down on his knees to kiss his father's hand before speaking. However, Umberto privately resented what he regarded as a deeply humiliating relationship with his cold and emotionally distant father. Umberto's attitude toward the Fascist regime varied: at times he mocked the more pompous aspects of Fascism and his father for supporting such a regime, while at other times he praised Mussolini as a great leader.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto shared his father's fears that Mussolini's policy of alliance with Nazi Germany was reckless and dangerous, but he made no serious move to oppose Italy becoming one of the Axis powers. When Mussolini decided to enter the Second World War in June 1940, Umberto hinted to his father that he should use the royal veto to block the Italian declarations of war on Britain and France, but was ignored. After the war, Umberto criticised the decision to enter the war, saying that Victor Emmanuel was too much under "Mussolini's spell" in June 1940 to oppose it. At the beginning of the war, Umberto commanded "Army Group West", made up of the First, Fourth and the Seventh Army (kept in reserve), which attacked French forces during the Italian invasion of France. Umberto was appointed to this position by his father, who wanted the expected Italian victory to also be a victory for the House of Savoy, as the King feared Mussolini's ambitions. A few hours after France signed an armistice with Germany on 21 June 1940, the Italians invaded France. The Italian offensive was a complete fiasco, with Umberto's reputation as a general only being saved by the fact that the already defeated French signed an armistice with Italy on 24 June 1940. Thus, he was able to present the offensive as a victory. The Italian plans called for the "Regio Esercito" to reach the Rhone river valley, which the Italians came nowhere close to reaching, having penetrated only a few kilometres into France.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: After the capitulation of France, Mussolini kept Umberto inactive as an Army commander. In the summer of 1940, Umberto was to command a planned invasion of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, but Mussolini subsequently cancelled the invasion of Yugoslavia in favour of invading the Kingdom of Greece. In June 1941, supported by his father, Umberto strongly lobbied to be given command of the Italian expeditionary force sent to the Soviet Union, saying that, as a Catholic, he fully supported Operation Barbarossa and wanted to do battle with the "godless communists". Mussolini refused the request, and instead gave Umberto the responsibility of training the Italian forces scheduled to participate in Operation Hercules, the planned Axis invasion of Malta. On 29 October 1942, he was awarded the rank of Marshal of Italy ("Maresciallo d'Italia"). During October–November 1942, in the Battle of El Alamein, the Italo-German force was defeated by the British Eighth Army, marking the end of Axis hopes of conquering Egypt. The Axis retreated back into Libya. In November 1942, as part of the Battle of Stalingrad, the Red Army launched Operation Uranus, which saw the Soviets annihilate much of the Italian expeditionary force in Russia and encircle the German 6th Army. The disastrous Italian defeats at Stalingrad and El Alamein turned Umberto against the war and led him to conclude that Italy must sign an armistice before it was too late. In late 1942, Umberto had his cousin, the 4th Duke of Aosta, visit Switzerland to contact the British consulate in Geneva, where he passed on a message to London that the King was willing to sign an armistice with the Allies in exchange for a promise that he be allowed to keep his throne.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In 1943, Marie José, Princess of Piedmont, involved herself in vain attempts to arrange a separate peace treaty between Italy and the United States. Her interlocutor from the Vatican was Giovanni Battista Monsignor Montini, a senior Papal diplomat who later became Pope Paul VI. Her attempts were not sponsored by her father-in-law, the King, and Umberto was not (directly at least) involved in them. Victor Emmanuel III was anti-clerical, distrusting the Catholic Church, and wanted nothing to do with a peace attempt made through Papal intermediaries. More importantly, Victor Emmanuel was proudly misogynistic, holding women in complete contempt as the King believed it to be a scientific fact that the brains of women were significantly more underdeveloped than the brains of men. Victor Emmanuel simply did not believe that Marie José was competent to serve as a diplomat. For all these reasons, the King vetoed Marie José's peace attempt. After her failure – she never met the American agents – she was sent with her children to Sarre, in the Aosta Valley, and isolated from the political life of the Royal House.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In the first half of 1943, as the war continued to go badly for Italy, a number of senior Fascist officials, upon learning that the Allies would never sign an armistice with Mussolini, began to plot his overthrow with the support of the King. Adding to their worries were a number of strikes in Milan starting on 5 March 1943, with the workers openly criticising both the war and the Fascist regime which had led Italy into the war, leading to fears in Rome that Italy was on the brink of revolution. The strike wave in Milan quickly spread to the industrial city of Turin, where the working class likewise denounced the war and Fascism. The fact that during the strikes in Milan and Turin, Italian soldiers fraternised with the striking workers, who used slogans associated with the banned Socialist and Communist parties, deeply worried Italy's conservative establishment. By this point, the successive Italian defeats had so psychologically shattered Mussolini that he become close to being catatonic, staring into space for hours on end and saying the war would soon turn around for the Axis because it had to, leading even his closest admirers to become disillusioned and to begin looking for a new leader. Umberto was seen as supportive of these efforts to depose Mussolini, but as Ciano (who had turned against Mussolini by this point) complained in his diary, the prince was far too passive, refusing to make a move or even state his views unless his father expressed his approval first.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: On 10 July 1943, in Operation Husky, the Allies invaded Sicily. Just before the invasion of Sicily, Umberto had gone on an inspection tour of the Italian forces in Sicily and reported to his father that the Italians had no hope of holding Sicily. Mussolini had assured the King that the "Regio Esercito" could hold Sicily, and the poor performance of the Italian forces defending Sicily helped to persuade the King to finally dismiss Mussolini, as Umberto informed his father that "Il Duce" had lied to him. On 16 July 1943, the visiting Papal Assistant Secretary of State told the American diplomats in Madrid that King Victor Emmanuel III and Prince Umberto were now hated by the Italian people even more than Mussolini. By this time, many Fascist "gerarchi" had become convinced that it was necessary to depose Mussolini to save the Fascist system, and on the night of 24–25 July 1943, at a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council, a motion introduced by the "gerarchi" Dino Grandi to take away Mussolini's powers was approved by a vote of 19 to 8. The fact that the majority of the Fascist Grand Council voted for the motion showed just how disillusioned the Fascist "gerarchi" had become with Mussolini by the summer of 1943. The intransigent and radical group of Fascists led by the "gerarchi" Roberto Farinacci, who wanted to continue the war, were only a minority, while the majority of the "gerarchi" supported Grandi's call to jettison Mussolini as the best way of saving Fascism.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: On 25 July 1943, Victor Emmanuel III finally dismissed Mussolini and appointed Marshal Pietro Badoglio, the 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, as Prime Minister with secret orders to negotiate an armistice with the Allies. Baron Raffaele Guariglia, the Italian ambassador to Spain, contacted British diplomats to begin the negotiations. Badoglio went about the negotiations in a halfhearted way while allowing a massive number of German forces to enter Italy. The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote that Badoglio as Prime Minister "...did almost everything as stupidly and slowly as possible", as he dragged out the secret peace talks going on in Lisbon and Tangier, being unwilling to accept the Allied demand for unconditional surrender. During the secret armistice talks, Badoglio told Count Pietro d'Acquarone that he thought he might get better terms if Victor Emmanuel abdicated in favour of Umberto, complaining that the armistice terms that the King wanted were unacceptable to the Allies. D'Acquarone told Badoglio to keep his views to himself as the King was completely unwilling to abdicate, all the more so as he believed that Umberto was unfit to be monarch.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: On 17 August 1943, Sicily was taken and the last Axis forces crossed over to the Italian mainland. On 3 September 1943, the British Eighth Army landed on the Italian mainland at Reggio Calabria while the U.S. 5th Army landed at Salerno on 9 September 1943, a few hours after it was announced that Italy had signed an armistice. Adolf Hitler had other plans for Italy, and in response to the Italian armistice ordered Operation Achse on 8 September 1943, as the Germans turned against their Italian allies and occupied all of the parts of Italy not taken by the Allies. In response to the German occupation of Italy, neither Victor Emmanuel nor Marshal The 1st Duke of Addis Abeba made any effort at organised resistance; they instead issued vague instructions to the Italian military and civil servants to do their best, and fled Rome during the night of 8–9 September 1943. Not trusting his son, Victor Emmanuel had told Umberto nothing about his attempts to negotiate an armistice nor about his plans to flee Rome if the Germans should occupy it. For the first time in his life, Umberto openly criticised his father, saying the King of Italy should not be fleeing Rome and only reluctantly obeyed his father's orders to go south with him towards the Allied lines. The King and the rest of the Royal Family fled Rome via a car to Ortona, to board a corvette, the "Baionetta", that took them south. A small riot took place at the Ortona dock as about 200 senior-ranking Italian military officers, who had abandoned their commands and unexpectedly showed up, begged the King to take them with him. Almost all of them were refused permission to board, making the struggle to get to the head of the queue pointless. With the exceptions of Marshal Enrico Caviglia, General Calvi di Bergolo and General Antonio Sorice, the Italian generals simply abandoned their posts on the night of 8–9 September to try to flee south, which greatly facilitated the German take-over, as the "Regio Esercito" was left without senior leadership. On the morning of 9 September 1943, Umberto arrived with Victor Emmanuel and The Duke of Addis Abeba in Brindisi.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In September 1943, Italy was partitioned between the south of Italy, administered by the Italian government with an Allied Control Commission (ACC) having supervisory powers, while northern and central Italy were occupied by Germany with a puppet Italian Social Republic (popularly called the Salò Republic), headed by Mussolini holding nominal power. By 16 September 1943, a line had formed across Italy with everything to north held by the Germans and to the south by the Allies. Because of what Weinberg called the "extraordinary incompetence" of The Duke of Addis Abeba, who, like Victor Emmanuel, had not anticipated Operation Achse until it was far too late, thousands of Italian soldiers with no leadership were taken prisoner by the Germans without resisting in the Balkans, France and Italy itself, to be taken off to work as slave labour in factories in Germany, an experience that many did not survive. The way in which Victor Emmanuel mishandled the armistice was to become almost as controversial in Italy as his support for Fascism. Under the terms of the armistice, the ACC had the ultimate power with the Royal Italian Government in the south, being in many ways an analogous position to the Italian Social Republic under the Germans. However, as the British historian James Holland noted, the crucial difference was that: "In the south, Italy was now moving closer towards democracy". In the part of Italy under the control of the ACC, which issued orders to the Italian civil servants, a free press was allowed together with freedom of association and expression.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: During the years 1943–45, the Italian economy collapsed with much of the infrastructure destroyed, inflation rampant, the black market becoming the dominant form of economic activity, and food shortages reducing much of the population to the brink of starvation in both northern and southern Italy. In 1943–44, the cost of living in southern Italy skyrocketed by 321%, while it was estimated that people in Naples needed 2,000 calories per day to survive while the average Neapolitan was doing well if they consumed 500 calories a day in 1943–44. Naples in 1944 was described as a city without cats or dogs which had all been eaten by the Neapolitans, while much of the female population of Naples turned to prostitution in order to survive. As dire as the economic situation was in southern Italy, food shortages and inflation were even worse in northern Italy as the Germans carried out a policy of ruthless economic exploitation. Since the war in which Mussolini had involved Italy in 1940 had become such an utter catastrophe for the Italian people by 1943, it had the effect of discrediting all those associated with the Fascist system. The statement from Victor Emmanuel in late 1943 that he felt he bore no responsibility for Italy's plight, for appointing Mussolini as Prime Minister in 1922 and for entering the war in 1940, further increased his unpopularity and led to demands that he abdicate at once.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In northern Italy, a guerrilla war began against the fascists, both Italian and German, with most of the guerrilla units fighting under the banner of the National Liberation Committee ("Comitato di Liberazione Nazionale"-CLN), who were very strongly left-wing and republican. Of the six parties that made up the CLN, the Communists, the Socialists and the Action Party were republican; the Christian Democrats and the Labour Party were ambiguous on the "institutional question", and only the Liberal Party was committed to preserving the monarchy, though many individual Liberals were republicans. Only a minority of the partisan bands fighting for the CLN were monarchists, and none were led by a prince of the House of Savoy. After the war, Umberto claimed that he wanted to join the partisans, and only his wartime duties prevented him from doing so. The Italian Royal Court relocated itself to Brindisi in the south of Italy after fleeing Rome. In the fall of 1943, many Italian monarchists, like Benedetto Croce and Count Carlo Sforza, pressed for Victor Emmanuel III to abdicate and for Umberto to renounce his right to the succession in favour of his 6-year-old son, with a regency council to govern Italy as the best hope of saving the monarchy. Count Sforza tried to interest the British members of the ACC in this plan, calling Victor Emmanuel a "despicable weakling" and Umberto "a pathological case", saying neither were qualified to rule Italy. However, given the unwillingness of the King to abdicate, nothing came of it.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: At a meeting of the leading politicians from the six revived political parties on 13 January 1944 in Bari, the demand was made that the ACC should force Victor Emmanuel to abdicate to "wash away the shame of the past". Beyond removing Victor Emmanuel, which everyone at the Congress of Bari wanted, the Italian politicians differed, with some calling for a republic to be proclaimed at once, some willing to see Umberto succeed to the throne, others wanting Umberto to renounce his claim to the throne in favour of his son, and finally those who were willing to accept Umberto as "Luogotenente Generale del Regno" () to govern in place of his father. Since northern and central Italy were still occupied by Germany, it was finally decided at the Bari conference that the "institutional question" should be settled only once all of Italy was liberated, so all of the Italian people could have their say.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In the Salò Republic, Mussolini returned to his original republicanism and, as part of his attack on the House of Savoy, Fascist newspapers in the area under the control of the Italian Social Republic "outed" Umberto, calling him "Stellassa" ("Ugly Starlet" in the Piedmontese language). The Fascist newspapers reported in a lurid, sensationalist, and decidedly homophobic way Umberto's various relationships with men as a way of discrediting him. It was after Umberto was "outed" by the Fascist press in late 1943 that the issue of his homosexuality came to widespread public notice.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: As the Allies freed more and more of Italy from the Salò Republic, it became apparent that Victor Emmanuel was too tainted by his previous support of Fascism to have any further role. A sign of how unpopular the House of Savoy had become was that on 28 March 1944, when the Italian Communist leader Palmiro Togliatti returned to Italy after a long exile in the Soviet Union, he did not press for an immediate proclamation of a republic. Togliatti wanted the monarchy to continue as the best way of winning the Communists support after the war. For the same reason, Count Sforza wanted a republic as soon as possible, arguing the House of Savoy was far too closely associated with Fascism to enjoy moral legitimacy, and the only hope of establishing a liberal democracy in Italy after the war was a republic. By this point, the government of The 1st Duke of Addis Abeba was so unpopular with the Italian people that Umberto was willing to accept the support of any party with a mass following, even the Communists. The fact that, contrary to expectations, Togliatti and The Duke of Addis Abeba got along very well, led to widespread fears amongst liberal-minded Italians that a Togliatti-Addis Abeba duumvirate might emerge, forming an alliance between what rapidly was becoming Italy's largest mass party and the military. The power and influence of The Duke of Addis Abeba's government, based in Salerno, was very limited, but the entry of the Communists, followed by representatives of the other anti-Fascist parties, into the Cabinet of that government in April 1944 marked the moment when, as the British historian David Ellwood noted, "...anti-Fascism had compromised with the traditional state and the defenders of Fascism, and this compromise had been engineered by the Communist Party. A quite new phase in Italy's liberation was opening". Besides the "institutional question", the principle responsibility of the Royal Italian Government was reconstruction of the liberated areas of Italy. As the Allies pushed northwards, aside from the damage caused by the fighting, the retreating Germans systematically destroyed all of the infrastructure, leading to a humanitarian disaster in the liberated parts. Umberto, together with the rest of his father's government, spent time attempting to have humanitarian aid delivered.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Under strong pressure from Robert Murphy and Harold Macmillan of the ACC at a meeting on 10 April 1944, Victor Emmanuel transferred most of his powers to Umberto. The King bitterly told Lieutenant-General Sir Noel Mason-MacFarlane that Umberto was unqualified to rule, and that handing power over to him was equivalent to letting the Communists come to power. However, events had moved beyond Victor Emmanuel's ability to control. After Rome was liberated in June, Victor Emmanuel transferred his remaining constitutional powers to Umberto, naming his son Lieutenant General of the Realm. However, Victor Emmanuel retained the title and position of King. During his period as Regent, Umberto saw his father only three times, partly out of a bid to distance himself and partly because of tensions between father and son. Mack Smith wrote that Umberto was: "More attractive and outgoing than his father, he was even more a soldier at heart, and completely inexperienced as a politician...In personality less astute and intelligent than his father...less obstinate, he was far more open, affable and ready to learn".


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: As Regent, Umberto initially made a poor impression on almost everyone as he surrounded himself with Fascist-era generals as his advisers, spoke of the military as the basis of his power, frequently threatened to sue for libel anyone who made even the slightest critical remarks about the House of Savoy, and asked the ACC to censor the press to prevent the criticism of himself or his father. The British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, wrote after meeting Umberto, in a message to London, that he was "the poorest of poor creatures", and his only qualification for the throne was that he had more charm than his charmless father. The historian and philosopher Benedetto Croce, a minister in The Duke of Addis Abeba's cabinet, called Umberto "entirely insignificant" as he found the Prince of Piedmont to be shallow, vain, superficial, and of low intelligence, and alluding to his homosexuality stated his private life was "tainted by scandal".


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: The diplomat and politician Count Carlo Sforza wrote in his diary that Umberto was completely unqualified to be King as he called the prince "a stupid young man who knew nothing of the real Italy" and "he had been as closely associated with fascism as his father. In addition he is weak and dissipated, with a degenerate and even oriental disposition inherited from his Balkan mother". Sam Reber, an American official with the ACC, who had known Umberto before the war, met the prince in Naples in early 1944 and wrote he found him "greatly improved. The Balkan playboy period was over. But he has a weak face and, to judge by first meeting, has not, I should say, the personality to inspire confidence and devotion in others". More damaging, Victor Emmanuel let it be known that he regretted handing over his powers to his son, and made clear that he felt that Umberto was unfit to succeed him as part of a bid to take back his lost powers.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: After Togliatti and the Communists entered The Duke of Addis Abeba's cabinet, taking the oaths of loyalty to Umberto in the so-called "Svolta di Salerno" ("Salerno turn"), the leaders of the other anti-Fascist parties felt they had no choice but to join the cabinet as to continue to boycott it might lead Italy to being open to Communist domination. The other parties entered the cabinet on 22 April 1944 in order to preempt the Communists who joined the cabinet on 24 April. The Christian Democratic leader Alcide De Gasperi believed in 1944 that a popular vote would ensure a republic immediately, and sources from the Vatican suggested to him that only 25% of Italians favoured continuing the monarchy. The Catholic Church was in favour of Umberto, who, unlike his father, was a sincere Catholic who it was believed would keep the Communists out of power. However, De Gasperi admitted that though the monarchy was a conservative institution, "it was difficult to answer the argument that the monarchy had done little to serve the interests of the country or people during the past thirty years".


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto's own relations with the Allies were strained by his insistence that after the war Italy should keep all of its colonial empire, including Ethiopia and the parts of Yugoslavia that Mussolini had annexed in 1941. Both the British and Americans told Umberto that Ethiopia had its independence restored in 1941 and would not revert to Italian rule, while the Allies had promised that Yugoslavia would be restored to its pre-war frontiers after the war. Umberto later stated that he would have never signed the peace treaty of 1947 under which Italy renounced its empire. On 15 April 1944, in an interview with "The Daily Express", Umberto stated his hope that Italy would become a full Allied power, expressing his wish that the "Regia Marina" would fight in the Pacific against the Japanese Empire and the "Regio Esercito" would march alongside the other Allied armies in invading Germany. In the same interview, Umberto stated that he wanted post-war Italy to have a government "patterned on the British monarchy, and at the same time incorporating as much of America's political framework as possible". Umberto admitted that, in retrospect, his father had made grave mistakes as King and criticised Victor Emmanuel for a suffocating childhood, where he was never permitted to express his personality or hold views of his own. In the same interview, Umberto stated that his hope was to make Italy a democracy by executing "the vastest education programme Italy has ever seen" to eliminate illiteracy in Italy once and for all.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: A few days later, on 19 April 1944, Umberto in an interview with "The Times" complained that the ACC was too liberal in giving Italians too much freedom, as the commissioners "seemed to expect the Italian people to run before they could walk". In the same interview, Umberto demanded the ACC censor the Italian press to end the criticism of the Royal Family, and claimed he had no choice but to support Mussolini because otherwise he would have been disinherited. Finally, Umberto made the controversial statement that Mussolini "at first had the full support of the nation" in bringing Italy into the war in June 1940, and Victor Emmanuel III had only signed the declarations of war because "there was no sign that the nation wanted it otherwise. No single voice was raised in protest. No demand was made for summoning parliament". The interview with "The Times" caused a storm of controversy in Italy, with many Italians objecting to Umberto's claim that the responsibility for Italy entering the war rested with ordinary Italians and his apparent ignorance of the difficulties of holding public protests under the Fascist regime in 1940. Sforza wrote in his diary of his belief that Victor Emmanuel, "that little monster", had put Umberto up to the interview with the aim of discrediting his son. Croce wrote:"The Prince of Piedmont for twenty-two years has never shown any sign of acting independently of his father. Now he is simply repeating his father's arguments. He chooses to do this at the very moment when, having been designated lieutenant of the kingdom, he ought to be overcoming doubt and distrust as I personally hoped he would succeed in doing. To me it seems unworthy to try to unload the blame and errors of royalty on the people. I, an old monarchist, am therefore specially grieved when I see the monarchs themselves working to discredit the monarchy". Various Italian politicians had attempted to persuade the Allies to revise the armistice of 1943 in Italy's favour on the grounds that there was a difference between the Fascist regime and the Italian people. Umberto's statement that the House of Savoy bore no responsibility, when he asserted that the Italian people had been of one mind with Mussolini in June 1940, was widely seen as weakening the case for revising the armistice.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Most of the Committee of National Liberation (CLN) leaders operating underground in the north tended to lean in a republican direction, but were willing to accept Umberto temporarily out of the belief that his personality, together with widespread rumours about his private life, would ensure that he would not last long as either Lieutenant General of the Realm or as King, should his father abdicate. After the liberation of Rome on 6 June 1944, the various Italian political parties all applied strong pressure on Umberto to dismiss The 1st Duke of Addis Abeba as Prime Minister, as the Duke had loyally served the Fascist regime until the Royal coup on 25 July 1943, which resulted in the moderate socialist Ivanoe Bonomi being appointed Prime Minister. On 5 June 1944, Victor Emmanuel formally gave up his powers to Umberto, finally recognising his son as Lieutenant General of the Realm. After the liberation of Rome, Umberto received a warm welcome from ordinary people when he returned to the Eternal City. Mack Smith cautioned that the friendly reception that Umberto received in Rome may have been due to him being a symbol of normalcy after the harsh German occupation as opposed to genuine affection for the prince. During the German occupation, much of the Roman population had lived on the brink of starvation, young people had been arrested on the streets to be taken off to work as slave labour in Germany, while the Fascist "Milizia", together with the "Wehrmacht" and SS, had committed numerous atrocities. The Duke of Addis Abeba, by contrast, was greeted with widespread hostility when he returned to Rome, being blamed by many Italians as the man, together with the King, who was responsible for abandoning Rome to the Germans without a fight in September 1943.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto had ordered The Duke of Addis Abeba to bring in members of the Committee of National Liberation (CLN) into his cabinet, after the liberation of Rome, to broaden his basis of support and ensure national unity by preventing the emergence of a rival government. Umberto moved into the Quirinal Palace, while at The Grand Hotel the Rome branch of the CLN met with the cabinet. Speaking of behalf of the CLN in general, the Roman leadership of the CLN refused to join the cabinet as long it was headed by The Duke of Addis Abeba, but indicated that Bonomi was an acceptable choice as Prime Minister for them. Lieutenant-General Sir Noel Mason-MacFarlane of the ACC visited the Quirinal Palace and convinced Umberto to accept Bonomi as Prime Minister, on the grounds that the Crown needed to bring the CLN into the government, which required sacrificing The Duke of Addis Abeba. As Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were willing to see The Duke of Addis Abeba continue as Prime Minister, seeing him as a force for order, Umberto could have held out for him. However, as part of his efforts to distance himself from Fascism, Umberto agreed to appoint Bonomi as Prime Minister. Reflecting the tense "institutional question" of republic vs. monarchy, Umberto, when swearing in the Bonomi cabinet, allowed the ministers to take either their oaths to himself as the Lieutenant General of the Realm or to the Italian state; Bonomi himself chose to take his oath to Umberto while the rest of his cabinet chose to take their oaths only to the Italian state. Churchill especially disapproved of the replacement of Addis Abeba with Bonomi, complaining that, in his view, Umberto was being used by "a group of aged and hungry politicians trying to intrigue themselves into an undue share of power". Through the Allied occupation, the Americans were far more supportive of Italian republicanism than the British, with Churchill in particular believing the Italian monarchy was the only institution that was capable of preventing the Italian Communists from coming to power after the war.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Unlike the very conservative Duke of Addis Abeba, the socialist Bonomi started to move Italian politics in an increasing democratic direction as he argued that King Victor Emmanuel III, who had only turned against Mussolini when it was clear that the war was lost, was unfit to continue as monarch. On 25 June 1944, the Bonomi government, which like The Duke of Addis Abeba's government, ruled by Royal Decree as there was no parliament in Italy, had a Royal Decree issued in Umberto's name promising a Constituent Assembly for Italy after the war. As Umberto continued as regent, he surprised many, after his rocky start in the spring of 1944, with greater maturity and judgement than was expected. Croce advised him to make a break with his father by choosing his advisers from the democratic parties, and it was due to Croce's influence that Umberto appointed Falcone Lucifero, a socialist lawyer, as Minister of the Royal House. Lucifero suggested reforms, which were implemented, such as reducing the number of aristocrats and generals at the Royal Court, while bringing in people from all the regions of Italy instead of just Piedmont to make the Royal Court more representative of Italy.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto, in September 1944, vetoed an attempt by the Bonomi government to start an investigation of who was responsible for abandoning Rome in September 1943 as he feared that it would show his father was a coward. The same month, The Duke of Addis Abeba, who was kept on as an adviser by Umberto, made an offer to the British and the Americans on behalf of the regent in September 1944 for Italy to be governed by a triumvirate consisting of himself, Bonomi and another former Prime Minister, Vittorio Orlando, which purged the prefects in the liberated areas who were "agents of Togliatti and Nenni" with Fascist-era civil servants. The Duke of Addis Abeba also spoke of Umberto's desire not to lose any territory after the war to Greece, Yugoslavia and France. Addis Abeba's offer was rejected as Admiral Ellery W. Stone of the ACC was opposed to Umberto's plans to have Bonomi share power with The Duke of Addis Abeba and Orlando, seeing this as upsetting the delicately achieved political consensus for no other reason than to increase the Crown's power.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In October 1944, Umberto, in an interview with "The New York Times", stated that he favoured a referendum to decide whether Italy was to be a republic or a monarchy, instead of having the "institutional question" decided by the national assembly that would write Italy's post-war constitution. Umberto's interview caused some controversy as it was widely feared by the republican parties that a referendum would be rigged, especially in the south of Italy. In the same interview, Umberto mentioned his belief that, after the war, monarchies all over the world would move towards the left, and stated that under his leadership Italy would go leftwards "in an ordered, liberal way" as he understood "the weight of the past is the monarchy's greatest handicap", which he would resolve by a "radical revision" of the "Statuto Albertino". Umberto spoke favourably of Togliatti as he was "clever, agreeable, and easy to discuss problems with". In private, Umberto said he found Togliatti "to be a very congenial companion whose intelligence he respected, but was afraid that he suited his conversation according to his company".


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: By late 1944, the question of whether it was the CLN or the Crown that represented the Italian people came to a head. On 25 November 1944, Bonomi resigned as Prime Minister, saying he could not govern owing to his difficulties with the CLN, and as the politicians could not agree on a successor. Umberto used the impasse to reassert the Crown's powers. The crisis ended on 12 December 1944 with Umberto appointing a new government under Bonomi consisting of ministers from four parties, the most important of which were the Communists and the Christian Democrats. In response to objections from the CLN, Bonomi in practice accepted their claim that they represented the Italian people rather than the Crown, while still swearing an oath of loyalty to Umberto as the Lieutenant General of the Realm when he took the Prime Minister's oath. An attempt by Umberto to have Churchill issue a public statement in favour of the monarchy led Macmillan to warn Umberto to try to be more politically neutral as regent. However, Churchill, during a visit to Rome in January 1945, called Umberto "a far more impressive figure than the politicians". As a gesture to promote national unity after the traumas of the war, in June 1945, Umberto appointed as Prime Minister a prominent guerrilla leader, Ferruccio Parri.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: In December 1945, Umberto appointed a new more conservative government under Alcide De Gasperi. One of the first acts of the new government was to announce the High Commission for Sanctions Against Fascism would cease operating as of 31 March 1946, and to start purging from the liberated areas of northern Italy civil servants appointed by the CLN, restoring the career civil servants who had served the Fascist regime back to their former posts. Over the opposition of the left-wing parties who wanted the "institutional question" resolved by the Constituent Assembly, De Gasperi announced that a referendum would be held to decide the "institutional question". At the same time, Italian women were given the right to vote and to hold official office for the first time, again over the opposition of the left-wing parties, who viewed Italian women as more conservative than their menfolk, and believed that female suffrage would benefit the monarchist side in the referendum. The monarchists favoured putting off the referendum as long as possible, out of the hope that a return to normalcy would cause the Italians to take a more favourable view of their monarchy, while the republicans wanted a referendum as soon as possible, hoping that wartime radicalisation would work in their favour.


title: Umberto II of Italy

text: Umberto earned widespread praise for his role in the following three years, with the Italian historian Giuseppe Mammarella calling Umberto a man "whose Fascist past was less compromising" than that of Victor Emmanuel and who, as Lieutenant General of the Realm, showed certain "progressive" tendencies. In April 1946, a public opinion poll of registered members of the conservative Christian Democratic party showed that 73% were republicans, a poll that caused immense panic in the monarchist camp. The American historian Norman Kogan cautioned the poll was of Christian Democratic members, which was not the same thing as Christian Democratic voters who tended to be "...rural, female, or generally apolitical". Nonetheless, the poll led to appeals from Umberto to the ACC to postpone the referendum, leading to the reply that the De Gasperi cabinet had set the date for the referendum, not the ACC. The possibility of losing the referendum also led to the monarchists to appeal to Victor Emmanuel to finally abdicate. De Gasperi and the other Christian Democratic leaders refused to take sides in the referendum, urging Christian Democratic voters to follow their consciences when it came time to vote.