# Eduardo Ciannelli

Eduardo Ciannelli (30 August 1888 – 8 October 1969) was an Italian baritone and character actor with a long career in American films, mostly playing gangsters and criminals. He was sometimes credited as Edward Ciannelli.

## Early life

Ciannelli was born in Lacco Ameno, on the island of Ischia, where his father, a doctor, owned a health spa. He studied surgery at the University of Naples, and worked briefly as a doctor, but his love of grand opera and the dramatic stage won out and he became a successful baritone, singing at La Scala and touring Europe.
He went to the United States from the Port of Naples as a first cabin saloon passenger on board the steamship San Guglielmo, which arrived at the Port of New York on 19 March 1914. In New York, he appeared on Broadway in Oscar Hammerstein II's first musical Always You and later in Rose-Marie. He appeared in Theatre Guild productions in the late 1920s, co-starring with the Lunts (Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne), and Katharine Cornell. During that period, he appeared in Uncle Vanya, The Inspector General, and The Front Page. In 1935, he played Trock Estrella in Maxwell Anderson's Winterset on Broadway and repeated his performance in the film version (1936). He played Cauchon in Shaw's Saint Joan in 1936, after which he left Broadway permanently, except for one notable occasion when he returned to play in Dore Schary's play The Devil's Advocate in 1961 and receive a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor.

## Career on screen

His Hollywood career consists of close to 150 film and television appearances. Notable among these are Marked Woman (1937) with Bette Davis, Strange Cargo (1940) with Joan Crawford and Clark Gable, and perhaps his most famous role, as the fanatical Thuggee guru in Gunga Din (1939) with Cary Grant. In the 1940 serial Mysterious Doctor Satan, he played the eponymous villain, an evil scientist with an army of robots.
In the 1950s and throughout the 1960s, he divided his time among Italian films such as The City Stands Trial, directed by Luigi Zampa, Attila (1954) with Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren, Helen of Troy (1956), appearances in American TV shows such as Climax Mystery Theater, The Time Tunnel, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Johnny Staccato, The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor, Dr. Kildare and a few films including Houseboat (1958), The Visit (1964), The Chase (1966) with Marlon Brando, and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969), with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani.

## Personal life and death

Ciannelli was married to Alma Wolfe from 1918 until her death (1968). They had two sons, Eduardo and Lewis E. Ciannelli, who is also an actor.
On 8 October 1969, Ciannelli died in Rome, and was interred in the Cimitero Flaminio.

## Filmography

| Year | Film | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1917 | The Food Gamblers | The Italian | Albert Parker | |
| 1931 | Così è la vita | | | |
| 1933 | Reunion in Vienna | Pofferoff aka Poffy | Sidney Franklin | |
| 1935 | The Scoundrel | Maurice Stern | Charles MacArthur | |
| 1936 | Winterset | Trock Estrella | | |
| 1937 | Criminal Lawyer | Larkin | Jimmy Anderson (assistant) | |
| 1937 | Marked Woman | Johnny Vanning | Michael Curtiz | |
| 1937 | The League of Frightened Men | Paul Chapin | Alfred E. Green | |
| 1937 | The Girl from Scotland Yard | Franz Jorg | Robert G. Vignola | |
| 1937 | Super-Sleuth | Professor Herman | Ben Stoloff | |
| 1937 | On Such a Night | Ice Richmond | Ewald André Dupont | |
| 1937 | Hitting a New High | Andreas Mazzini | Raoul Walsh | |
| 1938 | Law of the Underworld | Rocky | Lew Landers | |
| 1938 | Blind Alibi | Mitch | Lew Landers | |
| 1939 | Risky Business | Philip Decarno | Arthur Lubin | |
| 1939 | Gunga Din | Guru | George Stevens | |
| 1939 | Society Lawyer | Jim Crelliman | Edwin L. Marin | |
| 1939 | Bulldog Drummond's Bride | Henri Armides | James P. Hogan | |
| 1939 | The Angels Wash Their Faces | Martino | Ray Enright | |
| 1940 | Strange Cargo | Telez | Frank Borzage | |
| 1940 | Outside the Three-Mile Limit | Dave Reeves | Lewis D. Collins | |
| 1940 | Zanzibar | Koski | Harold Schuster | |
| 1940 | Forgotten Girls | Gorno | Phil Rosen | |
| 1940 | Foreign Correspondent | Mr. Krug | Alfred Hitchcock | |
| 1940 | The Mummy's Hand | The High Priest | Christy Cabanne | |
| 1940 | Mysterious Doctor Satan | Doctor Satan | | |
| 1940 | Kitty Foyle | Giono | Sam Wood | |
| 1941 | Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery | Count Brett | James P. Hogan | |
| 1941 | Sky Raiders | Felix Lynx | Ray Taylor | |
| 1941 | They Met in Bombay | Giovanni Riccio, Hotel Manager | Clarence Brown | |
| 1941 | I Was a Prisoner on Devil's Island | Dr. Victor Martel | Lew Landers | |
| 1941 | Paris Calling | Mouche | Edwin L. Marin | |
| 1942 | Dr. Broadway | Vic Telli | Anthony Mann | |
| 1942 | Cairo | Ahmed Ben Hassan | W. S. Van Dyke | |
| 1942 | You Can't Escape Forever | Boss Greer | Jo Graham | |
| 1943 | For Whom the Bell Tolls | Johnny Salvini | Sam Wood | Uncredited |
| 1943 | They Got Me Covered | Baldanacco | David Butler | |
| 1943 | The Constant Nymph | Roberto | Edmund Goulding | |
| 1943 | Adventures of the Flying Cadets | Kurt von Helger, alias Corby | Ray Taylor | |
| 1944 | Passage to Marseille | Chief Engineer | Michael Curtiz | |
| 1944 | The Mask of Dimitrios | Marukakis | Jean Negulesco | |
| 1944 | The Conspirators | Police Colonel Almeida | Jean Negulesco | |
| 1944 | Storm Over Lisbon | Blanco | George Sherman | |
| 1945 | Dillinger | Marco Minelli | Max Nosseck | |
| 1945 | A Bell for Adano | Maj. Nasta | Henry King | |
| 1945 | Incendiary Blonde | Nick the Greek | George Marshall | |
| 1945 | Crime Doctor's Warning | Nick Petroni | William Castle | Uncredited |
| 1946 | Gilda | Cartel Member | Charles Vidor | Uncredited |
| 1946 | Perilous Holiday | Señor Aguirre | Edward H. Griffith | |
| 1946 | The Wife of Monte Cristo | Jacques Antoine | Edgar G. Ulmer | |
| 1946 | Heartbeat | Baron Ferdinand Dvorak | Sam Wood | |
| 1946 | Joe Palooka, Champ | Florini | Reginald Le Borg | |
| 1947 | California | Padre | John Farrow | |
| 1947 | Seven Keys to Baldpate | Cargan | Lew Landers | |
| 1947 | The Lost Moment | Father Rinaldo | Martin Gabel | |
| 1947 | The Crime Doctor's Gamble | Maurice Duval | William Castle | |
| 1947 | Rose of Santa Rosa | Don José de Garfias | Ray Nazarro | |
| 1948 | I Love Trouble | John Vega Caprillo | S. Sylvan Simon | |
| 1948 | On Our Merry Way | Maxim | King Vidor | |
| 1948 | To the Victor | Firago | Delmer Daves | |
| 1948 | The Creeper | Dr. Van Glock | Jean Yarbrough | |
| 1949 | Prince of Foxes | Art Dealer | Henry King | Uncredited |
| 1950 | Volcano | Giulio | William Dieterle | |
| 1950 | Fugitive Lady | Ralph Clementi | | |
| 1950 | Pact with the Devil | Giacomo Mola | Luigi Chiarini | |
| 1950 | The Fighting Men | Barone Occhipinti | Roberto Savarese | |
| 1950 | Rapture | Arnaldo | Goffredo Alessandrini | |
| 1951 | The People Against O'Hara | Sol 'Knuckles' Lanzetta | John Sturges | |
| 1951 | It's Love That's Ruining Me | Capo delle spie | Mario Soldati | |
| 1952 | Lieutenant Giorgio | Barone di Polia | Raffaello Matarazzo | |
| 1952 | The City Stands Trial | Alfonso Navona | Luigi Zampa | |
| 1952 | Prisoners of Darkness | Marchese Rionero | Enrico Bomba | |
| 1953 | Voice of Silence | | G. W. Pabst | |
| 1953 | Sul ponte dei sospiri | Inquisitore | | |
| 1953 | I Vinti | Claudio's father | Michelangelo Antonioni | |
| 1953 | The Ship of Condemned Women | Michele | Raffaello Matarazzo | |
| 1954 | The Stranger's Hand | Dr. Vivaldi | Mario Soldati | |
| 1954 | Mambo | Il padre di Giovanna | Robert Rossen | |
| 1954 | Uomini ombra | Ammiraglio Zora | | |
| 1954 | Attila | Onegesius, counsellor to Attila | Pietro Francisci | |
| 1954 | Proibito | Vescovo | Mario Monicelli | |
| 1954 | La tua donna | Public Prosecutor | Giovanni Paolucci | |
| 1955 | New Moon | don Giuseppe | Luigi Capuano | |
| 1956 | Helen of Troy | Andros | Robert Wise | |
| 1956 | I Love Lucy | Mr. Martinelli | | |
| 1957 | Il ricatto di un padre | Alessandro Arlandi | | |
| 1957 | Monster from Green Hell | Mahri | Kenneth G. Crane | |
| 1958 | Tumulto de Paixões | | | |
| 1958 | Houseboat | Arturo Zaccardi | Melville Shavelson | |
| 1959 | Wagon Train | Clyrio Soriano | | |
| 1962 | The Untouchables | Gregory Pindar / Joe Genna | | |
| 1962 - 1965 | Insight | Friedrich Nietzsche / Prisoner | | |
| 1964 | The Visit | Innkeeper | Bernhard Wicki | |
| 1964 | Grand Canyon Massacre | Eric Dancer | Stanley Corbett | |
| 1966 | The Chase | Party Guest | Arthur Penn | Uncredited |
| 1966 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | Arturo 'Fingers' Stilletto / Carlo Farenti | | |
| 1967 | The Time Tunnel | Count Enrico Galba | | |
| 1967 | The Spy in the Green Hat | Arturo 'Fingers' Stilletto | Joseph Sargent | |
| 1968 | The Brotherhood | Don Peppino | Martin Ritt | |
| 1969 | Mackenna's Gold | Prairie Dog | J. Lee Thompson | |
| 1969 | Stiletto | Don Andrea | Bernard L. Kowalski | |
| 1969 | The Secret of Santa Vittoria | Luigi | Stanley Kramer | |
| 1969 | Boot Hill | Judge Boone | Giuseppe Colizzi | |
| 1970 | The Syndicate: A Death in the Family | Parker | Piero Zuffi | (final film role) |

## Selected Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1958 | Have Gun - Will Travel | Renato Donatello | Season 1 Episode 23: "Bitter Wine" |
| 1959 | Have Gun - Will Travel | The Father | Season 2 Episode 39: "Gold and Brimstone" |
| 1962 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Priest | Season 7 Episode 19: "Strange Miracle" |
| 1962 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Mr. Marino | Season 7 Episode 20: "The Test" |