Enrico Viarisio

Who was Enrico Viarisio?

Enrico Viarisio was an Italian theatre and cinema actor.

Equipped of a fine and elegant humour, Viarisio began his professional theatrical career at the age of 20. He began with the role of amoroso or male lover in the Carini-Gentili-Betrone theatre company, then passed to Talli-Melato-Betrone, Antonio Gandusio, Dyne Galli, and Nino Besozzi, and the Merlini-Cialente-Bagni company. To raise the company's small profits, Viarisio became the repertory comedian.

Bourgeois audiences appreciated Viarisio's "brilliance" — richly communicative, effervescent, and perfectly to their comfort — in amusing light comedies. In the sentimental comedies and white-telephone cinema of the 1930s, Viarisio was a constant figure, with his moustache and his black, shining hair combed to the back. He was the elegant interpreter of various pleasant stories adapted to film from the stage, such as Non ti conosco più by Nunzio Malasomma, L'uomo che sorride and Questi ragazzi by Mario Mattoli. Often he remained in the limits of the genre, but in some cases showed admirable creativity in his performances, keeping them fresh and memorable. This can be seen to best advantage in films like Il cappello a tre punte by Mario Camerini, Cavalleria by Goffredo Alessandrini and Quattro passi fra le nuvole by Allesandro Blasetti.