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Subject: Child Actor Enzo Staiola 1939-2025 Author: jlp [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 06/ 5/25 7:54:48am R.I.P: One of the most adorable child stars ever to grace world cinema, Enzo Staiola, who has died aged 85, on June 4, 2025, in Rome, was plucked from the streets aged seven to star in the neorealist “Bicycle Thieves” (1948). • Director Vittorio De Sica was distraught with the crowd while shooting a scene when Enzo appeared out of the blue. Enzo, who was born in Rome in 1939, near the Colosseum and grew up in the working-class district of Garbatella, was hired on the spot on the sole basis of his walk! • Often considered one of the best films of all time, set in Post-War Italy, working class Antonio Ricci (played by Lamberto Maggiorani) bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find work. Previously, Antonio had put his son Bruno (played by Enzo) on ‘look-out’ and out of sheer desperation, becomes a bicycle thief himself. • The success of the film, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1949, catapulted Enzo Staiola into the international spotlight as one of the most famous child actors in film history and as a symbol of 1950’s Italian Cinema. • Producers were quick to capitalize on the youngster’s success. He was immediately given a supporting role in the drama “Marechiaro” (1949), directed by Giorgio Ferroni; joined Anna Magnani and Rossano Brazzi in the steamy drama “Volcano”; and teamed with Gina Lollobrigida and Raf Vallone in the WWII drama “Cuori senza frontiere” (both 1950). • Enzo was given parts in international films too, including the B-picture crime drama “I’ll Get You for This” (1951), with George Raft and Coleen Gray; “A Tale of Five Women” (1951), and perhaps most famously, as the cheeky Busboy in “The Barefoot Contessa” (1954), starring Humphrey Bogart, Ava Gardner and Edmund O’Brien, for United Artists • Enzo last appeared in front of the camera in 1978, after a long break, in the film “Payday 2”. In adulthood, however, he worked as a mathematics teacher but occasionally gave interviews about his past life as a child star. • • #iusedtobeinpictures #enzostaiola #bicyclethieves #vittoriodesica #thebarefootcontessa #childstar #classicitaliancinema #iconicfilm #worldcinema #rip2025 Edited · 3h https://www.instagram.com/p/DKg1Sq0tPJ9/ [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]