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Luis Alberni

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Luis Alberni
Luis Alberni in Hats Off (1936)
Born(1886-10-04)October 4, 1886
Barcelona, Spain
DiedDecember 23, 1962(1962-12-23) (aged 76)
Motion Picture Television Fund Woodland Hills, Ca, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1915–1956
Spouse
Charlotte Hall Alberni
​
​
(m. 1919; div. 1940)​
Wanda Mary Wilson Alberni
​
​
(m. 1940)​

Luis Alberni (October 4, 1886 – December 23, 1962), a Spanish-born American, was a character actor of stage and films.[1][2][3]

Biography

Luis Alberni is a founding father of the Screen Actors Guild. SAG #36-A.

Alberni was born in Barcelona, Spain. Following in the footsteps of his father, he majored in law while attending the University of Madrid.

But destined for other gallivant adventures, young Alberni soon became bored and exhausted with the long-winded trials during his studies at the university. Alberni dropped out of school after being inspired by the traveling circuses of the day. Growing up as Spanish Royalty ultimately meant one thing to Luis: do as your parents want! Alberni's father worked beneath King Alphonso's royal throne as Magistrate, a connection Alberni would later on in the tabloid interviews rant about to sensationalize his Spanish heritage. The first time Luis ran away was at age 16 in 1902; he lived on the fringes of society, learning to act and perform working as a clown in a traveling Circus in Southern France. He began to develop himself alongside the most off the wall, and most bizarre people of the day, and all the while just barely scraping to survive.

Alberni started to realize his great destiny having become quite the talented performer in Marseilles. But hungry and broke he crawled back home and begged for his father's forgiveness. He was to join the Spanish Cavalry and go back to school. However, a greater opportunity had presented itself - discovering Enrique Barasm, an actor of quite prominent fame in Spain at a cafe. Luis ran to implore of the man, and used his explosive displays of emotions he learned from his circus days, with tears trickling down his face to sway. He convinced the actor to give him an opportunity at performing, but this time on stage. Enrique, very much convinced, agreed and so Alberni left for Paris once more in order to join a stock company. In these days, Alberni played grey-haired grandfathers, juvenile lovers, middle-aged executives - and he played them straight.

He began to study Shakespeare. While performing Hamlet, Alberni discovered that comedy may be his forte. His rare and innate gift of human expression was seasoned dramatically from his carnival days; the audience, struggled to hold back laughter and eventually screamed in hysterics, leading Alberni to believe that comedy was his calling card.

In the 1920s, Billboard magazine released an article that stated, "Alberni performs 120 roles on stage in just three years." It all took place in Europe. This was before his career span in the U.S., which spanned over a half of a century. His dreams of success were soon becoming a reality, he knew like everyone else could tell, there was more in store for the man with the great mobile facial expressions.

The Spanish Cavalry, studies of law, the typical boring normal life, made him utterly sick and ill. Luis wanted more. He had the bright idea of going to the U.S. to perform on the great Broadway stage, and if all else failed, he could make a great living translating American motion pictures into Spanish language. Often credited with the added "o" for "Louis Alberni," performing on stage, Alberni - the Modern day Shakespearean actor - was finally getting the recognition he had hoped for, all the while, his name was starting to appear in newspaper headlines, Luis was becoming the comic the world knows. Natives in France and Spain found him hysterically sensational, a sensation the United States was now lucky to witness. Fluent in 6 languages in his European days not long before, he immersed himself in the operas of the day. Opera was his specialty, not only was his stage presence as amusing to watch as one can deliver, his musical talent backing it was not bad either, in fact, not bad at all. Alberni was a musical maestro on the piano keys and rumor has it, Violin, and if that's not enough, his vocality alone was a force to behold, he could serenade with the best of them.

He tried to convey this to his parents before his ultimate leave from his home of Spain some time before, but to his dismay, or quite possibly favor, his father would have none of it! And the great Alberni wasnt about to pass up an even greater oppurtunity sticking around, trying to convince.

"Very rarely will you find the talent nowadays, that can match what Alberni had. My dear friend actress Helene Udy has it!

My papa was a part of a special group of entertainers - specialty types - that would just hang around the studios for whenever and whatever they were needed for, they were a whole array of unusual character archetypes, the most interesting and colorful personalities in the world, and they gave so much to the films that they acted in, supplying loads of amazement and character. Without their grand addition, the films would have been boring. One of the greatest things about our beloved papa I aspire to achieve as an actor myself, is that when you watch him in the movies perform, his face has every expression in it known to man moving with it, his eyes can achieve virtually any expression - and a high grade talent very rarely found - is that his body with all its stage like virtuosity, effortlessly compliments his ongoing expressions non-stop. He works from head to fingertips to toe's to inside the gut, bringing forth a voice along with it all so extremely recognizable. The sum of it all is a true class act, an entertainers entertainer, an ultimate force of expression!"

- Says Wanda Ward Lafargo's grandson, Anthony Carrillo.

Not yet knowing the English language which he soon taught himself, he pennilessly left Europe in search of a career. In order to pursue his acting and quite possibly, film translating, he determined to emigrate to the United States and, in April 1912, he sailed to New York City into Ellis Island as a steerage passenger aboard the S/S Nieuw Amsterdam, a sister to Harland and wolff's famous tragedy, the RMS Titanic. In New York, he acted nearly non-stop on both stage and screen. His first motion picture performance was in the 1915 Jewish drama, Children of the Ghetto. On the stage, he appeared in more than a dozen Broadway plays between 1915 and 1928, including 39 East, Dreams for Sale and the original production of What Price Glory? in 1924–1925. In the sound film era, he had notable roles as Jacopo in The Count of Monte Cristo (1934),[4] as Mr. Louis Louis in Easy Living (1937), and as the mayor in A Bell for Adano (1945), and so far to date, the most revolutionary portrayal by The excitably Mad Luis Alberni is the amped up psychotic cat killer role of Metzger!

The reaction to Alberni's psychotic screen character which Anthony Carrillo filmed in 2019 in a group interview outside the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood California, explores the ongoing sensation Alberni still and will always be known for. Film lovers in attendance, say things like "Wow" " He's a Tour de Force" "groundbreaking" or "Vaudeville on steroids" ....

The Mad, I mean very Mad Scientist, is noted now to be the first role of Mad Scientist championed during the early 1930s talkie period. Alberni, has made history with his mind bending performance, declaring him "The greatest Mad Scientist!" A film way far ahead of it's time, and most likely "the greatest dark-film of the 1930s"

TRICK FOR TRICK (1933) stands as a true testament to the reason why Luis Alberni (one of the golden age's most busiest character actors) was so popular throughout his extraordinarily sensational life. A well known Classic Hollywood film collector and distributor with numbers in the thousands, believes Luis is the greatest Mad Scientist in history, and the first. He says too, "Metzger is the role Alberni was born to play!"

One can easily see Alberni amongst his peers and contemporaries living well loved, respected, and greatly admired, it's no wonder the reasons why, before his demise, everyone who knew the veteran character actor - in his presence or not - knew that the great Alberni was in fact a living legend in his lifetime.

At the age of 76, he died at the motion picture actors' home in Woodland Hills, California in 1962 of a heart attack, battling chronic emphysema as well, due to his endless habit of smoking non-filtered Chesterfield cigarettes, he had been sick for some years. Wanda Ward - Lafargo, the only granddaughter of Wanda Mary Alberni, recalls some moments of Alberni's last years on this earth, stating, "He smoked so incessantly, one after the other, put one out, light one up, and so on, with his fingers yellow from the cigarettes, he would use his hand to slick his hair back. His hair at the time was no longer the shiny black beautiful curly hair my Momma fell in love with, and from all the smoking - I most vividly remember papa - he would leave a streak of nicotine in his hair" "My Momma, his last wife, would always say," "I fell in love with Papa's shiny curly slicked back hair." When Alberni died on December 23 1962, he left behind his 3 sons, John, Louis, and Carlos, along with his wife Wanda of Woodland Hills. For the notable deaths of 1962, and in rank of popularity, Norma Jean Baker famously known as Marilyn Monroe ranks #1, Charles Laughton ranks #2 and Luis Alberni ranks #45, the list includes 1,222 deaths of celebrities and historical names, Alberni surpassed all but 44 historical names and figures, and ranking higher than Eleanor Roosevelt, and even mobster Charles Luciano, known as "Lucky Luciano". He appears in the category total of 91 names "the most recognizable voices of classic cinema." And is noted in the category "eternal flames." NNDB database ranks Luis Alberni as #1, "coolest headshot in the world."

On December 27th 1962, funeral services for the veteran character actor were held. Members of the Masquers Club of Hollywood California served as pallbearers. His remains are interred at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in Burbank California, not so far away from the "Portal of the Folded Wings", a stunning enormous shrine built in honor of Aviation and Amelia Earhart. Looking into the sky from the cemetery, are the endless travelers on board aircraft departing and returning into the Bob Hope Airport.[clarification needed]

Luis Alberni, a warm and charming funny man, who throughout his life made millions of people laugh and still continues to, lies lonely since January 1963 beneath an unmarked grave.

Complete filmography

References

  1. ^ Nugent, Frank S. (1939-02-19). "THE SCREEN; ' When You're in Love' Opens at the Music Hall--The Capitol Presents 'The Last of Mrs. Cheyney'". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  2. ^ "A Behind-the-Scenes Farce". New York Times. 1932-04-22. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  3. ^ Nugent, Frank S. (1937-12-31). "THE SCREEN IN REVIEW; Jacques Deval's Light Comedy, 'Tovarich,' Is Shown at the Music Hall--'Rosalie' at the Capitol--'Manhattan Merry-Go-Round' at Criterion". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  4. ^ Sennwald, Andre (1934-09-27). "A First-Rate Film Version of "The Count of Monte Cristo," at the Rivoli -- "Servant's Entrance."". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-01.


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