Enrico Glori (1901-1966) was a talented and experienced character actor in over 126 French and Italian films between 1934 and 1963. The Italian specialised in sadistic, treacherous and violent roles.
![Enrico Glori]()
Italian postcard by B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze) Editori, no. 2188. Photo: Bragaglia.
![Enrico Glori]()
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3174/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz / Difu.
Enrico Glori was born as Enrico Musy in Naples in 1901, into a rich and wealthy Neapolitan family of remote French origins.
He graduated in law, and at the age of thirty, he moved to France where for a period he worked as a journalist. He also took an interest in theater. In Paris, he inaugurated and directed the Teatro degli Italiani for three years and during this activity, he came into contact with Pierre Chenal and Sacha Guitry who convinced him to try the experience of cinema.
Enrico Glori made his debut as a film actor in La Rue sans nom/Street Without a Name (Pierre Chenal, 1934), starring Constant Rémy and Gabriel Gabrio. In France, Glori also played several character roles on stage.
In 1937, he returned to Italy, when Chenal convinced him to accept a role in the film version of Il fu Mattia Pascal/He Was Mattia Pascal (Pierre Chenal, 1937) with Pierre Blanchar and Isa Miranda.
Following this interpretation, between the late 1930s and early 1940s, Glori was constantly assigned roles of perfidious, cruel and devious men, thanks also to his physical adherence to these characters. Together with Osvaldo Valenti, he became the villain par excellence of the Italian cinema of the time.
Glori never obtained leading parts, except for the brilliant title character of Il barone di Corbò/Baron Corbo (Gennaro Righelli, 1939), based on the eponymous play by Luigi Antonelli.
![Enrico Glori in I promessi sposi (1941)]()
Italian postcard by S.A. Grafitalia, Milano (Milan), no. 5. Photo: Film Lux. Enrico Glori as Don Rodrigo (far right at the table) in I promessi Sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941).
![I promessi sposi (1941)]()
Italian postcard by S.A. Grafitalia, Milano (Milan), no. 6. Photo: Film Lux. Publicity still for I Promessi Sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941). Don Rodrigo (Enrico Glori) chases Padre Cristoforo (Luis Hurtado) from his house. He refuses to allow Renzo and Lucia to marry because he wants Lucia for himself.
![Enrico Glori in I promessi sposi (1941)]()
Italian postcard by S.A. Grafitalia, Milano (Milan), no. 10. Photo: Film Lux. Enrico Glori as Don Rodrigo in I Promessi Sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941).
Among Enrico Glori's most notable interpretations of this period are the smuggler of Sotto la croce del sud/Under the Southern Cross (Guido Brignone, 1938) who pays for his faults by dying atrociously in the quicksands, the criminal head of staff Bertini at the department store in Grandi magazzini/Department Store (Mario Camerini, 1939), and the cowardly murderer Lorenzo Loredano in Il fornaretto di Venezia/The bakery boy of Venice (Duilio Coletti, 1939)
He is best remembered as the cruel and lustful Don Rodrigo in the 1941 film version of I promessi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941), adapted from the classic novel 'I promessi sposi' (The Betrothed) by Alessandro Manzoni.
The repetitiveness of these roles, however, led Glori, after the war, to alternate acting in films with theatrical activity. In 1949 he starred with Lamberto Picasso and Camillo Pilotto in 'Corruzione al palazzo di giustizia' (Corruption at the courthouse), a drama written by Ugo Betti and directed by Orazio Spadaro. Also in the same year, on the occasion of performances of D'Annunzio's plays, he appeared in Pescara in 'La figlia di Iorio' (Iorio's Daughter), with Camillo Pilotto and Elena Zareschi.
In 1957 he became part of the Torrieri-Pisu stage company. In the same period, Glori worked in several films directed among others by Raffaello Matarazzo, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni, Alberto Lattuada, Eduardo De Filippo, and Mauro Bolognini.
Federico Fellini wanted him for the umpteenth role of 'villain' in the orgy scene of La dolce vita (1960). He also appeared in many mythological Peplum films, always in antagonistic, minor roles.
Glori also acted on television in several screenplays, but always limited himself to secondary roles, under directors such as Sandro Bolchi, Daniele D'Anza, Edmo Fenoglio, Mario Lanfranchi, Mario Landi, and Anton Giulio Majano.
In 1966, due to health problems, Glori stopped all activities. Shortly after retiring from the scene, he died in Rome on 22 April 1966. Enrico Glori was married to the actress Gianna Pacetti with whom he had a son, Gianni Musy, who would become an actor and voice actor. His granddaughters are the actresses Mascia Musy and Maria Stella Musy.
![Enrico Glori]()
Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Edizioni, Roma), no. 253. Photo: Bragaglia / Atlas Tirrenia.
![Enrico Glori]()
Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Edizioni Roma), no. 257. Photo: De Antonis.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb. Click here for Glori in Grandi Magazzini, and here for the quicksand scene in Sotto la croce del sud.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze) Editori, no. 2188. Photo: Bragaglia.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 3174/1, 1941-1944. Photo: Binz / Difu.
Perfidious, cruel and devious men
Enrico Glori was born as Enrico Musy in Naples in 1901, into a rich and wealthy Neapolitan family of remote French origins.
He graduated in law, and at the age of thirty, he moved to France where for a period he worked as a journalist. He also took an interest in theater. In Paris, he inaugurated and directed the Teatro degli Italiani for three years and during this activity, he came into contact with Pierre Chenal and Sacha Guitry who convinced him to try the experience of cinema.
Enrico Glori made his debut as a film actor in La Rue sans nom/Street Without a Name (Pierre Chenal, 1934), starring Constant Rémy and Gabriel Gabrio. In France, Glori also played several character roles on stage.
In 1937, he returned to Italy, when Chenal convinced him to accept a role in the film version of Il fu Mattia Pascal/He Was Mattia Pascal (Pierre Chenal, 1937) with Pierre Blanchar and Isa Miranda.
Following this interpretation, between the late 1930s and early 1940s, Glori was constantly assigned roles of perfidious, cruel and devious men, thanks also to his physical adherence to these characters. Together with Osvaldo Valenti, he became the villain par excellence of the Italian cinema of the time.
Glori never obtained leading parts, except for the brilliant title character of Il barone di Corbò/Baron Corbo (Gennaro Righelli, 1939), based on the eponymous play by Luigi Antonelli.
Italian postcard by S.A. Grafitalia, Milano (Milan), no. 5. Photo: Film Lux. Enrico Glori as Don Rodrigo (far right at the table) in I promessi Sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941).
Italian postcard by S.A. Grafitalia, Milano (Milan), no. 6. Photo: Film Lux. Publicity still for I Promessi Sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941). Don Rodrigo (Enrico Glori) chases Padre Cristoforo (Luis Hurtado) from his house. He refuses to allow Renzo and Lucia to marry because he wants Lucia for himself.
Italian postcard by S.A. Grafitalia, Milano (Milan), no. 10. Photo: Film Lux. Enrico Glori as Don Rodrigo in I Promessi Sposi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941).
Fellini wanted him for the umpteenth villain role
Among Enrico Glori's most notable interpretations of this period are the smuggler of Sotto la croce del sud/Under the Southern Cross (Guido Brignone, 1938) who pays for his faults by dying atrociously in the quicksands, the criminal head of staff Bertini at the department store in Grandi magazzini/Department Store (Mario Camerini, 1939), and the cowardly murderer Lorenzo Loredano in Il fornaretto di Venezia/The bakery boy of Venice (Duilio Coletti, 1939)
He is best remembered as the cruel and lustful Don Rodrigo in the 1941 film version of I promessi/The Spirit and the Flesh (Mario Camerini, 1941), adapted from the classic novel 'I promessi sposi' (The Betrothed) by Alessandro Manzoni.
The repetitiveness of these roles, however, led Glori, after the war, to alternate acting in films with theatrical activity. In 1949 he starred with Lamberto Picasso and Camillo Pilotto in 'Corruzione al palazzo di giustizia' (Corruption at the courthouse), a drama written by Ugo Betti and directed by Orazio Spadaro. Also in the same year, on the occasion of performances of D'Annunzio's plays, he appeared in Pescara in 'La figlia di Iorio' (Iorio's Daughter), with Camillo Pilotto and Elena Zareschi.
In 1957 he became part of the Torrieri-Pisu stage company. In the same period, Glori worked in several films directed among others by Raffaello Matarazzo, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni, Alberto Lattuada, Eduardo De Filippo, and Mauro Bolognini.
Federico Fellini wanted him for the umpteenth role of 'villain' in the orgy scene of La dolce vita (1960). He also appeared in many mythological Peplum films, always in antagonistic, minor roles.
Glori also acted on television in several screenplays, but always limited himself to secondary roles, under directors such as Sandro Bolchi, Daniele D'Anza, Edmo Fenoglio, Mario Lanfranchi, Mario Landi, and Anton Giulio Majano.
In 1966, due to health problems, Glori stopped all activities. Shortly after retiring from the scene, he died in Rome on 22 April 1966. Enrico Glori was married to the actress Gianna Pacetti with whom he had a son, Gianni Musy, who would become an actor and voice actor. His granddaughters are the actresses Mascia Musy and Maria Stella Musy.
Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Edizioni, Roma), no. 253. Photo: Bragaglia / Atlas Tirrenia.
Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Edizioni Roma), no. 257. Photo: De Antonis.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English), and IMDb. Click here for Glori in Grandi Magazzini, and here for the quicksand scene in Sotto la croce del sud.