Tommaso Salvini

Tommaso Salvini (1 January 182931 December 1915) was an Italian actor.

Life Salvini was born in Milan to parents who were both actors, his mother being the popular actress Guglielmina Zocchi. Finding the boy had a talent for acting, his father organised tuition for him under Gustavo Modena, who took a liking to the boy.

In 1847 Salvini joined the company of Adelaide Ristori, who was then at the beginning of her career. It was with her as Elettra that he won his first success in tragedy, playing the title role in Alfieri's Oreste at the Teatro Valle in Rome.

Salvini fought in the First Italian War of Independence in 1849, but otherwise devoted his life to acting. In 1853, however, he took a year off because "he rarely felt adequately prepared for a role".

Salvini's acting in Othello greatly inspired the young Russian actor Constantin Stanislavski, who saw Salvini perform in Moscow in 1882 and who would, himself, go on to become one of the most important theatre practitioners in the history of theatre. Stanislavski wrote that Salvini was the "finest representative" of his own approach to acting.

Salvini retired from the stage in 1890, but in January 1902 took part in the celebration in Rome of Ristori's eightieth birthday. Salvini published a volume entitled Ricordi, aneddoti ed impressioni (Milan, 1895). Some idea of his career may be gathered from Leaves from the Autobiography of Tommaso Salvini (London, 1893). He died, aged 86, in Florence.

Salvini was so confident in his talents as an actor that he was once quoted as saying, "I can make an audience weep by reading them a menu."

Salvini made at least one recording for Zonofono in 1902 of "Il sogno" from Saul, which is listed in a recently found contemporary Zonofono celebrity catalogue.

His son Alessandro (aka Alexander Salvini) (1861–1896), also an actor, had several notable successes in America, particularly as d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers. Another son, Gustavo Salvini, was a stage actor. Gustavo's sons, Tommaso's grandsons, were Alessandro Salvini (1890–1955) and Guido Salvini (1893–1965). Alessandro acted in movies dating back to silent pictures and Guido directed and wrote for films in the sound era.