| Enzo Fiermonte | |
| Birth Name: | Vincenzo Fiermonte |
| Birth Date: | 17 July 1908 |
| Birth Place: | Casamassima, Apulia, Italy |
| Death Place: | Mentana, Lazio, Italy |
| Nationality: | Italian |
| Parents: | Donato and Lucrezia Fiermonte |
| Spouse: | Tosca Manetti (div. 1933) |
| Children: | John Fiermonte |
| Other Names: | William Bird |
| Occupation: | Actor, Boxer |
| Years Active: | 1941–1979 |
Enzo Fiermonte (17 July 1908 – 22 March 1993), sometimes credited as William Bird, was an Italian actor and boxer.
Vincenzo "Enzo" Fiermonte was born on 17 July 1908 in Casamassima, a rural village near Bari, in southern Italy to Donato and Lucrezia Fiermonte.[1]
From 1925 to 1934, he was a professional boxer, with a lifetime record of 47 wins (11 by knockout), 17 losses (10 by knockout), and 2 draws. On June 22, 1943, he announced his permanent retirement from boxing.[2]
In 1937, he entered his Maserati in the Vanderbilt Cup auto race in Westbury, New York, but was not allowed to participate because he had no formal auto racing experience.[3]
In 1940, he starred as a boxer in Dino De Laurentiis' first film, L'ultimo Combattimento (The Last Fight), directed by Pietro Ballerini.[4] Between the 1940s and the 1980s, he had acting roles in at least 116 films.
Fiermonte was married to Tosca Manetti. In June 1933, Fiermonte's wife announced that he was seeking a divorce so he could wed Madeleine Talmage Force (1893–1940), the former wife of John Jacob Astor IV, who died aboard the RMS Titanic.[5]
Fiermonte married Madeleine on 27 November 1933 in New York City, shortly after her divorce from her second husband, William Dick, on 21 July 1933. In 1935, they bought the former Dixie Plantation, a 600-acre estate in Charleston, South Carolina overlooking the Stono River.[6]
They were divorced on 11 June 1938. He was only four years older than his stepson, John Jacob Astor VI, during the marriage. In 1944, he allegedly got engaged in Italy to Princess, but they never married.
Fiermonte died in March 1993 in Mentana, Italy.[7]