Totò
Acting
- Born:
- 1898-02-14
- Died:
- 1967-04-15
- Place of birth:
- Naples, Campania, Italy
Biography
Totò was born Antonio Clemente in a poor district of Naples, the illegitimate son of Anna Clemente from Sicily and Marquis Giuseppe De Curtis from Naples. Nicknamed “il principe della risata’ (the prince of laughter), he was an Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter, and widely considered one of the greatest Italian artists of the 20th century. While he first gained his popularity as a comic actor, his dramatic roles, poetry, and songs are all of cultural import; his style and a number of his recurring jokes and gestures have become universally known memes in Italy. As a comic actor, Totò is classified as an heir of the Commedia dell'Arte tradition, and has been compared to such figures as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. At the age of 15, he was already acting as a comedian in small theatres, under the pseudonym "Clerment". His early repertoire mostly consisted in imitations of Gustavo De Marco's characters. He served in the army during World War I and then went back to acting to develop the trademarks of his style. In 1937, he appeared in his first movie "Fermo con le mani", and later starred in 96 more films, many of which are still frequently broadcast on Italian television. In his vast cinematographic career, Totò had the opportunity to act side by side with virtually all major Italian actors of the time. Totò's unmistakable figure, with his peculiarly irregular face (due to an accident in his teen years), and his unique trademark ability to disarticulate his body like a marionette, soon became very popular and his comic gags became part of the Italian culture. Totò died at the age of 69 in Rome after a series of heart attacks. Due to overwhelming popularity there were three funeral services: the first in Rome, and the second and third in Naples. Totò's birth home has been recently opened to the public as a museum.
Known For
Filmography
Totò e il Principe De Curtis - L'uomo oltre la maschera
We Are Cinema
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?
Naples '44
Hollywood sul Tevere
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
SuperTotò
Antologia di Totò
Forza Italia!
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
Caprice Italian Style
What Are the Clouds?
Totò Story
Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare
Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli
Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
Il latitante
Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro
The Witches
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
Tutto Totò - La scommessa
Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino
Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel
The Treasure of San Gennaro
The Hawks and the Sparrows
Rita the American Girl
The Mandrake
Latin Lovers
Totò d'Arabia
Beautiful Families
What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?
Laughs Italian Style
Totò versus the Black Pirate
The Commandant
Gli onorevoli
Toto and Cleopatra
Totò sexy
Le motorizzate
The Monk of Monza
Totò vs the Four
The Shortest Day
Two Colonels
Toto at Night
Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino
Lo smemorato di Collegno
Totò diabolicus
Totò versus Maciste
The Two Marshals
Totòtruffa '62
Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare
Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life
He Who Hesitates Is Lost
The Passionate Thief
Letto a tre piazze
Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today
Gentlemen Are Born
Noi duri
La cambiale
You're on Your Own
The Thieves
The Overtaxed
Toto in Madrid
Totò in the Moon
Toto in Paris
The Law Is the Law
Legs of Gold
Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche
Big Deal on Madonna Street
Toto and Marcellino
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy
Totò Double or Nothing?
The Band of Honest Men
Cinépanorama
Il coraggio
Roman Tales
Destinazione Piovarolo
Are We Men or Corporals?
Totò all'inferno
Toto and Carolina
Variety carousel
Totò Seeks Peace
The Gold of Naples
Il medico dei pazzi
The Three Thieves
Poverty and Nobility
The Anatomy of Love
Where Is Freedom?
Of Life and Love
Funniest Show on Earth
Una di quelle
Neapolitan Turk
Man, Beast and Virtue
Toto and the Women
Toto and the Kings of Rome
Totó in color
Cops and Robbers
Seven Hours of Troubles
Toto the Third Man
47 Talking Corpses
Toto the Sheik
Le sei mogli di Barbablù
Tototarzan
Figaro qua... Figaro là
Side Street Story
Totò Looking for Wife
Totò le Mokò
The Emperor of Capri
Totò Looking for a House
Yvonne of the Night
The Firemen of Viggiù
Toto Tours Italy
Fifa e arena
Two Little Orphans
Slave Girl
The Rape of the Sabine
Two Hearts Against the Beast
L'allegro fantasma
San Giovanni decollato
Animal Crackers
Hands Off Me!