Totò
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008) |
 |
This article's tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions. (September 2008) |
| Antonio De Curtis | |
|---|---|
 Cover of "Totò seeking peace", one of the 107 Totò's featured movies |
|
| Born | February 15, 1898 Naples |
| Died | April 15, 1967 Rome |
| Nationality | Italian |
| Other names | Principe della risata |
| Occupation | comedian actor poet writer singer songwriter |
| Years active | 1922-1967 |
Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio, called Totò (February 15, 1898 – April 15, 1967), was an eminent and celebrated Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter. In Italy today he is widely considered to be the greatest, most popular and most beloved Italian artist of spectacle of all time, and he is the most cheered Italian comedian and television personality of the last century. He was renowned for unforgettable comic roles, and throughout his career he showed that he was also comfortable in dramatic portrayals.
[edit] Biography
Totò was born in the Rione Sanità, a poor area of Naples, Italy, where he met many famous artists like Eduardo De Filippo and Carlo Scarpetta.
De Curtis started his career in small theatres in which he learned the art of the guitti, the Neapolitan scriptless comedians, heirs to the tradition of the Commedia dell'Arte.
He was the illegitimate son of Anna Clemente and Marquis Giuseppe de Curtis, who legally recognized him as his son in 1928. On his father's death in 1933, Totò was adopted by Marquis Francesco Gagliardi Focas hence staking a claim to his impressive slew of titles.
In 1946, at a time when the Consulta Araldica — the body which had advised the Kingdom of Italy on matters of nobility — ceased its operations, the Tribunal of Naples recognized his numerous titles, so his complete name was changed from Antonio Clemente to ‘'Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Komnenos Purpure-Born Gagliardi de Curtis of Byzantium, His Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Ponthus, Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo". For someone who was born and raised in one of the poorest Neapolitan neighbourhoods this must surely have been quite an achievement but in claiming the titles (at the time they had become meaningless) the consummate comedian also mocked them, showing their intrinsic worthlessness.[citation needed]
In 1922, he moved to Rome, where began to perform in bigger theatres, performing the genre of avanspettacolo, a vaudevillian mixture of music, ballet and brilliant comedy which was represented before the main act of the night (hence its name which roughly translates as "before show"). He became a master at these shows, (also known as riviste- reviews) and in the 1930s he had his own company, with which he travelled across Italy.
In 1937, he appeared in his first movie Fermo con le Mani, and then starred in over 100 films, all considered classics, still topping - adjusted for inflation - Italy's all-time box office charts and constantly broadcast on Italian television.
Many of his movies included his name in the title. Some of his best and most famous films are Fifa e Arena, Totò Le Mokò, Totò al Giro d'Italia, Totò Sceicco, Guardie e ladri, Totò e i Re di Roma, Totò e le Donne, Totò Tarzan, Totò terzo uomo, Totò a colori (the first Italian color movie, 1952, in Ferraniacolor), Miseria e Nobiltà, Siamo Uomini o Caporali?, I Soliti Ignoti, La Banda degli Onesti, Totò, Peppino e la malafemmina, Totò truffa, La Legge è Legge, Uccellacci e Uccellini and the episode Che Cosa Sono le Nuvole from Capriccio all'Italiana (released after his death). In the last two films he displayed his dramatic skills, thanks to director Pier Paolo Pasolini. These roles gave him the artistic acknowledgment that had eluded him so far by more stringent critics, who began to recognize his genius only after his death.
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 widely appreciated.
From the 1940s onwards, he represented the very best of Italian comedy. Yet some of his spicy gags became the subject of parliamentary enquiry because, given his popularity, they could have been politically dangerous for the governments of the conservative and prudish Democrazia Cristiana.
During the 1950s he started to compose poetry. The best-known is probably A Livella, in which an arrogant rich man and a humble poor man meet after their deaths and discuss their differences. Totò was also a songwriter: Malafemmena (Wayward Woman), dedicated to his wife Diana after they separated, is considered one of the best ever Italian pop songs.
Despite his physical appearance Totò had a reputation as a great playboy. One of his lovers, the soubrette Liliana Castagnola, committed suicide after their relationship ended. This tragedy marked his life forever. He buried Liliana in his family's chapel, and named his only daughter Liliana, born in 1933 to his first wife Diana Bandini Rogliani, whom he married in 1935. Another personal tragedy was the premature birth of his son Massenzio in 1954. The boy died a few hours later. He was the son of Totò's mistress, Franca Faldini.
During a tour in 1956 he lost most of his eyesight due to an eye infection which he had ignored to avoid cancelling his show and disappointing his fans. The handicap however almost never affected his schedule and acting abilities.
In the artistic milieu he was nicknamed "il Principe" (The Prince) and was famous for his generous spirit: having personally suffered poverty, he always tried to help and protect poorer colleagues as well as giving discreet, low-profile contributions to charity.
Totò died at the age of 69 on April 15, 1967, in Rome, after a series of heart attacks. Even in death he was unique—due to overwhelming popular request there were three funeral services: the first one in Rome, a second in his birth city Naples and a few days afterwards a third one by the local camorra boss; an empty casket was carried along the packed streets of the popular Rione Sanità quarter where he was born.
To this very day there is not a shop in Naples that doesn't carry an image of Totò, his birth home has been recently opened to the public as a museum dedicated to him, and his tombstone is constantly visited by adoring fans who remember him as the most beloved Italian artist of all time and even pray to him for help, as if he were a saint.
[edit] Trivia
|
|
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2008) |
- Totò is the rubber-faced comic featured in several movies excerpted in the movie Nuovo Cinema Paradiso.
[edit] External links
- Site of Totò, Antonio De Curtis
- Omaggio a Antonio De Curtis in arte Totò
- Tribute to Totò (in Italian)
- IMDB entry for Totò
- Tribute to Totò in "La Patria Grande de Caracas" (español and italiano)
|
|||||||||||
—
