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Franco Citti

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Franco Citti
Franco Citti in The Decameron (1971)
Born23 April 1935
Rome, Italy
Died14 January 2016 (aged 80)
Rome, Italy
OccupationActor
RelativesSergio Citti (brother)

Franco Citti (Italian: [ˈfraŋko ˈtʃitti]; 23 April 1935 – 14 January 2016) was an Italian actor, best known as one of the close collaborators of director Pier Paolo Pasolini. He came to fame for playing the title role in Pasolini's film Accattone, which brought him a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Actor. He subsequently starred in six of Pasolini's films, as well as 60 other film and television roles. His brother was the director and screenwriter Sergio Citti.[1]

Biography

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Citti was born in Rome in 1935 and was raised with his older brother Sergio Citti, working as a painter and day laborer. At the age of 26, he was discovered by Pier Paolo Pasolini, who appreciated his distinctly Roman features, and cast him in the title role of his 1961 directorial debut Accattone. Citti led a cast of other non-professional actors, and proved the breakthrough of the cast, earning a BAFTA Award nomination for a Best Foreign Actor, as well as a nomination for a Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor.

Pasolini cast him in six of his subsequent films, making him one of the filmmaker's close creative collaborators. He played Carmine, opposite Anna Magnani, in Mamma Roma (1962), the title character in Oedipus Rex (1967), a cannibal in Pigsty (1969), Ser Ciappelletto in The Decameron (1971), Satan in The Canterbury Tales (1972), and the Demon in Arabian Nights (1974). He appeared in Laura Betti's 2002 documentary Pier Paolo Pasolini e la ragione di un sogno, in which he discussed his working relationship with Pasolini.

Citti also worked with such notable filmmakers as Sergio Corbucci, Carlo Lizzani, Valerio Zurlini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. He appeared in a number of films directed by his brother Sergio, and co-directed with him the 1998 film Cartoni animati. To non-Italian audiences, Citti is perhaps best known for his role as Sicilian bodyguard Calò in The Godfather and The Godfather: Part III, uttering the memorable line "In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns."

He died in Rome on 14 January 2016, at the age of 80, after a long illness.[1][2]

Filmography

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Awards and nominations

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Avellino Neorealism Film Festival

British Academy Film Award

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Nastro d'Argento

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References

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  1. ^ a b La Repubblica. "È morto Franco Citti, l'Accattone di Pasolini". Retrieved 14 January 2016.
  2. ^ Franco Citti
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