Umberto Orsini
Umberto Orsini | |
|---|---|
 Orsini in March 2008 | |
| Born | 2 April 1934 Novara, Province of Novara, Italy |
| Alma mater | Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1960–present |
Umberto Orsini (born 2 April 1934) is an Italian actor. He achieved prominence as a stage actor in Luchino Visconti's company,[1] before becoming known to general audiences for his roles in RAI television dramas. He won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Visconti's The Damned (1969), and was nominated for the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Early Bird Catches the Worm (2008).[2]
Early life
[edit]Orisini was born in Novara in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, on 2 April 1934. Prior to pursuing an acting career, he worked as a notary. He enrolled in the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico in Rome, and graduated in 1954.
Career
[edit]He began his professional stage career as a founding member of Milan's Compagnia dei Giovani, under the direction of Giorgio De Lullo and Romolo Valli. He performed with the Paolo Stoppa and Rina Morelli's company in a 1960 production of L'Arialda, directed by Luchino Visconti, and achieved critical praise for his performance as 'Nick' in a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opposite Enrico Maria Salerno. He performed extensively with Gabriele Lavia for the Teatro Eliseo, of which he was the artistic director between 1980 and 1997.
After a minor role in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Orsini made his official film debut in the 1960 film Love in Rome. After several supporting roles, including in the star-studded international production Candy, Orsini made his breakthrough in Visconti's The Damned, playing a disillusioned industrialist in 1930s Germany whose anti-Nazi views leave him a target of the new regime. The role earned Orsini praise from Italian critics, and he won that year's Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor.
He would collaborate again with Visconti in the 1973 historical epic Ludwig, which also reunited him with Damned co-stars Helmut Berger and Helmut Griem. Outside his native Italy, Orsini also worked in French cinema, notably playing the husband of the title character in Emmanuelle 2 and Goodbye Emmanuelle.
Orsini found success on Italian television, becoming a regular fixture of RAI programming. He co-hosted the Sunday morning cooking show Colazione allo studio 7 with Luigi Veronelli.
Personal life
[edit]Orsini was romantically involved with Ellen Kessler for 20 years.[3]
Filmography
[edit]Film
[edit]| Year | English title | Original title | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | Marisa la civetta | Sailor | Mauro Bolognini | Uncredited | |
| 1960 | Love in Rome | Un amore a Roma | Peppino Barlacchi | Dino Risi | |
| La Dolce Vita | Man in Shades | Federico Fellini | Uncredited | ||
| Chiamate 22-22 tenente Sheridan | Tommy | Giorgio Bianchi | |||
| 1961 | Io bacio... tu baci | Paolo | Piero Vivarelli | ||
| Battle of the Worlds | Il Pianeta degli uomini spenti | Dr. Fred Steele | Antonio Margheriti | ||
| Caccia all'uomo | Giovanni Maimonti | Riccardo Freda | |||
| 1962 | The Sea | Il mare | The Actor | Giuseppe Patroni Griffi | |
| 1963 | The Shortest Day | Il giorno più corto | Soldier | Sergio Corbucci | Uncredited |
| Noche de verano | Miguel Solinas | Jorge Grau | |||
| Don't Tempt the Devil | Les Bonnes Causes | Philliet | Christian-Jaque | ||
| Sweet Skin | Strip-tease | Dancer | Jacques Poitrenaud | ||
| 1965 | The Myth | La violenza e l'amore | Roberto | Adimaro Sala | |
| 1966 | That Woman | Playgirl | Timo | Will Tremper | |
| Mademoiselle | Antonio | Tony Richardson | |||
| The Steps | Ta skalopatia | Roberto | Leonard Hirschfield | ||
| 1967 | The Sailor from Gibraltar | Postcard Vendor | Tony Richardson | ||
| The Girl and the General | La Ragazza e il Generale | Pvt. Tarasconi | Pasquale Festa Campanile | ||
| 1968 | Candy | The Big Guy | Christian Marquand | ||
| 1969 | The Damned | La caduta degli dei | Herbert Thallman | Luchino Visconti | |
| Interrabang | Fabrizio Berti | Giuliano Biagetti | |||
| 1970 | A Big Grey-Blue Bird | Ein großer graublauer Vogel | Morelli | Thomas Schamoni | |
| Violent City | Città violenta | Steve | Sergio Sollima | ||
| Bali | Incontro d'amore | Carlo | Ugo Liberatore | ||
| 1971 | Roma Bene | Prince Rubio Marescalli | Carlo Lizzani | ||
| 1972 | Shadows Unseen | Abuso di potere | Enrico Gagliardi | Camillo Bazzoni | |
| César and Rosalie | César et Rosalie | Antoine | Claude Sautet | ||
| I figli chiedono perché | Michèle's Father | Nino Zanchin | |||
| The Outside Man | Un homme est mort | Alex Kovacs | Jacques Deray | ||
| 1973 | La Tosca | Cesare Angelotti | Luigi Magni | ||
| Ludwig | Count Maximilian von Holnstein | Luchino Visconti | |||
| The Assassination of Matteotti | Il delitto Matteotti | Amerigo Dumini | Florestano Vancini | ||
| No Way Out | Tony Arzenta | Isnello | Duccio Tessari | ||
| Story of a Cloistered Nun | Storia di una monaca di clausura | Don Diego | Domenico Paolella | ||
| 1974 | Puzzle | L’uomo senza memoria | Daniele | Duccio Tessari | |
| Verdict | Doctor | André Cayatte | Uncredited | ||
| Vincent, François, Paul and the Others | Vincent, François, Paul et les autres | Jacques | Claude Sautet | ||
| The Antichrist | L'anticristo | Dr. Marcello Sinibaldi | Alberto De Martino | ||
| 1975 | Smiling Maniacs | Corruzione al palazzo di giustizia | Erzi | Marcello Aliprandi | |
| Emmanuelle 2 | Emmanuelle: L'antivierge | Jean | Francis Giacobetti | ||
| 1976 | Perdutamente tuo... mi firmo Macaluso Carmelo fu Giuseppe | Vito Buscemi | Vittorio Sindoni | ||
| A Woman at Her Window | Une femme à sa fenêtre | Rico Santorini | Pierre Granier-Deferre | ||
| 1977 | A Straight Laced Girl | Une fille cousue de fil blanc | Frédéric | Michel Lang | |
| Casanova & Co. | Count Tiretta | Franz Antel | |||
| Gangbuster | L'avvocato della mala | Farnese | Alberto Marras | ||
| Beyond Good and Evil | Al di là del bene e del male | Bernhard Förster | Liliana Cavani | ||
| Goodbye Emmanuelle | Jean | François Leterrier | |||
| 1978 | The Fifth Commandment | L'alba dei falsi dei | Sturmführer Hannacker / Vater Redder | Duccio Tessari | |
| Little Girl in Blue Velvet | La petite fille en velours bleu | Fabrizio Conti | Alan Bridges | ||
| Other People's Money | L'argent des autres | Blue | Christian de Chalonge | ||
| 1980 | Strawberry Blonde | Bionda fragola | Antonio | Mino Bellei | |
| 1994 | Elles n'oublient jamais | Vienne | Christopher Frank | ||
| 1995 | Who Killed Pasolini? | Pasolini, un delitto italiano | Magistrate | Marco Tullio Giordana | |
| 1997 | The Bride's Journey | Il viaggio della Sposa | Don Diego | Sergio Rubini | |
| 1998 | L'ospite | Antonio | Alessandro Colizzi | ||
| 2000 | Johnny the Partisan | Il partigiano Johnny | Pinin | Guido Chiesa | |
| 2003 | Hannover | Aiello | Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani | ||
| 2004 | Love Returns | L'amore ritorna | Dr. Ambrosini | Sergio Rubini | |
| 2008 | The Early Bird Catches the Worm | Il mattino ha l'oro in bocca | Uncle Lino | Francesco Patierno | |
| 2017 | Agadah | Belial | Alberto Rondalli | ||
| 2022 | Marcel! | Nonno | Jasmine Trinca | ||
| 2024 | Trifole | Igor | Gabriele Fabbro | ||
Television
[edit]| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959-60 | Giallo club. Invito al poliziesco | Ronald / Robert | 2 episodes |
| 1960 | La casa sull'acqua | Luca | Television film |
| 1963 | Lo zoo di vetro | Tom Wingfield | |
| Gli spettri | Oswald Alving | ||
| 1964 | I grandi camaleonti | Tallien | Miniseries: 4 episodes |
| Vita di Michelangelo | Tommaso dei Cavalieri | Episode #1.3 | |
| Biblioteca di Studio Uno | Brent Tarleton | Episode: "La storia di Rossella O'Hara" | |
| 1965 | Coriolano | Tullo Aufidio | Television film |
| La figlia del capitano | Pyotr Andreyich Grinyov | Miniseries: 6 episodes | |
| 1966 | Il re | Duca di Savoia | Television film |
| 1968 | Morte di un commesso viaggiatore | Biff Loman | |
| 1969 | I fratelli Karamazov | Ivan Karamazov | Miniseries: 6 episodes |
| 1977 | Processo a Maria Tarnowska | Demiat Prilukoff | Miniseries: 3 episodes |
| 1978 | Cinéma 16 | Clown | Episode: "Thomas Guérin, retraité" |
| 1979 | Racconti di fantascienza | General Guarnerius | Episode: "O.B.N. in arrivo" |
| I racconti fantastici di Edgar Allan Poe | Robert Usher | Episode: "Ligeia forever" | |
| 1980 | Orient-Express | Gaetano | Episode: "Jane" |
| 1982 | Colomba | Colonel Neville | Television film |
| 1984 | Notti e nebbie | Bruno Spada | |
| 1997 | Solomon | Nathan | |
| 1999 | Esther | Memucan | |
| 2000 | Lourdes | Père Laurent | |
| Paul the Apostle | Tribune | Miniseries: 2 episodes | |
| 2013 | Gourmet Wars | Leone | 11 episodes |
Awards and recognition
[edit]| Award | Year | Category | Work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David di Donatello | 2008 | Best Supporting Actor | The Early Bird Catches the Worm | Nominated |
| Nastro d'Argento | 1970 | Best Supporting Actor | The Damned | Won |
| Kineo Award | 2008 | Best Supporting Actor | The Early Bird Catches the Worm | Nominated |
References
[edit]- ^ Enrico Lancia; Roberto Poppi; Fabio Melelli; Mario Pecorari. Dizionario del cinema italiano. Gremese Editore.
- ^ "Ecco le nomination ai David E' 'Caos calmo' il più quotato". Quotidiano.net. 20 March 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
- ^ Giuffrida, Angela (18 November 2025). "The Kessler Twins sisters Alice and Ellen die together aged 89". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
External links
[edit]| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
