Known For
Acting
Born
Feb 14, 1898
Died
Apr 15, 1967
Place of Birth
Naples, Campania, Italy
Credits
126 titles
Totò
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
'A Livella
Original Concept
Totò e il Principe De Curtis - L'uomo oltre la maschera
Se stesso
We Are Cinema
Self (archive footage)
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
Self (archive footage)
Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Naples '44
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood sul Tevere
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
Self (archive footage)
SuperTotò
Antologia di Totò
Totò (se stesso)
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
Forza Italia!
Self (archive footage)
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
(archive footage)
Caprice Italian Style
Anziano Signore / Iago
What Are the Clouds?
Iago
Totò Story
Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare
Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli
Totò, la guida non autorizzata
Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak
Totò l'agente segreto
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
musicista capellone
Il latitante
Gennaro La Pezza
Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro
Mardoccheo Stonatelli
The Witches
Ciancicato Miao (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
Ciancicato Miao
Tutto Totò - La scommessa
Oberdan Lo Cascio
Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino
Barnaba Parmiggiani aka 'Babà'
Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel
il professor Serafino Bolletta
The Treasure of San Gennaro
Don Vincenzo
The Hawks and the Sparrows
Totò Innocenti / Frate Cicillo
Rita the American Girl
Serafino Benvenuti
The Mandrake
il frate
Latin Lovers
Rag. Antonio Gargiulo (ep. Amore e morte)
Totò d'Arabia
Totò
Beautiful Families
Filiberto Comanducci
What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?
Totò Baby / il Padre
Laughs Italian Style
Totò versus the Black Pirate
Josè
The Commandant
Col. Antonio Cavalli
Gli onorevoli
Antonio La Trippa
Totò sexy
Nini Cantachiaro
Toto and Cleopatra
Marc'Antonio / Totonno
Le motorizzate
Urbano Cacace (segment "Il Vigile Ignoto")
The Monk of Monza
Pasquale Cicciacalda / Don Manuel
Totò vs the Four
commissario Antonio Saracino
The Shortest Day
frate bersagliere
Two Colonels
Colonnello Di Maggio
Toto at Night
Nini
Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino
Antonio La Puzza / Amministratore di Canarinis
Lo smemorato di Collegno
lo smemorato
Totò diabolicus
Galeazzo / Carlo / Scipione / Antonio / Laudomia / Pasquale