Totò
Acting
Born 1898-02-14
Died 1967-04-15
Naples, Campania, Italy
126 credits
Read 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.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 126
Cinépanorama
Big Deal on Madonna Street
The Witches
Il coraggio
Forza Italia!
Latin Lovers
The Shortest Day
Totòtruffa '62
Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare
Animal Crackers
Roman Tales
The Gold of Naples
Toto the Sheik
Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti
Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today
The Hawks and the Sparrows
Totò Story
Where Is Freedom?
Totò diabolicus
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
Totò sexy
Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche
The Overtaxed
Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare
Slave Girl
Toto and Cleopatra
The Treasure of San Gennaro
Caprice Italian Style
Toto and the Women
Man, Beast and Virtue
Hollywood sul Tevere
The Passionate Thief
The Anatomy of Love
Funniest Show on Earth
Yvonne of the Night
Totò in the Moon
The Two Marshals
Totò Looking for Wife
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
Poverty and Nobility
Letto a tre piazze
Totò le Mokò
Toto and Carolina
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
Laughs Italian Style
Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life
Naples '44
Totò all'inferno
Toto in Paris
Of Life and Love
Cops and Robbers
Totò versus Maciste
Gli onorevoli
We Are Cinema
Toto the Third Man
Totò vs the Four
Two Little Orphans
Totó in color
Hands Off Me!
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