Totò

Known for ActingBorn 1898-02-14Died 1967-04-15Naples, Campania, Italy

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.Read more

Movies & web series

We Are Cinema

Kolossal - The Magnificent Macisti

Cinépanorama

What Are the Clouds?

The Earth As Seen from the Moon

SuperTotò

Forza Italia!

Big Deal on Madonna Street

Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy

Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita

Poverty and Nobility

The Band of Honest Men

Totòtruffa '62

Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge

Two Colonels

The Treasure of San Gennaro

Cops and Robbers

Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?

Slave Girl

Side Street Story

The Hawks and the Sparrows

The Gold of Naples

Totó in color

Neapolitan Turk

The Two Marshals

Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today

How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio

You're on Your Own

The Law Is the Law

Totò diabolicus

The Overtaxed

Signori si nasce

The Monk of Monza

Il medico dei pazzi

Una di quelle

Letto a tre piazze

47 Talking Corpses

Totò Double or Nothing?

Toto and the Kings of Rome

The Passionate Thief

He Who Hesitates Is Lost

The Commandant

Destinazione Piovarolo

Gli onorevoli

Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life

Totò le Mokò

Toto and Cleopatra

Lo smemorato di Collegno