Known For:
Acting
Birthday:
February 14, 1898
Place of Birth:
Naples, 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.
Year | Movie | Role |
---|---|---|
2023 | Totò e il Principe De Curtis. L'uomo oltre la maschera | Se stesso |
2021 | Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita | Self (archive footage) |
2021 | We Are Cinema | Self (archive footage) |
2020 | Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi? | Self (archive footage) (uncredited) |
2016 | Naples '44 | Self (archive footage) |
2004 | How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio | Self (archive footage) |
1980 | SuperTotò | |
1978 | Antologia di Totò | Totò (se stesso) |
1975 | Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca | (archive footage) |
1968 | Caprice Italian Style | Anziano Signore / Iago |
1968 | Totò Story | |
1968 | What Are the Clouds? | Iago |
1967 | The Witches | Ciancicato Miao (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna") |
1967 | Il latitante | Gennaro La Pezza |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare | |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino | Barnaba Parmiggiani aka 'Babà' |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak | Totò l'agente segreto |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye | musicista capellone |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli | Totò, la guida non autorizzata |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel | il professor Serafino Bolletta |
1967 | Tutto Totò - La scommessa | Oberdan Lo Cascio |
1967 | Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro | Mardoccheo Stonatelli |
1967 | The Earth As Seen from the Moon | Ciancicato Miao |
1966 | The Hawks and the Sparrows | Totò Innocenti / Frate Cicillo |
1966 | The Treasure of San Gennaro | Don Vincenzo |
1965 | Totò d'Arabia | Totò |
1965 | The Mandrake | il frate |
1965 | Rita the American Girl | Serafino Benvenuti |
1965 | Latin Lovers | Rag. Antonio Gargiulo (ep. Amore e morte) |
1964 | What Ever Happened to Baby Toto? | Totò Baby / il Padre |
1964 | Totò versus the Black Pirate | Josè |
1964 | Laughs Italian Style | |
1964 | Beautiful Families | Filiberto Comanducci |
1963 | Gli onorevoli | Antonio La Trippa |
1963 | Totò vs the Four | commissario Antonio Saracino |
1963 | The Monk of Monza | Pasquale Cicciacalda / Don Manuel |
1963 | Toto and Cleopatra | Marc'Antonio / Totonno |
1963 | The Commandant | Col. Antonio Cavalli |
1963 | Le motorizzate | Urbano Cacace (segment "Il Vigile Ignoto") |
1963 | Two Colonels | Colonnello Di Maggio |
1963 | The Shortest Day | frate bersagliere |
1963 | Totò Sexy | Nini Cantachiaro |
1962 | Toto at Night | Nini |
1962 | Lo smemorato di Collegno | lo smemorato |
1962 | Totò diabolicus | Galeazzo / Carlo / Scipione / Antonio / Laudomia / Pasquale |
1962 | Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino | Antonio La Puzza / Amministratore di Canarinis |
1962 | Totò versus Maciste | Totokamen |
1961 | Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare | Dott. Biagio Tanzarella |
1961 | Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life | Antonio Barbacane |
1961 | The Two Marshals | Antonio Capurro |
1961 | Totòtruffa '62 | Antonio LoRuffo |
1960 | He Who Hesitates Is Lost | Antonio Guardalavecchia |
1960 | Letto a tre piazze | Antonio Di Cosimo |
1960 | Signori si nasce | Ottone Degli Ulivi, detto Zazà |
1960 | The Passionate Thief | Umberto 'Infortunio' Pennazzuto |
1960 | Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today | Cavalier Antonio Cocozza |
1960 | Noi duri | L'Algerino |
1959 | You're on Your Own | Il nonno illuminato |
1959 | Toto in Madrid | Totò Scorceletti |
1959 | The Overtaxed | Torquato Pezzella |
1959 | The Thieves | Commissario Di Savio |
1959 | La cambiale | Cesare Posalaquaglia |
1958 | Big Deal on Madonna Street | Dante Cruciani |
1958 | Toto in Paris | Marchese Gastone de Chemantel / Chateau-Boiron / il vagabondo Totò |
1958 | Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche | Antonio Vignarello |
1958 | Toto and Marcellino | Il Professore |
1958 | Totò in the Moon | Pasquale Belafronte |
1958 | The Law Is the Law | Giuseppe La Paglia |
1958 | Legs of Gold | Barone Luigi Fontana |
1957 | Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor | Michele Spillone detto Mike |
1956 | Totò Double or Nothing? | Duca Gagliardo della Forcoletta |
1956 | Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy | Antonio Caponi |
1956 | The Band of Honest Men | Antonio Buonocore |
1956 | Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge | Antonio |
1955 | Toto and Carolina | Antonio Caccavallo |
1955 | Il coraggio | Gennaro Vaccariello |
1955 | Totò all'inferno | Antonio Marchi |
1955 | Destinazione Piovarolo | Antonio La Quaglia |
1955 | Variety carousel | |
1955 | Are We Men or Corporals? | Totò Esposito |
1955 | Roman Tales | Professor Semprini |
1954 | Totò Seeks Peace | Gennaro Piselli |
1954 | Il medico dei pazzi | Felice Sciosciammocca |
1954 | The Three Thieves | Tapioca |
1954 | Of Life and Love | Rosario Chiarchiaro |
1954 | The Gold of Naples | Don Saverio Petrillo (segment "Il guappo") |
1954 | Where Is Freedom? | Salvatore Lojacono |
1954 | Poverty and Nobility | Don Felice Sciosciammocca |
1954 | The Anatomy of Love | Dionillo |
1953 | Funniest Show on Earth | Tottons |
1953 | Neapolitan Turk | Felice Sciosciammocca |
1953 | Man, Beast and Virtue | Prof. Paolino |
1953 | Una di quelle | Rocco Bardelli |
1952 | Totó in color | Antonio Scannagatti |
1952 | Toto and the Women | Antonio Scaparro |
1952 | Toto and the Kings of Rome | Ercole Pappalardo |
1951 | Cops and Robbers | Ferdinando Esposito |
1951 | Toto the Third Man | Piero / Paolo / Totò |
1951 | Seven Hours of Troubles | Totò De Pasquale |
1950 | Side Street Story | Pasquale Miele |
1950 | Toto the Sheik | Antonio Sapone |
1950 | Le sei mogli di Barbablù | Totò Esposito |
1950 | Tototarzan | Antonio Della Buffas |
1950 | 47 Talking Corpses | Il barone Antonio Peletti |
1950 | Figaro qua... Figaro là | Figaro |
1950 | Totò Looking for Wife | Totò |
1949 | Yvonne of the Night | Nino, il fantasista |
1949 | Totò Looking for a House | Beniamino Lomacchio |
1949 | The Emperor of Capri | Antonio De Fazio |
1949 | Totò le Mokò | Antonio Lumaconi / Totò le Moko |
1949 | The Firemen of Viggiù | Totò |
1948 | Fifa e arena | Nicolino Capece |
1948 | Toto Tours Italy | Prof. Totò Casamandrei |
1947 | Two Little Orphans | Gasparre |
1947 | Slave Girl | Gobbone il cammello (narratore) |
1945 | The Rape of the Sabine | Aristide Tromboni |
1943 | Totò nella fossa dei leoni | Totò |
1941 | L'allegro fantasma | Nicolino & Gelsomino & Antonino |
1940 | San Giovanni decollato | Mastro Agostino Miciacio |
1939 | Animal Crackers | Barone Tolomeo dei Tolomei |
1937 | Hands Off Me! | Conte Toto di Torretota |
Year | TV Show | Role |
---|---|---|
1956 | Cinépanorama | Self |