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1-50 of 612
- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Carradine, the son of a reporter/artist and a surgeon, grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended Christ Church School and Graphic Art School, studying sculpture, and afterward roamed the South selling sketches. He made his acting debut in "Camille" in a New Orleans theatre in 1925. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1927, he worked in local theatre. He applied for a job as as scenic designer to Cecil B. DeMille, who rejected his designs but gave him voice work in several films. His on-screen debut was in Tol'able David (1930), billed as Peter Richmond. A protégé and close friend of John Barrymore, Carradine was an extremely prolific film character actor while simultaneously maintaining a stage career in classic leading roles such as Hamlet and Malvolio. In his later years he was typed as a horror star, putting in appearances in many low- and ultra-low-budget horror films. He was a member of the group of actors often used by director John Ford that became known as "The John Ford Stock Company". John Carradine died at age 82 of natural causes on November 27, 1988.- Actress
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Valentina Cortese was born in Milan on New Year's Day of 1923. She made her movie debut in 1940 and played many "ingenue" parts in Italian films of that period, before making a real sensation in Caccia all'uomo (1948) and Tempesta su Parigi (1948), playing both female leads, Fantine and Cosette (the film was a competent screen adaptation of the Victor Hugo classic "Les misérables"). The international success of the British-made melodrama The Glass Mountain (1949) brought her some Hollywood offers: she was very sensual as a truck-driver's mistress in Jules Dassin's film noir Thieves' Highway (1949), and particularly effective in Robert Wise's thriller The House on Telegraph Hill (1951), in which she portrayed a woman pursued by a killer.
She then returned to Europe and worked with many great directors, like Michelangelo Antonioni, who cast her in The Girlfriends (1955), and Federico Fellini, who gave her a supporting part in his surrealist fantasy Juliet of the Spirits (1965). She had an especially robust part in Francois Truffaut's Day for Night (1973) as a fading alcoholic movie star (she was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for this performance). She also had a stage career, working with writers and directors such as Giorgio Strehler and Franco Zeffirelli and starring in the title roles of Schiller's "Mary Stuart" and Wedekind's "Lulu".- Teresa Ann Savoy was born on 18 July 1955 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Caligula (1979), Madam Kitty (1976) and Bambina (1974). She died on 9 January 2017 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Strikingly busty, adorable and voluptuous brunette knockout Mary Collinson was born on July 22, 1952 in Malta. She's the identical twin sister of Madeleine Collinson. The Collinson twins arrived in Britain in April, 1969. Noted British glamour photographer Harrison Marks cast the duo as saucy maids in his 8mm short "Halfway Inn." Mary and Madeleine were the Playmates of the Month in the October, 1970 issue of "Playboy;" they have the distinction of being the first pair of identical twins to pose for a nude pictorial in "Playboy." The Collinson sisters went on to act in a handful of movies together; they were especially effective and memorable as the titular radically contrasting siblings in the typically fine Hammer vampire horror outing "Twins of Evil." .
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Rosanna Schiaffino was born on 25 November 1939 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. She was an actress, known for La mandragola (1965), The Miracle of the Wolves (1961) and Romulus and the Sabines (1961). She was married to Giorgio Enrico Falck and Alfredo Bini. She died on 17 October 2009 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Luisi Pistilli's most notable stage successes were roles in "The Threepenny Opera", "St. Joan of the Stockyards" and a 1972 production, "Lulu". In 1991 he reprised his role in "Lulu" in the first professional collaboration with actress-singer Milva, his partner in previous plays as well as in a four-year offstage relationship. Pistilli's most memorable roles were in Francesco Rosi's Illustrious Corpses (1976), Lino Del Fra's Antonio Gramsci: i giorni del carcere (1977), Carlo Lizzani's Italo-Bulgarian co-production The Bandit (1969) and Sergio Leone's For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), in which he played priest Pablo Ramirez, the brother of Eli Wallach's character Tuco. He also worked frequently in TV, including the Mafia series La piovra (1984), directed by Luigi Perelli.- Writer
- Actor
He is a professor of semiotics, the study of communication through signs and symbols, at the University of Bologna. Also a philiosopher, a historian, literary critic, and an aesthetician. He is an avid book collector and owns more than 30,000 volumes. The subjects of his scholarly investigations range from St. Thomas Aquinas, to James Joyce, to Superman. He lives in Milan.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Fabio Salerno was a director and producer, known for Notte profonda (1991), Notte (1983) and L'altra dimensione (1992). He died in 1993 in Milan, Italy.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Walter Chiari was born on 8 March 1924 in Verona, Veneto, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Romance (1986), Vanità (1947) and The Little Hut (1957). He was married to Alida Chelli. He died on 20 December 1991 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Vittorio Mezzogiorno was born on 16 December 1941 in Cercola, Campania, Italy. He was an actor, known for Scream of Stone (1991), La piovra (1984) and Il giocattolo (1979). He was married to Cecilia Sacchi. He died on 7 January 1994 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Jackie Basehart was born on 11 October 1951 in Santa Monica, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Black Corsair (1976), The Inglorious Bastards (1978) and Tea with Mussolini (1999). He was married to Tatiana Basehart. He died on 20 May 2015 in Milan, Italy.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Riccardo Garrone was born on 1 November 1926 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), La cena (1998) and La mafia mi fa un baffo (1974). He died on 14 March 2016 in Milan, Italy.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Giuseppe Verdi was born Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi on October 10, 1813, in Le Roncole di Busseto, Parma, Italy. His parents were landowners and innkeepers. Young Verdi received his first organ lessons at the age of 7. He studied composition privately with Ferdinando Provesi in Busseto. At age 20 he moved to Milan to continue his studies, but the Conservatory of Music rejected him. Verdi took private lessons and associated with Milan's cultural milieu in his pursuit of a musical career. He was patronized by Antonio Barezzi, a merchant, whose daughter, Margherita, was Verdi's student and later became his wife.
His first opera, Oberto (1839), was a successful production by Milan's Theatro La Scala. While Verdi continued working on his second opera, his wife and two children died. The second opera failed, and he suffered a depression and vowed to quit musical career. La Scala impresario, Merelli, persuaded him to write a third opera. Nabucco (1842) made Verdi famous. He followed the Bel Canto style of Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini. Verdi's best operas were based on plays by Victor Hugo, such as 'Ernani' (1844) and 'Rigoletto' (1851). In 1853 Verdi 's masterpiece 'La Traviata' was produced in Venice. It was based on 'The Lady of the Camelias', a play by Alexandre Dumas, fils. At that time Verdi became familiar with the music of Russian composer Mikhail Glinka who was popularized in Europe by Franz Liszt. The music of Mikhail Glinka had certain influence on Verdi's later operas.
In 1861 Verdi wrote 'La forza del destino' commissioned by the Imperial Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, upon the recommendations by Aleksandr Borodin. It was performed with great success in 1862, and became part of a standard operatic repertoire ever since. His grand-opera 'Aida' (1871) was premiered in Cairo as part of the celebrations of the opening of the Suez Canal, and became an instant success. In his later operas Verdi turned from the style of Bel Canto to more expressive music and orchestration, like in 'Otello' (1887), based on the eponymous play by Shakespeare. Verdi's last and musically most brilliant, rich and expressive opera, 'Falstaff' (1893), was based on the Shakespeare's play "The Merry Wives of Windsor" in the adaptation of Victor Hugo.
Verdi's musical success coincided with the political events of Italian unification during the Austrian occupation. The 'Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves' from his opera 'Nabucco' (1842), became a popular song among supporters of Italian unification. Many of his opera performances were used by the supporters of Victor Emmanuel to shout "Viva Verdi" as a code name for a secret unification message. The name Verdi was used as acronym for "Vittorio Emanuele Re D'Italia" - Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy. Such a code enabled clandestine partisans of Victor Emmanuel, then the King of Sardinia, to gain more supporters in Milan which eventually led to the unification of Italy. Verdi was aware that his popular operas and his name was used as a political tool. Austrian censorship was powerless.
In 1861 Victor Emmanuel became the King of Italy in Turin. From 1861-1865 Giuseppe Verdi was elected representative of Busseto in the newly formed Italian parliament. After Garibaldi's military campaign the capital was moved to Florence, then to Rome, and Verdi returned from politics to music. He lived in Milan during the last years of his life. He was revered and honoured all over the world, and was much visited by his admirers. He died on January 27, 1901, in Milan, and was laid to rest at the Casa di Riposo, a retirement home for elderly musicians that was established by Verdi himself.
Verdi's music was used in hundreds of film scores. His operas has been the staples of operatic repertoire. His canzonas "La donna è mobile" from opera 'Rigoletto' (1851) and "Libiamo ne'lieti calici" (Drinking song) from 'La Traviata' (1853) has been popular concert numbers in performances by the three tenors: Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.- Pina Menichelli was born on 10 January 1890 in Castroreale, Sicily, Italy. She was an actress, known for La dama de Chez Maxim's (1923), Il fuoco (la favilla - la vampa - la cenere) (1916) and The Rival Actresses (1913). She died on 29 August 1984 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Toto Cutugno was born on 7 July 1943 in Tendola, Tuscany, Italy. He was an actor and composer, known for The Bélier Family (2014), The Late Bloomer (2016) and One Deadly Summer (1983). He was married to Carla. He died on 22 August 2023 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Silvio Berlusconi was born on 29 September 1936 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a producer, known for Mediterraneo (1991), Man Trouble (1992) and Folks! (1992). He was married to Veronica Lario and Carla Elvira Lucia Dall'Oglio. He died on 12 June 2023 in Milan, Italy.
- Writer
- Actor
- Costume Designer
Dario Fo was born on 24 March 1926 in Sangiano, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and actor, known for It Happened in Rome (1957), Lo svitato (1956) and The Betrothed (1989). He was married to Franca Rame. He died on 13 October 2016 in Milan, Italy.- Margareta von Krauss was born in 1946 in Bucharest, Romania. She was an actress, known for The Spider Labyrinth (1988), Il tredicesimo uomo (2008) and Guarda il cielo: Stella, Sonia, Silvia (2000). She died on 22 April 2009 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- David Messina was born on 7 February 1932 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He died on 4 May 2024 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Billy Bastiani was born on 13 November 1952 in the USA. He was an actor, known for Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), Trouble Bound (1993) and Beyond Desire (1995). He died on 14 September 2018 in Milan, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Carlo Bonomi was born on 12 March 1937 in Milan, Italy. He was an actor, known for Il signor Rossi cerca la felicità (1976), La freccia nera (1968) and Il tunnel sotto il mondo (1969). He died on 6 August 2022 in Milan, Italy.- Roberto Risso was born on 22 November 1925 in Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland. He was an actor, known for Zorro and the Three Musketeers (1963), D'Artagnan contro i 3 moschettieri (1963) and Bread, Love and Dreams (1953). He was married to Mimma Ciurlo. He died on 16 November 2010 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Milva was born on 17 July 1939 in Goro, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She was an actress and composer, known for Biblioteca di Studio Uno (1964), Via degli specchi (1983) and Mon beau-frère a tué ma soeur (1986). She was married to Maurizio Corgnati. She died on 23 April 2021 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Orlando Corradi was born on 18 February 1940 in Busto Arsizio, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and producer, known for Sissi: The Young Empress (2015). He died on 7 November 2018 in Milan, Italy.- Sandro Panseri was born in 1945 in Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy. He was an actor, known for Il posto (1961), Made in Italy (1965) and Dal sabato al lunedì (1962). He was married to Marie Claire Le Masson. He died on 11 April 2023 in Milan, Lombardia, Italy.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Aldo Silvani was born on 21 January 1891 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was an actor, known for Nights of Cabiria (1957), The Road (1954) and Rigoletto e la sua tragedia (1956). He was married to Amelia Piemontese. He died on 12 November 1964 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Robert Trumbull was born on 8 February 1938 in San Rafael, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Undercover Brother (2002), Pootie Tang (2001) and Quantum Leap (1989). He died on 11 August 2006 in Milan, New York, USA.
- Luisa Ferida started as a stage actress and first appeared in films with La Freccia d'oro (1935) in a supporting role but because of her photogenic looks and talent as an actress, she soon graduated to leading parts at the end of the thirties. In 1939, whilst working on An Adventure of Salvator Rosa (1939) directed by the celebrated Alessandro Blasetti, she met Osvaldo Valenti. The pair became romantically involved and had a son. Valenti had been linked with many Fascist officials and personalities for years, and this is the reason why he featured on the partisans' hit list. He was finally arrested in Milan, alongside a pregnant Ferida in April 1945. They were both sentenced to be executed and shot immediately in the street.
- Born in 1906, Dino Buzzati was the second of his Venetian parents' 4 children. In 1917, a year after Buzzati started to study at the Parini school in Milan, Austrians occupied his family's villa, which was partly destroyed after that. After the end of the war, Buzzati's father, Giulio Cesare Buzzati died in 1920, and at the same time, 14-years-old Dino started to show the first signs of his future passions: mountains, drawing and writing. In December of the same year, he wrote his first story, "La canzone delle montagne." In 1924, he started to study law at the University of Milan, where his father used to teach international law; then he did his military service in 1926-27. On July 10, 1928, he started to work for Milan daily paper Corriere della sera, where he stayed until his death. The same year, in October, he obtained his diploma in law. In 1933, he publicized his first novel, "Bàrnabo delle Montagne," and the Corriere della sera sent him in Palestine. His second novel, "Il Segreto del Bosco Vecchio," came two years after. In 1939, while he was Addis-Abeba for his work, Buzzati was enlisted by the army. In June 1940, his masterpiece "Il Deserto dei Tartari" was publicized for the first time in Milan. Then he spent 3 years as a war correspondent on warships Fiume and Trieste. At the end of the war, "Il Deserto dei Tartari" was released in the whole of Italy and its writer became famous. International success then started by the publication of the book in French in 1949 (with the title "Le Désert des Tartares"), before being translated into about 20 other languages. In 1953, it was the premiere of his most successful play "Un caso clinico" (that was adapted in French 3 years later by Albert Camus). Later, Buzzati made his first personal painting exhibition in Milan in 1958 and publicized his only science-fiction novel, "Il grande ritratto," in 1960. In 1961, 41 years after her husband, Buzzati's mother, Alba Mantovani, died. In 1964, Buzzati released his fifth and last novel, "Un amore," and two years later publicized his other masterpiece, "Il Colombre," a collection of 51 short stories, and married Almeria Antoniazzi on December 8 of the same year. In 1969, he released "Poema a fumetti," a modern vision of the myth of Orpheus mixing poetry and comic strips. In 1970, he received the prize of journalist Mario Massai for his articles he wrote about the first man on the moon during summer 1969. After a last book in 1971, "Le notti difficili" (his sixth collection of short stories, whose title shows that he was aware of his illness), Dino Buzzati died of cancer on January 28, 1972.
- Luigi Origene Soffrano, alias Jimmy Il Fenomeno, was born in Lucera on April 22th in 1932, and is probably the most crazy presence of the Italian film industry, with his expression and his strange laugh. He has appeared in almost 100 films, worked with many important Italians directors like Steno, Salce and many others. The latest news on his health is not so good, many Italians supporters are appealing to Italians parliament to obtain economical assistance. His last apparition was in a short film of 50 minutes runtime, Jimmy e suoi Fenomeni. Currently he lives in an hospital in Milan, he is diabetic and he moves himself on a wheelchair.
- Maria Cumani Quasimodo was born on 20 May 1908 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for She (1984), Turn the Other Cheek (1974) and Five Women for the Killer (1974). She was married to Salvatore Quasimodo. She died on 22 November 1995 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Renzo Palmer was born on 20 December 1930 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for Danger: Diabolik (1968), Le mystérieux docteur Cornélius (1984) and Detective Belli (1969). He died on 3 June 1988 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Actress
- Writer
Franca Rame was born on 18 July 1929 in Parabiago, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress and writer, known for Love in Four Dimensions (1964), Amarti è il mio destino (1957) and Rascel-Fifì (1957). She was married to Dario Fo. She died on 29 May 2013 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Geronimo Meynier was born on 5 July 1941 in Fiume, Italy [now Rijeka, Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Croatia]. He was an actor, known for Romeo e Giulietta (1964), The Woman in the Painting (1955) and First Love (1959). He died on 23 January 2021 in Milan, Italy.
- Animation Department
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Maria Perego was born on 8 December 1923 in Venice, Veneto, Italy. She was a writer, known for The World of Topo Gigio (1961), Dillinger Is Dead (1969) and Le avventure di Cappuccetto a pois (1969). She was married to Federico Caldura. She died on 7 November 2019 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Giuseppe Recchia was born on 21 May 1934 in Pontenure, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for La piazza vuota (1971), La freccia d'oro (1971) and Onda libera (1976). He was married to Bianca. He died on 8 June 2007 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Cesare Canevari was born in 1927 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Gestapo's Last Orgy (1977), Killing of the Flesh (1983) and The Nude Princess (1976). He died on 25 October 2012 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Raimondo Vianello was born on 7 May 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for No One Will Notice You're Naked (1971), Napoleone (1951) and La schiava io ce l'ho e tu no (1973). He was married to Sandra Mondaini. He died on 15 April 2010 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Stefano Mingardo was born on 21 June 1959 in Milan, Italy. He was an actor, known for Atlantis Interceptors (1983), Blastfighter (1984) and Bomber (1982). He died on 9 November 2014 in Milan, Italy.
- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Director
Piero De Bernardi was born on 12 April 1926 in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Speriamo che sia femmina (1986), Amici miei (1975) and Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He died on 8 January 2010 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Writer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Francesco Maria Piave was born on 18 May 1810 in Murano, Kingdom of Italy [now Venice, Veneto, Italy]. He was a writer, known for I Origins (2014), Match Point (2005) and The Signal (2014). He died on 5 March 1876 in Milan, Italy.- Producer
- Manager
- Additional Crew
Angelo Rizzoli was born on 31 October 1889 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a producer and manager, known for 8½ (1963), La Dolce Vita (1960) and Red Desert (1964). He died on 24 September 1970 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sandra Ravel was born on 16 January 1910 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for Those Three French Girls (1930), The Single Sin (1931) and The Distant Voice (1933). She was married to Maurizio D'Ancora. She died on 13 August 1954 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Maurizio D'Ancora was only seventeen when he was spotted by Danish director Alfred Lind who gave him a supporting role in Ragazze non scherzate (1929). But it was with his second movie Rotaie (1929), directed by Mario Camerini, that success came. Thanks to his good looks, his penetrating eyes and his regular guy airs, he soon imposed himself both on the public and on the critics in movies of fairly good quality (Casta diva (1935) being one of these) and remained very much in demand until the mid-forties. In 1944 he married actress Sandra Ravel, had a son named Maurizio like him, but was unfortunately widowed ten years later. In 1946 Maurizio D'Ancora (whose real name is Rodolfo Gucci) decided to give up acting to join his brothers and devote himself to the famous fashion house Gucci.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Adriano Micantoni was born on 7 April 1921 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for The Two Gladiators (1964), Gold Train (1965) and Le ragazze di San Frediano (1955). He died on 8 May 1994 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Milla Sannoner was born on 29 July 1938 in Pesaro, Marche, Italy. She was an actress, known for The Last Charge (1962), Revenge (1968) and Sandokan (1976). She died on 14 April 2003 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Marcello Tusco was born on 14 July 1930 in Pesaro, Marche, Italy. He was an actor, known for Der große Bellheim (1993), La piovra (1984) and Napoleone a Sant'Elena (1973). He died on 21 March 2001 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.- Carlo Rizzo was born on 30 April 1907 in Trieste, Italy. He was an actor, known for Macario contro Zagomar (1944), Io, Amleto (1952) and The Rains of Ranchipur (1955). He died on 26 July 1979 in Milan, Italy.
- Harry Hutchinson was born on 15 September 1892 in Dublin, Ireland. He was an actor, known for Chamber of Horrors (1940), The Limping Man (1936) and Mystery and Imagination (1966). He was married to May Fitzgerald. He died on 7 March 1980 in Milan, Italy.
- Gabriella Giacobbe (L'Aquila, 1923 - Rome, January 8, 1979) was an Italian actress active in theater, television and cinema. She is formed at the school of theater of Giorgio Strehler and performs long at the Piccolo Teatro of Milan. She also works with Luchino Visconti and Eduardo De Filippo. She also had a prolific career in television, appearing in dramas of success as "A come Andromeda, La donna di picche e I promessi sposi". More sporadic are his film appearances, which, however, include works by Luigi Magni, Dino Risi, Nelo Risi and the famous spaghetti western "Keoma" by Enzo G. Castellari. She died of cancer on January 8, 1979 at age 55.