Biography
Massimo Girotti (18 May 1918 – 5 January 2003) was an Italian film actor whose career spanned seven decades. Born in Mogliano, in the province of Macerata, Girotti developed his athletic physique by swimming and playing polo. While studying engineering, he attracted the attention of Mario Soldati, who offered him a small part in the film Dora Nelson (1939), but it was not until later, in Alessandro Blasetti's La corona di ferro (The Iron Crown) (1941) and Roberto Rossellini's Un Pilota ritorna (A Pilot Returns) (1942), that he began to make an impression as a serious actor. In 1943 came a turning point in his career when Luchino Visconti cast him opposite the torrid Clara Calamai in Ossessione (Obsession), an earlier adaptation of the same novel on which Hollywood's The Postman Always Rings Twice is based. The film marked, in a sense, the birth of Italian neo-realism. Some of his notable post-war films include Caccia tragica (The Tragic Hunt) (1946) by Giuseppe De Santis and In nome della legge (1949) (In the Name of the Law) by Pietro Germi.
In 1950, he starred opposite Lucia Bosé in Michelangelo Antonioni's first full-length feature, Cronaca di un amore (Story of a Love Affair) (1950). In 1953, he played Spartacus in an Italian epic film known in the US as Sins of Rome and then, returned to work again for Visconti, in Senso (1954), giving perhaps the finest performance of his career. In the years which followed, he appeared in many mainly Italian films for directors such as Lizzani, Bolognini, Vittorio Cottafavi, Lattuada, but it was not until 1968 that he once again played a role worthy of his talents - that of the father in Pasolini's Teorema (Theorem) with Terence Stamp and Silvana Mangano. Two years later, Pasolini cast him as Creonte opposite Maria Callas in his Medea (1969). In 1972, he was in Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango in Paris. That same year he made a rare appearance in a horror film when he agreed to a supporting role in Baron Blood as a favor to its director Mario Bava.
He continued to act in character roles for the next thirty years. Some of the films he appeared in have been notable, including Joseph Losey's Monsieur Klein (1976) with Alain Delon and Jeanne Moreau, Art of Love (1983) by Walerian Borowczyk, the 1985 television miniseries Quo Vadis?, Roberto Benigni's Il mostro (The Monster) (1994).
He died in Rome of a heart attack after having just completed his last film, Ferzan Özpetek's La Finestra di fronte (Facing Windows) (2003).
Filmography
all 107
Movies 101
TV Shows 6
self 3
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita (2021)
Luchino Visconti: Life as in a Novel (2008)
Facing Windows (2003)
Der Kardinal - Der Preis der Liebe (2000)
Luchino Visconti (1999)
The Monster (1994)
From Night to Dawn (1992)
Mademoiselle Ardel (1990)
The French Revolution (1989)
Affairs (1989)
La Bohème (1988)
Der Ochsenkrieg (1987)
The Berlin Affair (1985)
Christopher Columbus (1985)
Quo Vadis? (1985)
The Art of Love (1983)
Passion of Love (1981)
Un reietto delle isole (1980)
Origins of the Mafia (1976)
And Agnes Chose to Die (1976)
Mr. Klein (1976)
The Innocent (1976)
Mark Shoots First (1975)
The Suspicious Death of a Minor (1975)
Cagliostro (1975)
The Kiss of Death (1974)
La coppia (1973)
Stateline Motel (1973)
The Voracious Ones (1973)
My Body With Anger (1972)
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Baron Blood (1972)
Il segno del comando (1971)
Medea (1970)
The Red Tent (1969)
The Sisters (1969)
Jekyll (1969)
Listen, Let's Make Love (1968)
Theorem (1968)
The Witches (1967)
El misterioso señor Van Eyck (1966)
Idoli controluce (1965)
Marco the Magnificent (1965)
Gold for the Caesars (1963)
Mafia alla sbarra (1963)
The Shortest Day (1963)
Imperial Venus (1962)
Duel of the Titans (1961)
The Giants of Thessaly (1960)
Letters of a Novice (1960)
The Cossacks (1960)
Cavalcata selvaggia (1960)
Nights of the Teddy Boys (1959)
La cento chilometri (1959)
Wolves in the Abyss (1959)
The Head of a Tyrant (1959)
Asphalte (1959)
Herod the Great (1959)
The Year Long Road (1958)
Goddess Of Love (1957)
La trovatella di Pompei (1957)
La bestia humana (1957)
It Happened in Rome (1957)
Saranno uomini (1957)
Four of the Thundering Jet (1955)
Marguerite of the Night (1955)
Disperato addio (1955)
Senso (1954)
La tua donna (1954)
The Love of a Woman (1953)
Vortice (1953)
At the Edge of the City (1953)
A Husband for Anna (1953)
Sul ponte dei sospiri (1953)
Sins of Rome (1953)
Il segreto delle tre punte (1952)
Il tenente Giorgio (1952)
Leathernose (1952)
Rome 11:00 (1952)
Behind Closed Shutters (1951)
Land der Sehnsucht (1950)
Story of a Love Affair (1950)
Duel Without Honor (1950)
In the Name of the Law (1949)
Fabiola (1949)
Altura (1949)
Difficult Years (1948)
Woman Trouble (1948)
Lost Youth (1948)
Christmas at Camp 119 (1947)
Tragic Hunt (1947)
Fatalità (1947)
Desire (1946)
A Day in the Life (1946)
Preludio d'amore (1946)
The Gate of Heaven (1945)
La carne e l'anima (1945)
I dieci comandamenti (1945)
Ossessione (1944)
Apparizione (1943)
Harlem (1943)
A Pilot Returns (1942)
La famiglia Brambilla in vacanza (1941)
Le due tigri (1941)
I pirati della Malesia (1941)
The Iron Crown (1941)
Dora Nelson (1939)
Ratings
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1918-05-18
Deathday2003-01-05 (84 years old)
Birth PlaceMogliano, Italy
CitizenshipsKingdom of Italy, Italy
Also Known AsМассимо Джиротти
AwardsNastro d'Argento for Best Actor, David di Donatello for Best Actor
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
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