Totò
Acting
Born February 14, 1898 · 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.
Films (123)
Totò e il Principe De Curtis - L'uomo oltre la maschera
2023
We Are Cinema
2021
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
2021
Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?
2020
Naples '44
2016
Hollywood sul Tevere
2009
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
2004
SuperTotò
1980
Antologia di Totò
1978
Forza Italia!
1977
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
1975
Caprice Italian Style
1968
What Are the Clouds?
1968
Totò Story
1968
Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare
1967
Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli
1967
Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak
1967
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
1967
Il latitante
1967
Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro
1967
The Witches
1967
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
1967
Tutto Totò - La scommessa
1967
Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino
1967
Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel
1967
The Treasure of San Gennaro
1966
The Hawks and the Sparrows
1966
Rita the American Girl
1965
The Mandrake
1965
Latin Lovers
1965
Totò d'Arabia
1965
Beautiful Families
1964
What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?
1964
Laughs Italian Style
1964
Totò versus the Black Pirate
1964
The Commandant
1963
Gli onorevoli
1963
Toto and Cleopatra
1963
Totò sexy
1963
Le motorizzate
1963
The Monk of Monza
1963
Totò vs the Four
1963
The Shortest Day
1963
Two Colonels
1963
Toto at Night
1962
Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino
1962
Lo smemorato di Collegno
1962
Totò diabolicus
1962
Totò versus Maciste
1962
The Two Marshals
1961
Totòtruffa '62
1961
Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare
1961
Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life
1961
He Who Hesitates Is Lost
1960
The Passionate Thief
1960
Letto a tre piazze
1960
Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today
1960
Signori si nasce
1960
Noi duri
1960
La cambiale
1959
You're on Your Own
1959
The Thieves
1959
The Overtaxed
1959
Toto in Madrid
1959
Totò in the Moon
1958
Toto in Paris
1958
The Law Is the Law
1958
Legs of Gold
1958
Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche
1958
Big Deal on Madonna Street
1958
Toto and Marcellino
1958
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
1957
Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge
1956
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy
1956
Totò Double or Nothing?
1956
The Band of Honest Men
1956
Il coraggio
1955
Roman Tales
1955
Destinazione Piovarolo
1955
Are We Men or Corporals?
1955
Totò all'inferno
1955
Toto and Carolina
1955
Variety carousel
1955
Totò Seeks Peace
1954
The Gold of Naples
1954
Il medico dei pazzi
1954
The Three Thieves
1954
Poverty and Nobility
1954
The Anatomy of Love
1954
Where Is Freedom?
1954
Of Life and Love
1954
Funniest Show on Earth
1953
Una di quelle
1953
Neapolitan Turk
1953
Man, Beast and Virtue
1953
Toto and the Women
1952
Toto and the Kings of Rome
1952
Totó in color
1952
Cops and Robbers
1951
Seven Hours of Troubles
1951
Toto the Third Man
1951
47 Talking Corpses
1950
Toto the Sheik
1950
Le sei mogli di Barbablù
1950
Tototarzan
1950
Figaro qua... Figaro là
1950
Side Street Story
1950
Totò Looking for Wife
1950
Totò le Mokò
1949
The Emperor of Capri
1949
Totò Looking for a House
1949
Yvonne of the Night
1949
The Firemen of Viggiù
1949
Toto Tours Italy
1948
Fifa e arena
1948
Two Little Orphans
1947
Slave Girl
1947
The Rape of the Sabine
1945
Totò nella fossa dei leoni
1943
L'allegro fantasma
1941
San Giovanni decollato
1940
Animal Crackers
1939
Hands Off Me!
1937