About

Known credits:
109
Birthday:
1918-05-18
Place of birth:
Mogliano, Macerata, Italy
Website:
N/A

Massimo Girotti

Overview

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).

Source: Article "Massimo Girotti" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known for

Acting

2021 Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita Actor Self (archive footage) 58
Average
2003 Facing Windows Actor Simone / Davide Veroli 63
Fair
2002 Luchino Visconti Actor Self (archive footage) 58
Average
2000 Der Kardinal - Der Preis der Liebe Actor Donato N/A
N/A
1996 Un bel dì vedremo Actor Emilio Venditti N/A
N/A
1994 The Monster Actor il condomino distinto 64
Fair
1992 From Night to Dawn Actor Vergiotti N/A
N/A
1990 Der Erfolg ihres Lebens Actor Le comte di Falco N/A
N/A
1989 The French Revolution Actor Massimo Girotti: L'envoyé du Pape (segment "Anées Lumière, Les") 69
Fair
1989 The French Revolution Actor Envoyé du Pape 60
Fair
1989 Affairs Actor Count Valery Du Terrail 58
Average
1988 La Bohème Actor The Old Pretender / Featuring 58
Average
1987 Der Ochsenkrieg Actor Someier 68
Fair
1985 The Berlin Affair Actor Werner von Heiden 58
Average
1985 Christopher Columbus Actor Duca Medina Coeli 69
Fair
1985 Quo Vadis? Actor Aulus Plautius 67
Fair
1983 Art of Love Actor Ovid 58
Average
1981 Passion of Love Actor Colonel 59
Average
1980 Un reietto delle isole Actor Tom Lingard N/A
N/A
1976 Origins of the Mafia Actor Viceroy Caracciolo N/A
N/A
1976 And Agnes Chose to Die Actor Palita 59
Average
1976 Mr. Klein Actor Charles, Florence's husband 63
Fair
1976 The Innocent Actor Count Stefano Egano 60
Fair
1975 Mark Shoots First Actor Il Questore Spaini 58
Average
1975 The Suspicious Death of a Minor Actor Gaudenzio Pesce 58
Average
1975 Cagliostro Actor Giacomo Casanova N/A
N/A
1974 The Kiss of Death Actor Eugenio Dazzi 58
Average
1973 Stateline Motel Actor Fred Norton 58
Average
1973 The Voracious Ones Actor Olmi 58
Average
1972 Last Tango in Paris Actor Marcel 66
Fair
1972 My Body With Anger Actor Gabriele N/A
N/A
1972 Baron Blood Actor Dr. Karl Hummel 59
Average
1971 Il segno del comando Actor George Powell 70
Good
1969 Medea Actor Creonte 60
Fair
1969 The Red Tent Actor Giuseppe Romagna Manoja 58
Average
1969 La coppia Actor Guido N/A
N/A
1969 The Sisters Actor Alex 58
Average
1969 Jekyll Actor John Utterson 68
Fair
1968 Listen, Let's Make Love Actor Tassi 58
Average
1968 Theorem Actor Paolo, the Father 64
Fair
1967 The Witches Actor Sportsman (segment "La strega bruciata viva") 58
Average
1966 The Mysterious Mr. Van Eyck Actor Friend of Charles N/A
N/A
1965 Idoli controluce Actor Ugo Sanfelice N/A
N/A
1965 Marco the Magnificent Actor Nicolo, Marco's Father 58
Average
1963 Gold for the Caesars Actor Pro-consul Caius Cornelius Maximus) 58
Average
1963 Mafia alla sbarra Actor N/A
N/A
1963 The Shortest Day Actor Capitano alla finestra (uncredited) 58
Average
1962 Imperial Venus Actor Leclerc 58
Average
1961 Duel of the Titans Actor Tazio 58
Average
1960 The Giants of Thessaly Actor Orfeo 58
Average
1960 Letters of a Novice Actor Don Paolo Conti 58
Average
1960 The Cossacks Actor Tsar Alexander II 59
Average
1960 Cavalcata selvaggia Actor Lorenzo N/A
N/A
1959 Nights of the Teddy Boys Actor Constantino's Father 59
Average
1959 La cento chilometri Actor Toccaceli N/A
N/A
1959 Wolves in the Abyss Actor Comandante 58
Average
1959 The Head of a Tyrant Actor Holofernes 58
Average
1959 Asphalt Actor Éric 59
Average
1959 Herod the Great Actor Ottaviano 58
Average
1958 The Year Long Road Actor Chiacchiera (Naklapalo) 58
Average
1957 Goddess Of Love Actor Prassitele 58
Average
1957 La trovatella di Pompei Actor Guglielmo Curti N/A
N/A
1957 La bestia humana Actor Pedro Sandoval 58
Average
1957 It Happened in Rome Actor Ugo Parenti 58
Average
1957 Saranno uomini Actor Don Antonio 59
Average
1955 Four of the Thundering Jet Actor Maggiore Montanari N/A
N/A
1955 Marguerite of the Night Actor Valentin 58
Average
1955 Disperato addio Actor dottor Andrea Pitti N/A
N/A
1954 Senso Actor Il Marchese Roberto Ussoni 62
Fair
1954 La tua donna Actor Sandro Ademari 58
Average
1953 The Love of a Woman Actor André Lorenz 58
Average
1953 Vortice Actor Dr. Guido Aureli 59
Average
1953 At the Edge of the City Actor Avv. Roberto Martini 59
Average
1953 A Husband for Anna Actor Andrea Grazzi 58
Average
1953 Sul ponte dei sospiri Actor Marco Spada 58
Average
1953 Sins of Rome Actor Spartacus 58
Average
1952 Il segreto delle tre punte Actor Massimo Dal Colle N/A
N/A
1952 Lieutenant Giorgio Actor Tenente Giorgio Biserta 59
Average
1952 Fugitive in Trieste Actor Fred Nolan N/A
N/A
1952 Leathernose Actor Doctor Marchal 59
Average
1952 Rome 11:00 Actor Nando the Unemployed 60
Fair
1951 Behind Closed Shutters Actor Ingegnere Roberto 58
Average
1950 Land der Sehnsucht Actor N/A
N/A
1950 Story of a Love Affair Actor Guido 60
Fair
1950 Duel Without Honor Actor Carlo N/A
N/A
1949 In the Name of the Law Actor Il pretore Guido Schiavi 59
Average
1949 Fabiola Actor Sebastian 58
Average
1949 Altura Actor Stanis Archena N/A
N/A
1948 Difficult Years Actor Giovanni Piscitello 59
Average
1948 Woman Trouble Actor Paolo Bertoni 58
Average
1948 Lost Youth Actor Marcello Mariani 58
Average
1947 Christmas at Camp 119 Actor Nane, il veneziano 58
Average
1947 Tragic Hunt Actor Michele 58
Average
1947 Fatalità Actor Vincenzo Masi 58
Average
1946 Desire Actor Nando Mancini 58
Average
1946 A Day in the Life Actor Luigi Monotti 59
Average
1946 Preludio d'amore Actor N/A
N/A
1945 The Gate of Heaven Actor The blind youth 58
Average
1945 La carne e l'anima Actor Andrea N/A
N/A
1945 I dieci comandamenti Actor (segment "Ricordati di santificare le feste") N/A
N/A
1944 Obsession Actor Gino Costa 64
Fair
1943 Apparizione Actor Franco 59
Average
1943 Harlem Actor Tommaso Rossi N/A
N/A
1942 A Pilot Returns Actor Lieutenant Gino Rossati 58
Average
1941 La famiglia Brambilla in vacanza Actor Marco Sassoli N/A
N/A
1941 Le due tigri Actor Tremal-Naik N/A
N/A
1941 I pirati della Malesia Actor Tremal-Naik N/A
N/A
1941 The Iron Crown Actor Arminio / King Licinio 58
Average
1939 Dora Nelson Actor Enrico 58
Average