Totò

Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis Di Bisanzio Gagliardi, "Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Costantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Pontus, Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durrës", better known as Totò (February 15 1898, Naples – April 15, 1967, Rome), was an Italian film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter.

His fans describe him as the most beloved Italian artist of all time and the greatest of the last century. He was best known for comic roles, but in the latter part of his life showed that he was comfortable in dramatic portrayals as well.

Biography

Totò was born in the "Rione Sanità", a poor area of Naples, Italy, where he met many famous artists like Eduardo De Filippo.

De Curtis started his career in small theatres in which he learned the art of the "guitti", the Neapolitan actors who acted without scenery, similar to the Commedia dell'Arte.

He was the illegitimate son of Anna Clemente and Marquis Giuseppe de Curtis, who legally recognized him as his son in 1928. On his father's death in 1933 Totò was adopted by Marquis Francesco Gagliardi Focas.

In 1946, at a time when the Consulta Araldica — the body which had advised the Kingdom of Italy on matters of nobility — ceased its operations, the Tribunal of Naples recognized his numerous titles, so his complete name was changed from Antonio Clemente to ‘"'Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis of Byzantium, His Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Kinght of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Ponte of Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo"’.Fact|date=September 2008

In 1922 he moved to Rome, where began to perform in bigger theatres, performing the genre of "avanspettacolo", a vaudevillian mixture of music, ballet and brilliant comedy. He became a master at these shows, (also known as "riviste") and in the 1930s he had his own company, with which he travelled across the nation.

In 1937 he appeared in his first movie "Fermo con le Mani", and then starred in over 100 films, all considered classics, still topping - adjusted for inflation - Italy's all-time box office charts and constantly broadcasted on Italian television.

Totò was so famous and loved by fans that many of his movies included his name in the title. Some of his best and most famous films are "Fifa e Arena, Totò Le Mokò, Totò al Giro d'Italia, Totò Sceicco, Guardie e Ladri, Totò e i Re di Roma, Totò e le Donne, Totò Tarzan, Totò terzo uomo, Totò a colori" (the first Italian color movie, 1952, in Ferraniacolor), "Miseria e Nobiltà, Siamo Uomini o Caporali?, I Soliti Ignoti, La Legge è Legge, Uccellacci e Uccellini" and the episode "Che Cosa Sono le Nuvole" from "Capriccio all'Italiana" (released after his death). In the last two films he displayed his dramatic skills, thanks to director Pier Paolo Pasolini. These roles gave him the artistic acknowledgment that had eluded him so far by more stringent critics, who began to recognize his genius only after his death.

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 widely appreciated.

From the 1940s onwards, he represented the very best of Italian comedy. Yet some of his spicy gags became the subject of parliamentary inquiries because, given his popularity, they could have been politically dangerous for the governments of the Democrazia Cristiana.

During the 1950s he also started to compose poetry. The best-known is probably "A Livella", in which an arrogant rich man and a humble poor man meet after their deaths and discuss their differences. Totò was also a songwriter: "Malafemmena" (Bad Woman), dedicated to his wife Diana after they split, is considered one of the best ever Italian pop songs.

Despite his physical appearance Totò had a reputation as a great playboy. One of his lovers, the soubrette Liliana Castagnola, committed suicide after their relationship ended. This tragedy marked his life forever. He buried Liliana in his family's chapel, and named his only daughter Liliana De Curtis, born in 1933 from his first wife Diana Bandini Rogliani, whom he married in 1935. Another great tragedy was the premature birth of his son Massenzio in 1954. The boy died a few hours later. He was the son of Totò's mistress, Franca Faldini.

During a tour in 1956 he lost most of his eyesight due to an eye infection which he had ignored to avoid canceling his show and disappointing his fans. The handicap however almost didn't affect his schedule and acting abilities.

In the artistic "milieu" he was nicknamed "il Principe" (The Prince) and was famous for his generous spirit: having personally suffered poverty, he always tried to help and protect poorer colleagues as well as discreet, low-profile contributions to charity.

Totò died at the age of 69 on April 15, 1967, in Rome, after a series of heart attacks. Even in death he was unique as due to overwhelming popular request there were three funeral services: the first one in Rome, a second in his birth city Naples and a few days after even a third one wanted by the local camorra boss; an empty casket was carried along the packed streets of the popular "Rione Sanità" quarter where he was born.

To this very day there is not a shop in Naples that doesn't carry an image of Totò, his birth home has been recently opened to the public as a museum dedicated to him, and his tombstone is constantly visited by adoring fans who remember him as the most beloved Italian artist of all time and even pray him for help, as if he were a saint.

Trivia

*Totò is the rubber-faced comic featured in several movies excerpted in the movie "Nuovo Cinema Paradiso".

External links

* [http://www.antoniodecurtis.org Site of Totò, Antonio De Curtis]
* [http://www.antoniodecurtis.net/public/index.php/ Tribute to Totò (in Italian)]
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0869451/ IMDB entry] for Totò
* [http://www.lapatriagrande.net/06_cultura/Toto/vota_antonio_la_trippa!.htm Tribute to Totò in "La Patria Grande de Caracas" (español and italiano)]