Totò
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.
Known for
The Commandant
Col. Antonio Cavalli
The Overtaxed
Torquato Pezzella
Totòtruffa '62
Antonio LoRuffo
Side Street Story
Pasquale Miele
The Witches
Ciancicato Miao (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
The Mandrake
il frate
The Thieves
Commissario Di Savio
Gli onorevoli
Antonio La Trippa
Tototarzan
Antonio Della Buffas
Naples '44
Self (archive footage)
Totò Sexy
Nini Cantachiaro
Le motorizzate
Urbano Cacace (segment "Il Vigile Ignoto")
The Hawks and the Sparrows
Totò Innocenti / Frate Cicillo
Totó in color
Antonio Scannagatti
Where Is Freedom?
Salvatore Lojacono
Of Life and Love
Rosario Chiarchiaro
The Shortest Day
frate bersagliere
Totò diabolicus
Galeazzo / Carlo / Scipione / Antonio / Laudomia / Pasquale
Destinazione Piovarolo
Antonio La Quaglia
San Giovanni decollato
Mastro Agostino Miciacio
The Gold of Naples
Don Saverio Petrillo (segment "Il guappo")
Big Deal on Madonna Street
Dante Cruciani
The Band of Honest Men
Antonio Buonocore
The Three Thieves
Tapioca
The Two Marshals
Antonio Capurro
Il coraggio
Gennaro Vaccariello
Cops and Robbers
Ferdinando Esposito
La cambiale
Cesare Posalaquaglia
Toto in Madrid
Totò Scorceletti
The Anatomy of Love
Dionillo
Beautiful Families
Filiberto Comanducci
Toto and Carolina
Antonio Caccavallo
You're on Your Own
Il nonno illuminato
SuperTotò
Poverty and Nobility
Don Felice Sciosciammocca
Noi duri
L'Algerino
The Emperor of Capri
Antonio De Fazio
Le sei mogli di Barbablù
Totò Esposito
Il latitante
Gennaro La Pezza
Toto and Cleopatra
Marc'Antonio / Totonno
Two Little Orphans
Gasparre
Are We Men or Corporals?
Totò Esposito
Totò Double or Nothing?
Duca Gagliardo della Forcoletta
Il medico dei pazzi
Felice Sciosciammocca
Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak
Totò l'agente segreto
Totò d'Arabia
Totò
Caprice Italian Style
Anziano Signore / Iago
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy
Antonio Caponi
Seven Hours of Troubles
Totò De Pasquale
Man, Beast and Virtue
Prof. Paolino
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
Self (archive footage)
Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today
Cavalier Antonio Cocozza
Toto and Marcellino
Il Professore
The Firemen of Viggiù
Totò
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
(archive footage)
The Law Is the Law
Giuseppe La Paglia
Tutto Totò - La scommessa
Oberdan Lo Cascio
Toto and the Kings of Rome
Ercole Pappalardo
Funniest Show on Earth
Tottons
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
Ciancicato Miao
Letto a tre piazze
Antonio Di Cosimo
Toto in Paris
Marchese Gastone de Chemantel / Chateau-Boiron / il vagabondo Totò
Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge
Antonio
Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel
il professor Serafino Bolletta
Toto Tours Italy
Prof. Totò Casamandrei
Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli
Totò, la guida non autorizzata
Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro
Mardoccheo Stonatelli
Totò in the Moon
Pasquale Belafronte
Fifa e arena
Nicolino Capece
We Are Cinema
Self (archive footage)
Totò nella fossa dei leoni
Totò
The Monk of Monza
Pasquale Cicciacalda / Don Manuel
Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino
Antonio La Puzza / Amministratore di Canarinis
Signori si nasce
Ottone Degli Ulivi, detto Zazà
Neapolitan Turk
Felice Sciosciammocca
Totò vs the Four
commissario Antonio Saracino
L'allegro fantasma
Nicolino & Gelsomino & Antonino
Yvonne of the Night
Nino, il fantasista
Totò Story
He Who Hesitates Is Lost
Antonio Guardalavecchia
Totò e il Principe De Curtis - L'uomo oltre la maschera
Se stesso
Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare
Dott. Biagio Tanzarella
Totò all'inferno
Antonio Marchi
Totò versus the Black Pirate
Josè
Latin Lovers
Rag. Antonio Gargiulo (ep. Amore e morte)
Slave Girl
Gobbone il cammello (narratore)
Legs of Gold
Barone Luigi Fontana
Toto the Sheik
Antonio Sapone
Toto at Night
Nini
Figaro qua... Figaro là
Figaro
Roman Tales
Professor Semprini
Toto the Third Man
Piero / Paolo / Totò
Totò le Mokò
Antonio Lumaconi / Totò le Moko
Totò versus Maciste
Totokamen
Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life
Antonio Barbacane
Laughs Italian Style
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
musicista capellone
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
Self (archive footage)
The Treasure of San Gennaro
Don Vincenzo
Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche
Antonio Vignarello
Toto and the Women
Antonio Scaparro
47 Talking Corpses
Il barone Antonio Peletti
Lo smemorato di Collegno
lo smemorato
Hands Off Me!
Conte Toto di Torretota
The Passionate Thief
Umberto 'Infortunio' Pennazzuto
Una di quelle
Rocco Bardelli
Rita the American Girl
Serafino Benvenuti
Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino
Barnaba Parmiggiani aka 'Babà'
What Are the Clouds?
Iago
Totò Looking for a House
Beniamino Lomacchio
Totò Seeks Peace
Gennaro Piselli
Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?
Totò Baby / il Padre
Totò Looking for Wife
Totò
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
Michele Spillone detto Mike
Two Colonels
Colonnello Di Maggio
Variety carousel
The Rape of the Sabine
Aristide Tromboni
Animal Crackers
Barone Tolomeo dei Tolomei
Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare
Cinépanorama
Self
Antologia di Totò
Totò (se stesso)