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.
Acted in
Totò e il Principe De Curtis. L'uomo oltre la maschera
2023
as Se stesso
We Are Cinema
2021
as Self (archive footage)
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
2021
as Self (archive footage)
Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?
2020
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Naples '44
2016
as Self (archive footage)
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
2004
as Self (archive footage)
Antologia di Totò
1978
as Totò (se stesso)
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
1975
as (archive footage)
Caprice Italian Style
1968
as Anziano Signore / Iago
What Are the Clouds?
1968
as Iago
Totò Story
1968
Tutto Totò - Il tuttofare
1967
Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli
1967
as Totò, la guida non autorizzata
Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak
1967
as Totò l'agente segreto
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
1967
as musicista capellone
Il latitante
1967
as Gennaro La Pezza
Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro
1967
as Mardoccheo Stonatelli
The Witches
1967
as Ciancicato Miao (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
1967
as Ciancicato Miao
Tutto Totò - La scommessa
1967
as Oberdan Lo Cascio
Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino
1967
as Barnaba Parmiggiani aka 'Babà'
Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel
1967
as il professor Serafino Bolletta
The Treasure of San Gennaro
1966
as Don Vincenzo
The Hawks and the Sparrows
1966
as Totò Innocenti / Frate Cicillo
Rita the American Girl
1965
as Serafino Benvenuti
The Mandrake
1965
as il frate
Latin Lovers
1965
as Rag. Antonio Gargiulo (ep. Amore e morte)
Totò d'Arabia
1965
as Totò
Beautiful Families
1964
as Filiberto Comanducci
What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?
1964
as Totò Baby / il Padre
Risate all'italiana
1964
Totò contro il pirata nero
1964
as Josè
The Commandant
1963
as Col. Antonio Cavalli
Gli onorevoli
1963
as Antonio La Trippa
Toto and Cleopatra
1963
as Marc'Antonio / Totonno
Totò Sexy
1963
as Nini Cantachiaro
Le motorizzate
1963
as Urbano Cacace (segment "Il Vigile Ignoto")
The Monk of Monza
1963
as Pasquale Cicciacalda / Don Manuel
Totò vs the Four
1963
as commissario Antonio Saracino
The Shortest Day
1963
as frate bersagliere
Two Colonels
1963
as Colonnello Di Maggio
Toto at Night
1962
as Nini
Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino
1962
as Antonio La Puzza / Amministratore di Canarinis
Lo smemorato di Collegno
1962
as lo smemorato
Totò diabolicus
1962
as Galeazzo / Carlo / Scipione / Antonio / Laudomia / Pasquale
Totò contro Maciste
1962
as Totokamen
The Two Marshals
1961
as Antonio Capurro
Totòtruffa '62
1961
as Antonio LoRuffo
Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare
1961
as Dott. Biagio Tanzarella
Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life
1961
as Antonio Barbacane
He Who Hesitates Is Lost
1960
as Antonio Guardalavecchia
The Passionate Thief
1960
as Umberto 'Infortunio' Pennazzuto
Letto a tre piazze
1960
as Antonio Di Cosimo
Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today
1960
as Cavalier Antonio Cocozza
Signori si nasce
1960
as Ottone Degli Ulivi, detto Zazà
Noi duri
1960
as L'Algerino
La cambiale
1959
as Cesare Posalaquaglia
You're on Your Own
1959
as Il nonno illuminato
The Thieves
1959
as Commissario Di Savio
The Overtaxed
1959
as Torquato Pezzella
Toto in Madrid
1959
as Totò Scorceletti
Totò nella Luna
1958
as Pasquale Belafronte
Toto in Paris
1958
as Marchese Gastone de Chemantel / Chateau-Boiron / il vagabondo Totò
The Law Is the Law
1958
as Giuseppe La Paglia
Legs of Gold
1958
as Barone Luigi Fontana
Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche
1958
as Antonio Vignarello
Big Deal on Madonna Street
1958
as Dante Cruciani
Toto and Marcellino
1958
as Il Professore
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
1957
as Michele Spillone detto Mike
Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge
1956
as Antonio
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy
1956
as Antonio Caponi
Totò Double or Nothing?
1956
as Duca Gagliardo della Forcoletta
The Band of Honest Men
1956
as Antonio Buonocore
Il coraggio
1955
as Gennaro Vaccariello
Roman Tales
1955
as Professor Semprini
Destinazione Piovarolo
1955
as Antonio La Quaglia
Are We Men or Corporals?
1955
as Totò Esposito
Totò all'inferno
1955
as Antonio Marchi
Toto and Carolina
1955
as Antonio Caccavallo
Variety carousel
1955
Totò cerca pace
1954
as Gennaro Piselli
The Gold of Naples
1954
as Don Saverio Petrillo (segment "Il guappo")
Il medico dei pazzi
1954
as Felice Sciosciammocca
I tre ladri
1954
as Tapioca
Poverty and Nobility
1954
as Don Felice Sciosciammocca
The Anatomy of Love
1954
as Dionillo
Where Is Freedom?
1954
as Salvatore Lojacono
Of Life and Love
1954
as Rosario Chiarchiaro
Funniest Show on Earth
1953
as Tottons
Una di quelle
1953
as Rocco Bardelli
Neapolitan Turk
1953
as Felice Sciosciammocca
Man, Beast and Virtue
1953
as Prof. Paolino
Toto and the Women
1952
as Antonio Scaparro
Toto and the Kings of Rome
1952
as Ercole Pappalardo
Totó in color
1952
as Antonio Scannagatti
Cops and Robbers
1951
as Ferdinando Esposito
Sette ore di guai
1951
as Totò De Pasquale
Toto the Third Man
1951
as Piero / Paolo / Totò
47 Talking Corpses
1950
as Il barone Antonio Peletti
Toto the Sheik
1950
as Antonio Sapone
Le sei mogli di Barbablù
1950
as Totò Esposito
Tototarzan
1950
as Antonio Della Buffas
Figaro qua... Figaro là
1950
as Figaro
Side Street Story
1950
as Pasquale Miele
Totò cerca moglie
1950
as Totò
Totò le Mokò
1949
as Antonio Lumaconi / Totò le Moko
The Emperor of Capri
1949
as Antonio De Fazio
Totò cerca casa
1949
as Beniamino Lomacchio
Yvonne of the Night
1949
as Nino, il fantasista
The Firemen of Viggiù
1949
as Totò
Toto Tours Italy
1948
as Prof. Totò Casamandrei
Fifa e arena
1948
as Nicolino Capece
I due orfanelli
1947
as Gasparre
Slave Girl
1947
as Gobbone il cammello (narratore)
The Rape of the Sabine
1945
as Aristide Tromboni
Totò nella fossa dei leoni
1943
as Totò
L'allegro fantasma
1941
as Nicolino & Gelsomino & Antonino
San Giovanni decollato
1940
as Mastro Agostino Miciacio
Animal Crackers
1939
as Barone Tolomeo dei Tolomei
Hands Off Me!
1937
as Conte Toto di Torretota