Totò
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1898-02-14
Day of Death
1967-04-15 (69 years old)
Place of Birth
Naples, Campania, Italy
Totò
Biography
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
Acting
(2023)
(2021)
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
as Self (archive footage)
(2021)
We Are Cinema
as Self (archive footage)
(2020)
Siamo tutti Alberto Sordi?
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
(2016)
Naples '44
as Self (archive footage)
(2004)
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
as Self (archive footage)
(1980)
(1978)
Antologia di Totò
as Totò (se stesso)
(1975)
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
as (archive footage)
(1968)
Caprice Italian Style
as Anziano Signore / Iago
(1968)
What Are the Clouds?
as Iago
(1968)
(1967)
The Witches
as Ciancicato Miao (segment "La Terra vista dalla Luna")
(1967)
Il latitante
as Gennaro La Pezza
(1967)
Tutto Totò - La scommessa
as Oberdan Lo Cascio
(1967)
Tutto Totò - Totò Ciak
as Totò l'agente segreto
(1967)
Tutto Totò - Don Giovannino
as Barnaba Parmiggiani aka 'Babà'
(1967)
Tutto Totò - Totò a Napoli
as Totò, la guida non autorizzata
(1967)
Tutto Totò - Premio Nobel
as il professor Serafino Bolletta
(1967)
The Earth As Seen from the Moon
as Ciancicato Miao
(1967)
Tutto Totò - Il grande maestro
as Mardoccheo Stonatelli
(1967)
(1967)
Tutto Totò - Totò Ye Ye
as musicista capellone
(1966)
The Treasure of San Gennaro
as Don Vincenzo
(1966)
The Hawks and the Sparrows
as Totò Innocenti / Frate Cicillo
(1965)
The Mandrake
as il frate
(1965)
Latin Lovers
as Rag. Antonio Gargiulo (ep. Amore e morte)
(1965)
Totò d'Arabia
as Totò
(1965)
Rita the American Girl
as Serafino Benvenuti
(1964)
Totò versus the Black Pirate
as Josè
(1964)
What Ever Happened to Baby Toto?
as Totò Baby / il Padre
(1964)
(1964)
Beautiful Families
as Filiberto Comanducci
(1963)
The Shortest Day
as frate bersagliere
(1963)
The Monk of Monza
as Pasquale Cicciacalda / Don Manuel
(1963)
Totò vs the Four
as commissario Antonio Saracino
(1963)
Toto and Cleopatra
as Marc'Antonio / Totonno
(1963)
Two Colonels
as Colonnello Di Maggio
(1963)
Gli onorevoli
as Antonio La Trippa
(1963)
The Commandant
as Col. Antonio Cavalli
(1963)
Le motorizzate
as Urbano Cacace (segment "Il Vigile Ignoto")
(1963)
Totò Sexy
as Nini Cantachiaro
(1962)
Lo smemorato di Collegno
as lo smemorato
(1962)
Totò e Peppino divisi a Berlino
as Antonio La Puzza / Amministratore di Canarinis
(1962)
Totò diabolicus
as Galeazzo / Carlo / Scipione / Antonio / Laudomia / Pasquale
(1962)
Totò versus Maciste
as Totokamen
(1962)
Toto at Night
as Nini
(1961)
Totò, Peppino and... the Sweet Life
as Antonio Barbacane
(1961)
Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare
as Dott. Biagio Tanzarella
(1961)
Totòtruffa '62
as Antonio LoRuffo
(1961)
The Two Marshals
as Antonio Capurro
(1960)
He Who Hesitates Is Lost
as Antonio Guardalavecchia
(1960)
Signori si nasce
as Ottone Degli Ulivi, detto Zazà
(1960)
The Passionate Thief
as Umberto 'Infortunio' Pennazzuto
(1960)
Letto a tre piazze
as Antonio Di Cosimo
(1960)
Toto, Fabrizi and the Young People Today
as Cavalier Antonio Cocozza
(1960)
Noi duri
as L'Algerino
(1959)
La cambiale
as Cesare Posalaquaglia
(1959)
Toto in Madrid
as Totò Scorceletti
(1959)
The Overtaxed
as Torquato Pezzella
(1959)
The Thieves
as Commissario Di Savio
(1959)
You're on Your Own
as Il nonno illuminato
(1958)
Big Deal on Madonna Street
as Dante Cruciani
(1958)
The Law Is the Law
as Giuseppe La Paglia
(1958)
Toto in Paris
as Marchese Gastone de Chemantel / Chateau-Boiron / il vagabondo Totò
(1958)
Toto and Marcellino
as Il Professore
(1958)
Totò, Peppino e le fanatiche
as Antonio Vignarello
(1958)
Totò in the Moon
as Pasquale Belafronte
(1958)
Legs of Gold
as Barone Luigi Fontana
(1957)
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
as Michele Spillone detto Mike
(1956)
The Band of Honest Men
as Antonio Buonocore
(1956)
Toto, Peppino, and the Hussy
as Antonio Caponi
(1956)
Totò, Peppino e i fuorilegge
as Antonio
(1956)
Totò Double or Nothing?
as Duca Gagliardo della Forcoletta
(1955)
Totò all'inferno
as Antonio Marchi
(1955)
Are We Men or Corporals?
as Totò Esposito
(1955)
Roman Tales
as Professor Semprini
(1955)
Toto and Carolina
as Antonio Caccavallo
(1955)
Il coraggio
as Gennaro Vaccariello
(1955)
Destinazione Piovarolo
as Antonio La Quaglia
(1955)
(1954)
Il medico dei pazzi
as Felice Sciosciammocca
(1954)
Poverty and Nobility
as Don Felice Sciosciammocca
(1954)
The Gold of Naples
as Don Saverio Petrillo (segment "Il guappo")
(1954)
Of Life and Love
as Rosario Chiarchiaro
(1954)
The Anatomy of Love
as Dionillo
(1954)
Where Is Freedom?
as Salvatore Lojacono
(1954)
The Three Thieves
as Tapioca
(1954)
Totò Seeks Peace
as Gennaro Piselli
(1953)
Neapolitan Turk
as Felice Sciosciammocca
(1953)
Man, Beast and Virtue
as Prof. Paolino
(1953)
Una di quelle
as Rocco Bardelli
(1953)
Funniest Show on Earth
as Tottons
(1952)
Toto and the Kings of Rome
as Ercole Pappalardo
(1952)
Toto and the Women
as Antonio Scaparro
(1952)
Totó in color
as Antonio Scannagatti
(1951)
Cops and Robbers
as Ferdinando Esposito
(1951)
Toto the Third Man
as Piero / Paolo / Totò
(1951)
Seven Hours of Troubles
as Totò De Pasquale
(1950)
47 Talking Corpses
as Il barone Antonio Peletti
(1950)
Totò Looking for Wife
as Totò
(1950)
Tototarzan
as Antonio Della Buffas
(1950)
Toto the Sheik
as Antonio Sapone
(1950)
Le sei mogli di Barbablù
as Totò Esposito
(1950)
Side Street Story
as Pasquale Miele
(1950)
Figaro qua... Figaro là
as Figaro
(1949)
Yvonne of the Night
as Nino, il fantasista
(1949)
Totò le Mokò
as Antonio Lumaconi / Totò le Moko
(1949)
Totò Looking for a House
as Beniamino Lomacchio
(1949)
The Firemen of Viggiù
as Totò
(1949)
The Emperor of Capri
as Antonio De Fazio
(1948)
Toto Tours Italy
as Prof. Totò Casamandrei
(1948)
Fifa e arena
as Nicolino Capece
(1947)
Slave Girl
as Gobbone il cammello (narratore)
(1947)
Two Little Orphans
as Gasparre
(1945)
The Rape of the Sabine
as Aristide Tromboni
(1943)
Totò nella fossa dei leoni
as Totò
(1941)
L'allegro fantasma
as Nicolino & Gelsomino & Antonino
(1940)
San Giovanni decollato
as Mastro Agostino Miciacio
(1939)
Animal Crackers
as Barone Tolomeo dei Tolomei
(1937)
Hands Off Me!
as Conte Toto di Torretota
Crew
(1967)
(1961)
The Two Marshals
Idea
(1955)
Are We Men or Corporals?
Screenplay, Story
(1955)
Totò all'inferno
Screenplay, Story
(1955)
Il coraggio
Screenplay
(1954)
Il medico dei pazzi
Screenplay
(1952)
Totó in color
Story