Mastroianni, Marcello

born Sept. 28, 1924, Fontana Liri, Italy

died Dec. 19, 1996, Paris, France

Italian film actor.

He made his film debut in 1947 and was a well-known actor in Italy by the mid-1950s. Darkly handsome, with a screen persona alternately winning and morose, he won international fame in films such as Luchino Visconti's White Nights (1957) and Federico Fellini's La dolce vita (1960). He acted in more than 100 movies, including 812 (1963), Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow (1963), We All Loved Each Other So Much (1975), Dark Eyes (1987), and Voyage to the Beginning of the World (1997).

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▪ 1997

      Italian actor (b. Sept. 28, 1924, Fontana Liri, Italy—d. Dec. 19, 1996, Paris, Fr.), was a handsome, charming, and internationally renowned leading man whose roles in more than 120 films established his screen image as the quintessential modern European male. Throughout his career on stage and screen, he portrayed an array of characters in both dramatic and comic works. The son of a poor cabinetmaker, Mastroianni trained as a surveyor. During World War II he drew maps in Italy and spent a brief stint in a labour camp, from which he escaped to Venice. After the war he embarked on an acting career, making his film debut in the film I miserabili (1947), an Italian version of Les Misérables. In 1948 he joined an innovative theatrical group headed by Luchino Visconti and performed in a variety of plays. By the early 1950s he was a well-known actor in Italy, but it was not until his work in the film Le notti bianche (1957), for which he won the 1958 Italian Film Critics' Silver Ribbon, that his career took off. His performance in Federico Fellini's film La dolce vita (1960) established his international reputation. He gained accolades for his portrayal of a bored Sicilian baron eager to dispose of his wife in Divorce—Italian Style (1961) and for his work in another Fellini film, 8 1/2 (1963). His screen partnership with Sophia Loren was extremely successful, and the two were paired in a number of films, notably the comedy Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963). In films such as A Special Day (1977), in which he played a homosexual, Mastroianni defied his stereotypical image of the romantic leading man. His later works include Dark Eyes (1987), I Don't Want to Talk About It (1993), and Three Lives and Only One Death (1996), in which he appeared with his daughter Chiara.

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▪ Italian actor

born Sept. 28, 1924, Fontana Liri, Italy

died Dec. 19, 1996, Paris, France

      actor who became the preeminent leading man in Italian cinema during the 1960s. An attractive man whose acting style projected a mood of casual affability, he achieved international fame as the screen symbol of the modern European.

 Mastroianni enrolled at the University of Rome after World War II. He began an acting career in amateur theatricals sponsored by the university, and in 1948 he joined Italy's leading theatrical troupe. Having made his film debut in 1947, Mastroianni had become a well-known actor in Italy by the mid-1950s. As the star of Le notti bianche (1957; White Nights), he was noticed by the Italian director Federico Fellini who cast him in the leading role of the world-weary journalist in La dolce vita (1960; “The Sweet Life”), the award-winning film that established Mastroianni's international reputation. It was followed by other outstanding pictures—e.g., La notte (1960; The Night), in which Mastroianni portrays a novelist who experiences emotional aridity in his marriage; Divorzio all'italiana (1961; Divorce—Italian Style), a satiric farce about a debonair baron's attempts to free himself from an unwanted wife; and Otto e mezzo (1963; 8 ¹/₂), an Academy Award-winning film also directed by Fellini, with Mastroianni as a creative film director.

      The comedies Ieri, oggi, domani (1964; Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow) and Matrimonio all'italiana (1964; Marriage—Italian Style) were two of the many films in which he costarred with the Italian actress Sophia Loren. He also appeared with Loren in I girasoli (1969; Sunflower), La moglie del prete (1970; The Priest's Wife), and Una giornata speciale (1977; A Special Day). Mastroianni continued to act until his death and held starring roles in about 120 films over the course of his long career.

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