Mastroianni marcello biography of william
But he is perhaps best remembered for his pairings with Sophia Loren , with whom he was cast in the deliciously funny three-part sex farce Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow and the equally amusing sex comedy Marriage Italian Style. In both these films, Mastroianni's masculinity blends perfectly with Loren's exuberant earthy personality. After these successes, the two appeared together in the less-successful drama Sunflower, playing a couple separated by war, and A Special Day, in which Mastroianni's homosexual and Loren's oppressed wife come together on the day in when Hitler was cheered on the streets of Rome during his visit to Mussolini.
In the latter stages of his career, Mastroianni continued to take serious dramatic roles. For instance, in The Suspended Step of the Stork, he is quietly poignant as an obscure man who may have once been an important Greek politician who had disappeared years earlier. The actor was especially effective in roles as aging romantics. In Used People, one of his few English-language films, he plays a man who begins courting the woman he has admired from afar for two decades.
Sometimes he is romantically entangled with women young enough to be his daughter or even granddaughter.
Mastroianni marcello biography of william
In I Don't Want to Talk about It, he is a suave bachelor who becomes involved with two women, a young dwarf and her physically attractive but obnoxiously manipulative mother. In both of these films, Mastroianni is never anything less than charming. He also played the senior citizen who simply looks back on his past. In Everybody's Fine, he is an elderly man who is absorbed in his memories, and who travels through Italy to call on his five adult children.
In Dark Eyes, he gives a tour-de-force performance as a once young and idealistic aspiring architect, who married a banker's daughter, fell into a lifestyle of afternoon snoozes and philandering, and proved incapable of holding onto what was important to him. His on-screen presence has also been directly linked to his earlier screen characterizations.
In Ready to Wear, he is reunited with Sophia Loren, and at one point in the scenario, she recreates her famous steamy striptease sequence from Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. Loren is as beguiling as she had been 30 years earlier but Mastroianni is no longer the attentive young lover, so Sophia's seductive moves only put him to sleep.
Mastroianni's appearance in two of Fellini's final features is especially sentimental. He is generally regarded one of Italy's most iconic male performers of the 20th-century, who played leading roles for many of the country's top directors, in a career spanning films between and , garnering many international honours including two BAFTA Awards , two Best Actor awards at the Venice and Cannes film festivals, two Golden Globes , and three Academy Award nominations.
Born in the province of Frosinone and raised in Turin and Rome , Mastroianni made his film debut in at the age of 14, but did not seriously pursue acting until the s, when he made his critical and commercial breakthrough in the caper comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street Excelling in both dramatic and comedic roles, [4] he formed a notable on-screen duo with actress and sex symbol Sophia Loren , co-starring with her in eight films between and Despite international acclaim, Mastroianni largely shunned Hollywood, and remained a quintessentially Italian thespian for the majority of his career.
At the age of 10, he left school to work and help support his family. Mastroianni had various jobs, including working as a laborer and an accountant, before discovering his passion for acting. Mastroianni began his acting career in amateur theater groups, where his talent was recognized by director Federico Fellini. Fellini cast him in several of his films, marking the beginning of their successful collaboration.
Mastroianni's breakthrough role came in with "La Dolce Vita," where he played the charismatic journalist Marcello Rubini. Love Affairs and Personal Life Known for his suave and charming persona, Mastroianni attracted the attention of many women both on and off screen. However, his most significant relationship was with his wife, Flora Carabella.