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| Marcello Mastroianni, date unknown |
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| Marcello Mastroianni |
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| Forecourt Ceremony held on Monday, February 8, 1965 |
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Born: September 24, 1924, in Fontana Liri, Lazio, Italia
Age at the time of the ceremony: 40
Died: December 19, 1996, in Paris, France, age 72
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Marcello Mastroianni emerged from the Italian film industry to become his contry's first true internationally-known superstar. Sweet, low-key and sexy, Mastroianni had extraordinary power as an actor.
Mastroianni was born in a small village in Frosinone, in the center of Italy's western side. His father was a carpenter. The family moved a good deal, with Marcello growing up in Turin and Rome.
His brother Ruggero became a prominent film editor.
At age 14, Marcello made his first film, as an extra in the comedy, Marionette (released in January 1939). As Italy began to fall at the end of World War II, Marcello was interned in a German prison camp, but he escaped to Venice.
After the war, Marcello's first big role came as an revolutionary in Les Misérables (released in January 1948). In a short while, Mastroianni got second billing in Atto d'accusa - The Charge is Murder (released in November 1950) with Lea Padovani.
In Giorni d'amore - Days of Love (released in November 1954), he got second billing to Marina Vlady, but Marcello was clearly seen as romantic lead material in Italy. In the comedy La fortuna di essere donna - Lucky to Be a Woman (released in February 1956), Marcello was the lead character, but got third billed, below Sophia Loren and Charles Boyer.
Working with director Luchino Visconti, Marcello starred in Le Notte Bianche - White Nights (released in September 1957), co-starring Maria Schell. He then veered back into ensemble comedy with the heist film, I soliti ignoti - Big Deal on Madonna Street (released in October 1958), with Vittorio Gassman.
So Mastroianni was a well-known Italian star when he was cast in the lead role in director Federico Fellini's masterpeice, La Dolce Vita (released in February 1960); the film, with its famous sequence of Marcello and Anita Eckberg frolicking in the Trevi Fountain, made Marcello an international star, ready to work with the biggest directors on the international stage.
For director Michaelanglo Antonioni, he starred in La Notte (released in January 1961), with Jeanne Moreau. He starred in the black comedy Divorzio all'italiana - Divorce Italian Style (released in December 1961), then worked with Louis Malle on Vie privée - A Very Private Affrair (released in January 1962), with Brigette Bardot.
Mastroianni then worked again with Federico Fellini on another cornerstone of the international art-house phenomenon, Otto e Mezzo - 8 1/2 (released in February 1963). He then co-starred with Sophia Loren in director Vittorio De Sica's Ieri oggi domani - Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (released in December 1963), and worked with both again in Matrimonio all'italiana - Marriage Italian-Style (released in December 1964).
For the rest of his life, Marcello Mastroianni was a very busy actor. Some of his best-known films are: Amanti - A Place for Lovers (released in December 1968), with Faye Dunaway, he won the Best Actor's Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for the comedy Dramma della gelosia - aka: Jealousy, Italian Style, aka: The Pizza Triangle (released in January 1970), starred in I girasole - Sunflower (which played the Chinese in September 1970) with Sophia Loren, and played Father Pietro Antonelli in Rappresaglia - Massacre in Rome (which played the Chinese in October 1973).
He re-teamed with Sophia Loren in Una giornata particolare - A Special Day (released in May 1977), starred in Fellini's surreal La cittá delle donna - City of Women (released in March 1980), co-starred with Jack Lemmon in Macaroni (released in October 1985), and starred with Fellini's wife, Giulietta Masina, in the director's Ginger & Fred (released in Janauary 1986).
Mastroianni won a second Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for Oci ciorine - Dark Eyes (released in February 1987), starred in director Guiseppe Tornatore's Stanno tutti bene - Everybody's Fine (released in May 1990) and played an aging Communist in Verso sera - Towards Evening (released in December, 1990).
He went all Hollywood in Used People (released in December, 1992), with Shirley MacLaine and Kathy Bates, was in the ensemble cast of director Robert Atlaman's Prêt-à-Porter - Ready to Wear (released in December 1994), and co-starred with his daughter, Chiara, in Trois vies et une seule mort - Three Lives and Only One Death (released in May 1996).
Marcello Mastroianni died of pancreatic cancer in Paris in December 1996, at the age of 72. In tribute, the Trevi Fountain in Rome was turned off and draped in black.
His final film, the Brazilian Viagem ao Principio do Mundo - Voyage to the Beginning of the World was released posthumously, in May 1997. Mastrioanni's final girlfriend, Anna Maria Tatò, released a four-hour long documentary about the actor, Marcello Mastroianni: mi ricordo, sì, io mi ricordo - Marcello Mastroianni: I Remember, to film festivals, but his former girlfriend, Catherine Deneuve and wife, Flora Carabella, unsuccessfully attempted to prevent it from being shown.
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Marcello Mastroianni Forecourt block. Executed by John Tartaglia, Monday, February 8, 1965. 43 x 56 inches overall. |
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| Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood, California. Marcello Mastroianni Forecourt ceremony, Monday, February 8, 1965. Marcello begins with making his handprints. |
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