Actors - Massimo Troisi

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	Actors - Massimo Troisi

Massimo Troisi (February 19, 1953, San Giorgio a Cremano, Naples - June 4, 1994, Rome) was an Italian actor, film director and poet. He is best known for the 1994 film Il Postino
.

Biography

Early years and TV star

Troisi was born to a numerous family in small city in the neighbourhood of Naples. His father was a train conductor. Some of his familiar experiences were later told in his first movies. After the end of the High School, Troisi wrote some poems inspired to his favourite author, Pier Paolo Pasolini, and, in 1969, started to play in a small local theatre together with some childhood friends (including Lello Arena and Enzo De Caro). The early death of his mother compelled Troisi to a harsh period of activity, which allegedly had a role in the development of the heart disease: the latter in 1976 will oblige him to move to the United States for a transplant, whose expenses were paid with the help of his friends.

Troisi started his artistic career as a cabaret showman in 1972, as a member of the comic trio called "I Saraceni" ("The Sracens") and, later, "La Smorfia" (from the name of the "book of the numbers" traditionally used in Naples for Lotto and Bingo). His mates were De Caro and Arena. They gained national celebrity in the radio and increased it consistently from 1977 onwards, when they become TV stars with the shows Non Stop, La sberla (1978) and Luna Park (1979). Troisi soon gained the status of leader of the trio, inspiring for his facial mimics and for his apparently confused speaking to famous figures of the Neapolitan comedy such as Totò, Eduardo and Peppino De Filippo.

Cinema

Troisi wrote, directed and played his first film, Ricomincio da tre ("I Begin Again from Three") in 1983. He received a wide success and critic praisals, imposing himself as one of the most talented new Italian directors of 1980s. Like the second movie, Ricomincio da tre is centred on the troublesome love life of a Neapolitan character partly inspired to Troisi's youth, as well as featuring Lello Arena. Scusate il ritardo, similar to the preceding one, was released in 1983.

Troisi starred opposite Roberto Benigni in Non ci resta che piangere (1985), in which they play two folks who are accidentally transported back in time to the 15th century; there they meet Leonardo da Vinci and, upon realising in which time they are, travel to Spain to try to stop Christopher Columbus from discovering the Americas.

After some small roles as actor, in 1987 Troisi directed Le vie del Signore sono finite, set during the Fascist era. The movie won a Silver Ribbon for the best screenplay. In the following years he starred, alongside Marcello Mastroianni, in Ettore Scola's Splendor (1988), Che ora è? (1989) and Il viaggio di Capitan Fracassa (1990). His last movie as director (also as screenwriter and actor) was Pensavo fosse amore, invece era un calesse (1991), again pivoting on every days difficulties of the love between a man and a woman (portrayed by Francesca Neri).

Il postino

Troisi came to international fame through the success of Il Postino
, directed by Michael Radford, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor.

Troisi died in 1994 of a heart attack in his sister's house in Ostia (Rome) just twelve hours after principal photography on Il Postino had finished. It was reported that he postponed surgery to complete the film.

A good personal friend of the musician and singer Pino Daniele (who wrote most of the soundtracks for his movies), he wrote lyrics for his musics or adapted his poetry for it. Eduardo De Filippo, father of Neapolitan theatre of the 20th century, said of him that he was a comic actor of the future, but - luckily - with his roots in the past.

Filmography

Director

Ricomincio da tre (1981)
Morto Troisi, viva Troisi! (1982, TV special)
Scusate il ritardo (1983)
Non ci resta che piangere (1984, with Roberto Benigni)
Le vie del Signore sono finite (1987)
Pensavo fosse amore, invece era un calesse (1991)

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