Umberto Orsini

Umberto Orsini
Orsini in March 2008
Born	(1934-04-02) 2 April 1934 Novara, Province of Novara, Italy
Alma mater	Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–present

Umberto Orsini (born 2 April 1934) is an Italian actor. He achieved prominence as a stage actor in Luchino Visconti's company, before becoming known to general audiences for his roles in RAI television dramas. He won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Visconti's The Damned (1969), and was nominated for the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Early Bird Catches the Worm (2008).

Early life

Orisini was born in Novara in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, on 2 April 1934. Prior to pursuing an acting career, he worked as a notary. He enrolled in the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico in Rome, and graduated in 1954.

Career

He began his professional stage career as a founding member of Milan's Compagnia dei Giovani, under the direction of Giorgio De Lullo and Romolo Valli. He performed with the Paolo Stoppa and Rina Morelli's company in a 1960 production of L'Arialda, directed by Luchino Visconti, and achieved critical praise for his performance as 'Nick' in a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, opposite Enrico Maria Salerno. He performed extensively with Gabriele Lavia for the Teatro Eliseo, of which he was the artistic director between 1980 and 1997.

After a minor role in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, Orsini made his official film debut in the 1960 film Love in Rome. After several supporting roles, including in the star-studded international production Candy, Orsini made his breakthrough in Visconti's The Damned, playing a disillusioned industrialist in 1930s Germany whose anti-Nazi views leave him a target of the new regime. The role earned Orsini praise from Italian critics, and he won that year's Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor.

He would collaborate again with Visconti in the 1973 historical epic Ludwig, which also reunited him with Damned co-stars Helmut Berger and Helmut Griem. Outside his native Italy, Orsini also worked in French cinema. notably playing the husband of the title character in Emmanuelle 2 and Goodbye Emmanuelle.

Orsini found success on Italian television, becoming a regular fixture of RAI programming. He co-hosted the Sunday morning cooking show Colazione allo studio 7 with Luigi Veronelli.

Filmography

Film

Year	Original title	English title	Role	Director	Notes
1957	Marisa la civetta	—	Sailor	Mauro Bolognini	Uncredited
1960	Un amore a Roma	Love in Rome	Peppino Barlacchi	Dino Risi
	La Dolce Vita	—	Man in Shades	Federico Fellini	Uncredited
	Chiamate 22-22 tenente Sheridan	—	Tommy	Giorgio Bianchi
1961	Io bacio... tu baci	—	Paolo	Piero Vivarelli
	Il Pianeta degli uomini spenti	Battle of the Worlds	Dr. Fred Steele	Antonio Margheriti
	Caccia all'uomo	—	Giovanni Maimonti	Riccardo Freda
1962	Il mare	The Sea	The Actor	Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
1963	Il giorno più corto	The Shortest Day	Soldier	Sergio Corbucci	Uncredited
	Noche de verano	—	Miguel Solinas	Jorge Grau
	Les Bonnes Causes	Don't Tempt the Devil	Philliet	Christian-Jaque
	Strip-tease	Sweet Skin	Dancer	Jacques Poitrenaud
1965	La violenza e l'amore	The Myth	Roberto	Adimaro Sala
1966	Playgirl	That Woman	Timo	Will Tremper
	Mademoiselle	Mademoiselle	Antonio	Tony Richardson
	Ta skalopatia	The Steps	Roberto	Leonard Hirschfield
1967	The Sailor from Gibraltar		Postcard Vendor	Tony Richardson
	La Ragazza e il Generale	The Girl and the General	Pvt. Tarasconi	Pasquale Festa Campanile
1968	Candy		The Big Guy	Christian Marquand
1969	La caduta degli dei	The Damned	Herbert Thallman	Luchino Visconti
	Interrabang	—	Fabrizio Berti	Giuliano Biagetti
1970	Ein großer graublauer Vogel	A Big Grey-Blue Bird	Morelli	Thomas Schamoni
	Città violenta	Violent City	Steve	Sergio Sollima
	Incontro d'amore	Bali	Carlo	Ugo Liberatore
1971	Roma bene	—	Prince Rubio Marescalli	Carlo Lizzani
1972	Abuso di potere	Shadows Unseen	Enrico Gagliardi	Camillo Bazzoni
	César et Rosalie	César and Rosalie	Antoine	Claude Sautet
	I figli chiedono perché	—	Michèle's Father	Nino Zanchin
	Un homme est mort	The Outside Man	Alex Kovacs	Jacques Deray
1973	La Tosca	Tosca	Cesare Angelotti	Luigi Magni
	Ludwig		Count Maximilian von Holnstein	Luchino Visconti
	Il delitto Matteotti	The Assassination of Matteotti	Amerigo Dumini	Florestano Vancini
	Tony Arzenta	No Way Out	Isnello	Duccio Tessari
	Storia di una monaca di clausura	Story of a Cloistered Nun	Don Diego	Domenico Paolella
1974	L’uomo senza memoria	Puzzle	Daniele	Duccio Tessari
	Verdict		Doctor	André Cayatte	Uncredited
	Vincent, François, Paul et les autres	Vincent, François, Paul and the Others	Jacques	Claude Sautet
	L'anticristo	The Antichrist	Dr. Marcello Sinibaldi	Alberto De Martino
1975	Corruzione al palazzo di giustizia	Smiling Maniacs	Erzi	Marcello Aliprandi
	Emmanuelle: L'antivierge	Emmanuelle 2	Jean	Francis Giacobetti
1976	Perdutamente tuo... mi firmo Macaluso Carmelo fu Giuseppe	—	Vito Buscemi	Vittorio Sindoni
	Une femme à sa fenêtre	A Woman at Her Window	Rico Santorini	Pierre Granier-Deferre
1977	Une fille cousue de fil blanc	A Straight Laced Girl	Frédéric	Michel Lang
	Casanova & Co.		Count Tiretta	Franz Antel
	L'avvocato della mala	Gangbuster	Farnese	Alberto Marras
	Al di là del bene e del male	Beyond Good and Evil	Bernhard Förster	Liliana Cavani
	Goodbye Emmanuelle		Jean	François Leterrier
1978	L'alba dei falsi dei	The Fifth Commandment	Sturmführer Hannacker / Vater Redder	Duccio Tessari
	La petite fille en velours bleu	Little Girl in Blue Velvet	Fabrizio Conti	Alan Bridges
	L'argent des autres	Other People's Money	Blue	Christian de Chalonge
1980	Bionda fragola	—	Antonio	Mino Bellei
1994	Elles n'oublient jamais	—	Vienne	Christopher Frank
1995	Pasolini, un delitto italiano	Who Killed Pasolini?	Magistrate	Marco Tullio Giordana
1997	Il viaggio della sposa	The Bride's Journey	Don Diego	Sergio Rubini
1998	L'ospite	—	Antonio	Alessandro Colizzi
2000	Il partigiano Johnny	Johnny the Partisan	Pinin	Guido Chiesa
2003	Hannover	—	Aiello	Ferdinando Vicentini Orgnani
2004	L'amore ritorna	Love Returns	Dr. Ambrosini	Sergio Rubini
2008	Il mattino ha l'oro in bocca	The Early Bird Catches the Worm	Uncle Lino	Francesco Patierno
2017	Agadah	—	Belial	Alberto Rondalli
2022	Marcel!		Nonno	Jasmine Trinca
2024	Trifole		Igor	Gabriele Fabbro

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959-60	Giallo club. Invito al poliziesco	Ronald / Robert	2 episodes
1960	La casa sull'acqua	Luca	Television film
1963	Lo zoo di vetro	Tom Wingfield
	Gli spettri	Oswald Alving
1964	I grandi camaleonti	Tallien	Miniseries: 4 episodes
	Vita di Michelangelo	Tommaso dei Cavalieri	Episode #1.3
	Biblioteca di Studio Uno	Brent Tarleton	Episode: "La storia di Rossella O'Hara"
1965	Coriolano	Tullo Aufidio	Television film
	La figlia del capitano	Pyotr Andreyich Grinyov	Miniseries: 6 episodes
1966	Il re	Duca di Savoia	Television film
1968	Morte di un commesso viaggiatore	Biff Loman
1969	I fratelli Karamazov	Ivan Karamazov	Miniseries: 6 episodes
1977	Processo a Maria Tarnowska	Demiat Prilukoff	Miniseries: 3 episodes
1978	Cinéma 16	Clown	Episode: "Thomas Guérin, retraité"
1979	Racconti di fantascienza	General Guarnerius	Episode: "O.B.N. in arrivo"
	I racconti fantastici di Edgar Allan Poe	Robert Usher	Episode: "Ligeia forever"
1980	Orient-Express	Gaetano	Episode: "Jane"
1982	Colomba	Colonel Neville	Television film
1984	Notti e nebbie	Bruno Spada
1997	Solomon	Nathan
1999	Esther	Memucan
2000	Lourdes	Père Laurent
	St. Paul	Tribune	Miniseries: 2 episodes
2013	Gourmet Wars	Leone	11 episodes

Awards and recognition

Award	Year	Category	Work	Result
David di Donatello	2008	Best Supporting Actor	The Early Bird Catches the Worm	Nominated
Nastro d'Argento	1970	Best Supporting Actor	The Damned	Won
Kineo Award	2008	Best Supporting Actor	The Early Bird Catches the Worm	Nominated

External links

• Umberto Orsini at IMDb