Massimo Serato
Italian postcard by B. F. F. Edit., nr. 42930. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian film actor Massimo Serato (1916-1989) had a career spanning over 40 years with more than 140 films. He was the virile hero of many sword and sandal epics and historical dramas, mainly in Italy, but he also played roles in major international films.
Massimo Serato was born as Giuseppe Segato in 1916, in Oderzo, Italy. He abandoned his university studies, to attend the Centro Sperimentale, the Italian Film Academy. He made his film debut in Inventiamo l'amore/Let’s Invent Love (1938, Camillo Mastrocinque). His breakthrough was the historical drama Piccolo mondo antico/Little Old Fashioned World (1941, Mario Soldati) with Alida Valli, about the Risorgimento, the unification of Italy. From the early 1940’s on, the tall, blonde and photogenic actor starred as the hero in films like L'uomo venuto dal mare/Man of the Sea (1942, Belisario L. Randone, Roberto de Ribón), Giacomo l'idealista/Giacomo the Idealist (1943, Alberto Lattuada), Le sorelle Materassi/The materassi Sisters (1944, Ferdinando Maria Poggioli) and Quartieri alti/In High Places (1943-1945, Mario Soldati). After the war he appeared in such neorealist films like Il sole sorge ancora/Outcry (1946, Aldo Vergano), Domenica D'Agosto/Sunday in August (1949, Luciano Emmer) and the tragedy Febbre di vivere/Eager to Live (1953, Claudio Gora) with Marina Berti. He also appeared as the athletic hero in such popular entertainment as La Traviata/The Lost One (1949, Carmine Gallone) an adaptation of the opera of Giuseppe Verdi, the adventure Il Ladro di Venezia/The Thief of Venice (1950, John Brahm) opposite Maria Montez in her last role, the historical drama Lucrece Borgia/Lucretia Borgia (1953, Christian-Jacque) as the handsome lover of sex symbol Martine Carol, and L'Amante di Paride/The Loves of Three Queens (1954, Marc Allégret, Edgar G. Ullmer) as one of the three loves of Hedy Lamarr.
Massimo Serrato demonstrated a versatile talent during his long career. He starred as the hero or as the bad guy in sword and sandal epics as well in the Giallo (the typical Italian thriller), in spaghetti westerns and in comedies. He also appeared in fotoromanzi, the popular Italian photo booklets. Serato eased gracefully into robust character roles in the late 1950’s, like in the classic Il Grido/The Cry (1957, Michelangelo Antonioni). Serato appeared in international films like The Naked Maja (1959, Henry Koster, Mario Russo) starring Ava Gardner, David e Golia/David and Goliath (1960, Ferdinando Baldi, Richard Pottier) with Orson Welles, Gli amori di Ercole/The Loves of Hercules (1960, Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia) with Jayne Mansfield, the extravagant blockbusters El Cid (1961, Anthony Mann) and 55 Days at Peking (1963, Nicholas Ray) - both starring Charlton Heston, the SF-comedy La decima vittima/The Tenth Victim (1965, Elio Petri) with Marcello Mastroianni, the interesting sexploitation Camille 2000 (1969, Radley Metzger) with Nino Castelnuovo, the spaghetti western Anda muchacho, spara!/Dead Men Ride (1971, Aldo Florio) starring Fabio Testi, and the beautifully restrained psychological thriller Don't Look Now (1973, Nicholas Roeg) with Julie Christie. His final film part was in the James Hadley Chase adaptation L'avvoltoio può attendere/The Vulture Can Wait (1991, Gian Pietro Calasso) starring Donald Pleasence. Massimo Serrato died in 1989, in Rome, Italy. Massimo Serato had a son, Cellino (1942 or 1943), from an affair with actress Anna Magnani, with whom he later appeared in Camicie rosse/Anita Garibaldi (1952, Goffredo Alessandrini). Cellino, called Luca, contracted polio at an early age, and he would spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Sources: Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Wikipedia, and IMDb.
Massimo Serato
Italian postcard by B. F. F. Edit., nr. 42930. Photo: Bragaglia.
Italian film actor Massimo Serato (1916-1989) had a career spanning over 40 years with more than 140 films. He was the virile hero of many sword and sandal epics and historical dramas, mainly in Italy, but he also played roles in major international films.
Massimo Serato was born as Giuseppe Segato in 1916, in Oderzo, Italy. He abandoned his university studies, to attend the Centro Sperimentale, the Italian Film Academy. He made his film debut in Inventiamo l'amore/Let’s Invent Love (1938, Camillo Mastrocinque). His breakthrough was the historical drama Piccolo mondo antico/Little Old Fashioned World (1941, Mario Soldati) with Alida Valli, about the Risorgimento, the unification of Italy. From the early 1940’s on, the tall, blonde and photogenic actor starred as the hero in films like L'uomo venuto dal mare/Man of the Sea (1942, Belisario L. Randone, Roberto de Ribón), Giacomo l'idealista/Giacomo the Idealist (1943, Alberto Lattuada), Le sorelle Materassi/The materassi Sisters (1944, Ferdinando Maria Poggioli) and Quartieri alti/In High Places (1943-1945, Mario Soldati). After the war he appeared in such neorealist films like Il sole sorge ancora/Outcry (1946, Aldo Vergano), Domenica D'Agosto/Sunday in August (1949, Luciano Emmer) and the tragedy Febbre di vivere/Eager to Live (1953, Claudio Gora) with Marina Berti. He also appeared as the athletic hero in such popular entertainment as La Traviata/The Lost One (1949, Carmine Gallone) an adaptation of the opera of Giuseppe Verdi, the adventure Il Ladro di Venezia/The Thief of Venice (1950, John Brahm) opposite Maria Montez in her last role, the historical drama Lucrece Borgia/Lucretia Borgia (1953, Christian-Jacque) as the handsome lover of sex symbol Martine Carol, and L'Amante di Paride/The Loves of Three Queens (1954, Marc Allégret, Edgar G. Ullmer) as one of the three loves of Hedy Lamarr.
Massimo Serrato demonstrated a versatile talent during his long career. He starred as the hero or as the bad guy in sword and sandal epics as well in the Giallo (the typical Italian thriller), in spaghetti westerns and in comedies. He also appeared in fotoromanzi, the popular Italian photo booklets. Serato eased gracefully into robust character roles in the late 1950’s, like in the classic Il Grido/The Cry (1957, Michelangelo Antonioni). Serato appeared in international films like The Naked Maja (1959, Henry Koster, Mario Russo) starring Ava Gardner, David e Golia/David and Goliath (1960, Ferdinando Baldi, Richard Pottier) with Orson Welles, Gli amori di Ercole/The Loves of Hercules (1960, Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia) with Jayne Mansfield, the extravagant blockbusters El Cid (1961, Anthony Mann) and 55 Days at Peking (1963, Nicholas Ray) - both starring Charlton Heston, the SF-comedy La decima vittima/The Tenth Victim (1965, Elio Petri) with Marcello Mastroianni, the interesting sexploitation Camille 2000 (1969, Radley Metzger) with Nino Castelnuovo, the spaghetti western Anda muchacho, spara!/Dead Men Ride (1971, Aldo Florio) starring Fabio Testi, and the beautifully restrained psychological thriller Don't Look Now (1973, Nicholas Roeg) with Julie Christie. His final film part was in the James Hadley Chase adaptation L'avvoltoio può attendere/The Vulture Can Wait (1991, Gian Pietro Calasso) starring Donald Pleasence. Massimo Serrato died in 1989, in Rome, Italy. Massimo Serato had a son, Cellino (1942 or 1943), from an affair with actress Anna Magnani, with whom he later appeared in Camicie rosse/Anita Garibaldi (1952, Goffredo Alessandrini). Cellino, called Luca, contracted polio at an early age, and he would spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Sources: Hal Erickson (All Movie Guide), Wikipedia, and IMDb.