Lamberto_Maggiorani

Lamberto Maggiorani

Lamberto Maggiorani

Italian actor

Lamberto Maggiorani (28 August 1909 – 22 April 1983) was an Italian actor remembered for his portrayal of Antonio Ricci in the 1948 Vittorio De Sica film Bicycle Thieves.[1]

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

He was a factory worker (he worked as a turner) and a non-professional actor at the time he was cast in this film.[2] He earned 600,000 lire ($1,000 US) for his performance, enabling him to buy new furniture and treat his family to a vacation; but when he returned to the factory he was laid off because business was slackening and management felt it would be fairer to terminate him instead of other impoverished co-workers since he was perceived to have "made millions" as a movie star.[3] He found occasional work as a bricklayer, but continued to try to get roles in movies, with little success; even de Sica was reluctant to employ him as anything other than an extra.[4] Pier Paolo Pasolini gave him a bit part in the film Mamma Roma (1962) due to his iconic status in Italian cinema.[4] Cesare Zavattini, the screenwriter for Bicycle Thieves, aware of Maggiorani's predicament, wrote a screenplay about him titled "Tu, Maggiorani", in an attempt to demonstrate the limits of neorealist film's capacity to change the world.[4]

Maggiorani died in Rome in 1983 at the San Giovanni hospital without ever regaining his first success as a film actor.

Filmography

More information Year, Title ...

References

  1. [1]
    AP. "Lamberto Maggiorani Dead; Starred in 'The Bicycle Thief'". Retrieved 2018-04-15.
  2. [2]
    "The Stolen Bicycle". TIME. January 16, 1950. Archived from the original on January 21, 2010.
  3. [3]
    Inc, Time (23 Jan 1950). "Fame Mocks a Movie Star". Life. pp. 56–60. Retrieved 18 August 2015. {{cite magazine}}: |last1= has generic name (help)
  4. [4]
    Gordon, Robert (2008). Bicycle Thieves (Ladri Di Biciclette). New York: Macmillan. p. 11. ISBN 978-1844572380. Retrieved 18 August 2015.


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