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Prince Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio, best known by his stage name Totò〔Totò is a typical pet name for Antonio in Naples and its surroundings and it most properly comes from the Neapolitan dialect variant ''Totonno''.〕 ((:toˈtɔ *); 15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967) or as Antonio De Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata'' ("the Prince of laughter"), was an Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter. He is widely considered one of the greatest Italian artists of the 20th century.〔Cammarota, ''Il cinema di Totò'', Fanucci Editore, 1985〕 While he first gained his popularity as a comic actor, his dramatic roles, his poetry, and his songs are all deemed to be outstanding; his style and a number of his recurring jokes and gestures have become universally known memes in Italy. Writer and philosopher Umberto Eco has thus commented on the importance of Totò in Italian culture: Mario Monicelli, who directed some of the most appreciated of Totò's movies, thus described his artistic value: As a comic actor, Totò is classified as an heir of the Commedia dell'Arte tradition, and has been compared to such figures as Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.〔(Mario Monicelli )〕 He starred in about one hundred movies; while many of them were low profile, box-office driven productions, they tend to be all appreciated by the critics, at the very least, for Totò's performances many classify as masterpieces of Italian cinema. Prominent Italian directors and actors that have worked with Totò include Mario Monicelli, Alberto Lattuada, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Eduardo De Filippo, Peppino de Filippo, Aldo Fabrizi, Vittorio De Sica, Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Marcello Mastroianni, Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sordi. ==Early life== Totò was born Antonio Clemente on 15 February 1898 in the Rione Sanità, a poor district of Naples, the illegitimate son of Anna Clemente from Sicily and Marquis Giuseppe De Curtis from Naples, who nevertheless did not legally recognize him until 1937. Totò much regretted growing up without a father, to the point that at the age of 35, when he was already very popular, managed to have Marquis Francesco Maria Gagliardi Focas adopt him in exchange for a life annuity.〔(Infanzia ), antoniodecurtis.com.〕 As a consequence, when Marquis de Curtis recognized him, Totò had become an heir of two noble families, hence claiming an impressive slew of titles. In 1946, when the Consulta Araldica—the body that advised the Kingdom of Italy on matters of nobility—ceased operations, the Tribunal of Naples recognized his numerous titles, so his complete name was changed from Antonio Clemente to Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Ducas Komnenos Gagliardi de Curtis of Byzantium, His Imperial Highness, Palatine Count, Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, Exarch of Ravenna, Duke of Macedonia and Illyria, Prince of Constantinople, Cilicia, Thessaly, Pontus, Moldavia, Dardania, Peloponnesus, Count of Cyprus and Epirus, Count and Duke of Drivasto and Durazzo. For someone born and raised in one of the poorest Neapolitan neighbourhoods this must have been quite an achievement, but in claiming the titles (at the time they had become meaningless) the comedian also mocked them for their intrinsic worthlessness. In fact, when he was not using his stage name "Totò", he mostly referred to himself simply as "Antonio De Curtis".〔 Totò's mother wanted him to become a priest, but as soon as 1913, at the age of 15, he was already acting as a comedian in small theatres, under pseudonym "Clerment". His early repertoire mostly consisted in imitations of Gustavo De Marco's characters.〔 In the minor venues when he performed, Totò had the chance to meet famous artists like Eduardo De Filippo, Peppino De Filippo and Carlo Scarpetta. He served in the army during World War I and then went back to acting. He learned the art of the ''guitti'', the Neapolitan scriptless comedians, heirs to the tradition of the Commedia dell'Arte, and began developing the trademarks of his style, including a puppet-like, disjointed gesticulation, emphasized facial expressions, and an extreme, sometimes surrealistic, sense of humor, largely based on the emphatization of primitive urges such as hunger and sexual desire.〔(Biography )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Totò」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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