Biography: Manly, chiseled, exceedingly handsome, very agile Massimo Girotti was an engineering student and polo/swimming star before entering films in 1939. He began auspiciously in serious leads, most notably Roberto Rossellini's "The Desiderio (1943)", Luchino Visconti's "Ossessione (1943)" and Vittorio De Sica's "Gate of Heaven (1946)", while his physical stature and all-round athletism were put to good ... show all Manly, chiseled, exceedingly handsome, very agile Massimo Girotti was an engineering student and polo/swimming star before entering films in 1939. He began auspiciously in serious leads, most notably Roberto Rossellini's "The Desiderio (1943)", Luchino Visconti's "Ossessione (1943)" and Vittorio De Sica's "Gate of Heaven (1946)", while his physical stature and all-round athletism were put to good use in actioneers such as "Sins of Rome (1952)" in which he played the pre-Kirk Douglas slave-turned-leader role of Spartacus. By the 60s, however, Girotti was reduced to support roles in swashbuckling adventure and badly-dubbed sand-and-spear spectacles, appearing only occasionally in well-mounted films of quality, such as "Teorema (1968)", "Last Tango in Paris (1972)" and "Innocente, L' (1976)". Maybe not one of Italy's top-ranking film stars, his durable career has still managed to last over seven decades long. hide |
