Dante Testa (24 August 1861 – 3 March 1923) was an Italian stage and film actor and theatre and film director whose career began in the 1880s.

Biography

Born in Turin, Dante Testa became one of great exponents of theatre in the

Piedmontese language Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate Romance languages, language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regar ...

during the late 19th and early 20th-centuries.Abel Richard. ''The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema''. Page 333. Routledge, 2004. Initially working as a stage actor in a theatre company run by actor and playwright Teodoro Cuniberti and his wife Gemma Cuniberti, he also became a theatre manager. In the 1890s, he formed a company with playwright and actor Tancredi Milone, and formed another with Federico Bonelli, called the Compagnia Testa-Bonelli, in 1912. That year he also took over the management of the Teatro Rossini in Turin. In his later years he would open another theatre in Turin called the d'operetta Dante Testa.Scaglione, Massimo. ''Attori sotto la Mole''. Torino, Il Punto. 2001. Seren Gay, Domenico. ''Teatro popolare dialettale: indagine-enciclopedia sul teatro piemontese''. Priuli & Verlucca. 1977. During his stage career, Testa and his companies performed many works written by leading Piedmontese playwrights of the era, such as Federico Garelli, Mario Leoni,

Nino Oxilia Nino Oxilia (13 November 1889 – 18 November 1917) was an Italian playwright, screenwriter and film director.Moliterno p. 258 His 1911 play '' Goodbye Youth'', written with Sandro Camasio, was turned into several films. He also wrote the firs ...

, Sandro Camasio and many others. In 1910 he was hired Italian film pioneers Carlo Sciamengo and

Giovanni Pastrone Giovanni Pastrone, also known by his artistic name Piero Fosco (13 September 1883 – 27 June 1959), was an Italian film pioneer, director, screenwriter, actor and technician. Pastrone was born in Montechiaro d'Asti. He worked during the era ...

Itala Film Itala Film was an Italian film production company. Silent era It was founded during the silent era. In 1905, industrialists Carlo Rossi and William Remmert established a company in Turin, recruiting filmmakers from Pathé. Two years later, they ...

to begin work as an actor in the relatively new medium of motion pictures. He made his film debut at Itala Film in the 1910 short ''Sacrificata!'' (English: ''Sacrificed!''). Among his more memorable roles at Itala was that of Karthalo, the High Priest of Carthage in the 1914 Pastrone directed epic ''

Cabiria ''Cabiria'' is a 1914 Italian Epic film, epic silent film, directed by Giovanni Pastrone and shot in Turin. The film is set in ancient Sicily, Carthage, and Cirta during the period of the Second Punic War (218–202 BC). It follows the story o ...

''. At Itala, he would also direct two films; ''Padre'' (1912) and ''Lo scomparso'' (1913). Testa would work as an actor for other film companies such as Polidor Film and

Ambrosio Film Ambrosio Film was an Italian film production and distribution company which played a leading role in Italian cinema during the silent era. Established in Turin in 1906 by the pioneering filmmaker Arturo Ambrosio, assisted by cinematographers G ...

. His last film before his death was in the 1920 drama ''Terra'', directed by his son Eugenio Testa.

Death and legacy

Dante Testa died in his hometown of Turin in 1923 at age 61. He was the father of actors Adriana and

Eugenio Testa Eugenio Testa (6 October 1892 – 11 October 1957) was an Italian actor and film director. He directed and starred in '' The Monster of Frankenstein'' (1920), one of the earliest Italian horror films.Bayman p.155 He was the son of the stage acto ...

References

External links

* 1861 births 1923 deaths Italian male stage actors Italian male film actors Italian male silent film actors Italian film directors Male actors from Turin 19th-century Italian male actors 20th-century Italian male actors Theatre people from Turin {{Italy-film-actor-stub