Febo Mari (1884–1939) was an Italian

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

. He found success as a leading man during Italy's

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

era.

Early life

Febo Mari was born Alfredo Giovanni Leopoldo Rodriguez in Messina, Sicily. His family were wealthy and of Iberian descent. He graduated from Peloritana University, having studied literature and philosophy, and soon began acting in theatre. By age 27 he was managing the Manzoni Theater in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

. He entered the silent film industry in the early 1910's. His first feature length film was ''La ribalta'' (1912), directed by prolific Mario Caserini. The first film Mari acted in and scripted was ''Il fuoco'' (1915). ''Il fauno'' (1917), one of Mari's best known films, it was restored in 1994 by Cinematek from original nitrate prints, obtained from the Cineteca Friuli and the National Museum of Cinema.

Personal life

On 23 December 1908, Mari married the actress Berta Vestri. The relationship did not last, and Mari and Vestri eventually separated informally. He began a long-term romantic relationship with actress Antonietta "Nietta" Mordeglia (also known as Misa Mordeglia Mari). The duo starred together in ''Il Fauno'' (1917). As

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

was not yet legal in Italy, Mari and Mordeglia married on 8 October 1938, after Vestri's death.

Selected filmography

* ''La ribalta'' (1912) * '' L'emigrante'' (1915) * '' Il fuoco'' (1916) * '' Tigre reale'' (1916) * ''Il Fauno (1917) * '' Maddalena Ferat'' (1920) * '' Assunta Spina'' (1930) * '' The Three Wishes'' (1937) * ''

Giuseppe Verdi Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi ( ; ; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for List of compositions by Giuseppe Verdi, his operas. He was born near Busseto, a small town in the province of Parma ...

'' (1938) * '' The Count of Brechard'' (1938) * '' Battles in the Shadow'' (1938)

References

Bibliography

* Anna Gural & Robert Singer. ''Zola and Film: Essays in the Art of Adaptation''. McFarland, 2005.

External links

* 1884 births 1939 deaths Italian male film actors Italian male silent film actors 20th-century Italian male actors 20th-century Italian screenwriters Italian male screenwriters Italian film directors Male actors from Messina Film people from the Metropolitan City of Messina 20th-century Italian male writers Italian people of Spanish descent Articles containing video clips {{Italy-film-director-stub