Michele Placido (; born 19 May 1946) is an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He began his career on stage, and first gained mainstream attention through a series of roles in films directed by the likes of

Mario Monicelli Mario Alberto Ettore Monicelli (; 16 May 1915 – 29 November 2010) was an Italian film director and screenwriter, one of the masters of the ''commedia all'italiana'' ("Italian-style comedy"). He was nominated six times for an Academy Awards, Os ...

and

Marco Bellocchio Marco Bellocchio (; born 9 November 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Life and career Born in Bobbio, near Piacenza, Marco Bellocchio had a strict Catholic upbringing – his father was a lawyer, his mother a schooltea ...

, winning the

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

Silver Bear for Best Actor The Silver Bear for Best Actor () was an award presented at the Berlin International Film Festival from 1956 to 2020. It was given to an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance and was chosen by the International Jury from the films i ...

for his performance in the 1979 film ''Ernesto''. He is known internationally for portraying police inspector Corrado Cattani on the crime drama television series '' La piovra'' (1984–2001). Placido's directorial debut, '' Pummarò'', was screened

Un Certain Regard (; 'A Certain Glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films with unusua ...

at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Three of his films have competed for the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...

. He is a five-time

Nastro d'Argento The (plural: ''Nastri d'Argento''; English: Silver Ribbon) is an Italian film award, held since 1946 by the ''Sindacato Nazionale Giornalisti Cinematografici Italiani'' (Italian National Union of Film Journalists). Awards are given annually in ...

and four-time David di Donatello winner. In 2021, Placido was appointed President of the Teatro Comunale in

Ferrara Ferrara (; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main ...

Early life

Placido was born at

Ascoli Satriano Ascoli Satriano (; ) is a town and ''comune ''in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It is located on the edge of a large plain in Northern Apulia known as the Tavoliere delle Puglie.Curtis, DanielIs there an ‘agro- ...

, into a poor family from

Rionero in Vulture Rionero in Vulture () is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is located on the slopes of Monte Vulture in the northern part of the region. The village was founded and historically inh ...

Basilicata Basilicata (, ; ), also known by its ancient name Lucania (, , ), is an administrative region in Southern Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south. It has two coastlines: a 30-kilometr ...

; he is a descendant of the known brigand

Carmine Crocco Carmine Crocco (5 June 1830 – 18 June 1905), known as Donatello or sometimes Donatelli, was an Italian brigand. Initially a soldier for the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Bourbons, he later fought in the service of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Soo ...

. Placido had a number of jobs since his youth. For a time, he worked as a police officer in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, and was involved in the Battle of Valle Giulia. He studied acting at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, and with Silvio D'Amico at the Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica.

Career

Placido made his debut as an actor in the play ''Midsummer Night's Dream'' in 1969. Two years later he started film work under directors such as

Luigi Comencini Luigi Comencini (; 8 June 1916 – 6 April 2007) was an Italian film director. Together with Dino Risi, Ettore Scola, and Mario Monicelli, he was considered among the masters of the "commedia all'italiana" genre. His daughters Cristina Comencin ...

, Salvatore Samperi, Damiano Damiani, Pasquale Squitieri, Francesco Rosi,

Walerian Borowczyk Walerian Borowczyk (21 October 1923 – 3 February 2006) was a Polish film director described by film critics as a "genius who also happened to be a pornographer". He directed 40 films between 1946 and 1988. Borowczyk settled in Paris in 1959. A ...

Paolo Cavara Paolo Cavara (4 July 1926 – 7 August 1982) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He is best known for collaborating with Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco E. Prosperi on the 1962 mondo film ''Mondo Cane'', and for directing the ficti ...

and Carlo Lizzani. His first success came with the role of soldier Paolo Passeri in '' Marcia trionfale'' (1976, directed by Bellocchio), for which he won a David di Donatello. Two years later he won the

award at the 29th Berlin International Film Festival for his role of the homosexual worker in ironical melodrama '' Ernesto'' (1978, by Samperi). He appeared in several TV movies in the 1970s, but 1983 marked the beginning of his greatest television popularity when he played the lead as a police inspector investigating the Mafia in Damiano Damiani's TV series '' La piovra''. He went on to play the same part in the subsequent three seasons, until his character's assassination. Afterwards he would appear as a law enforcement official in a number of other films and TV productions dealing with organized crime, including a semi-biographical movie about Giovanni Falcone, where he acted as the titular judge. In 2008, in a reversal of roles, he portrayed longtime Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano in the TV movie ''L'ultimo padrino''. A recognizable role to US audiences is that of an Italian businessman in the 1988 comedy ''

Big Business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

''.

Personal life

Until a divorce in 1994, he was married to actress Simonetta Stefanelli. Their daughter Violante Placido is also an actress. In 2012, he married actress Federica Vincenti (born 1983) after over 10 years of dating. The couple divorced in December 2017. He supported the candidacy for mayor of Rome of the italian entrepreneur Alfio Marchini in the 2016 Italian local elections. His nephew, Alessandro Onorato, is the Councilor for Major Events, Sport and Tourism for

Filmography

Film

Television

Other credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Placido, Michele 1946 births Living people 20th-century Italian male actors 21st-century Italian male actors Italian male film actors Italian film directors Italian screenwriters Italian male screenwriters People of Lucanian descent People from the Province of Foggia Male actors from Apulia Accademia Nazionale di Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico alumni Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia alumni David di Donatello winners Nastro d'Argento winners Ciak d'oro winners Silver Bear for Best Actor winners Italian stage actors