Biography
The 1961 Pier Paolo Pasolini drama "Accatone!," starring Franco Citti in the title role, was a seminal one for the Italian film industry. It marked Pasolini's seamless transition from the literary page to the silver screen and afforded Italian moviegoers the chance to watch the gritty tale of a pimp (Citti) trying to replace his main working girl, Maddalena, with newcomer Stella. The movie earned Citti a BAFTA Film Award nomination as Best Foreign Actor. Though he was beaten out by countryman Marcello Mastroianni for "Divorzio all'italiana," Citti went on to make close to a dozen movies with Pasolini. Two of the pair's better known collaborations are 1967's "Oedipus Rex" and 1974's "Arabian Nights." Citti's rise to the top of the Italian leading man pantheon caught the attention of Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him in the first and third "Godfather" movies as Calo. Citti retired from acting at the end of the '90s, making the role of Uncle Franco on the TV series "La ragazza di Piazza di Spagna," one of his final credits.
