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Tall, dark, and handsome, Italian actor Cesare Danova (pronounced Chez-a-ray Da-NO-va) was a true Renaissance man. As a boy, it appeared he might become a professional athlete. But his family wanted him to become a doctor. Cesare, by his own account, studied medicine with such diligence that he suffered a nervous breakdown shortly before he was to take his degree. While recuperating, he was sent by a friend to see Dino De Laurentiis, the famous Italian producer, who was so impressed that he gave Danova a screen test. Thinking it was a joke, Danova insisted on seeing the screen test for himself. Soon, he was cast as the lead in La figlia del capitano (1947) (The Captain's Daughter). Thus began his career as an Italian Errol Flynn. In almost 20 European films, Danova played the dashing lead, riding horses, jumping through windows, dueling, and romancing beauties such as Gina Lollobrigida.

Known for his aristocratic bearing, he often played noblemen. The six-foot-four Danova was also an expert athlete. A devotee of strenuous daily workouts from age 12, Danova was a fencing champion by age 15 and a member of the Italian National Rugby Team by age 17. In addition to playing golf, tennis, and croquet, Danova was an amateur swimming champion, an expert horseman and polo player, and a master archer. He won the Robin Hood Trophy when he shot and embedded one arrow inside another arrow within the target's bull's eye. He was also a licensed pilot who flew his own planes (Beechcraft, Piper, Cherokee, and Cessna).

A descendant of famed medieval artist Filippo Lippi, Danova collected antiques and paintings. Describing himself as a fair painter, he taught himself to draw by studying a 75-cent how-to-draw book. Danova owned a library of over 3,000 books, each written in one of the five languages he knew-Italian, English, Spanish, French, and German.

Danova loved the theater and appeared onstage in Rome, Venice, Spain, New York, and Los Angeles. He was in the habit of carrying a small leprechaun good luck charm (and a shamrock ) he'd bought in Ireland, The actor traveled to the Emerald Isle many times. 'I love Ireland and I go there every chance I get,' he once said.

With almost 20 European films under his belt, Danova was spotted by MGM's head of talent in the German-backed 'Don Giovanni'(1955), his first film shown in the U.S. Impressed, the studio signed Danova to a long-term contract in June of 1956, and he traded his flourishing career in Europe for Hollywood. Rumors abounded that MGM had found its Ben-Hur (a role coveted by Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas, among others) for the upcoming super-epic remake by director William Wyler. The studio said it expected big things from Danova but that it was too soon to say whether he'd play the lead until he'd perfected his English. Still, it was no secret that Danova had been brought to America by Wyler to be groomed for the lead role. Hollywood columnist Bob Thomas referred to Danova as the 'new Italian sensation' and others compared him to 'Tyrone Power (I)' and Robert Taylor, a glamour boy to fill the shoes of Rudolph Valentino.

When Danova arrived, he didn't speak English and insisted on not learning his lines by rote. He spent the next six months learning the language, a not-terribly-difficult feat for a man with a self-professed love of words who already spoke four languages. With a background in classical acting, and his newfound English fluency, Danova was ready for his big break. But just as filming was to get underway in March, 1957, Wyler decided he didn't want an actor with an accent playing Ben-Hur (1959) and, instead, chose Charlton Heston (who would win the best actor Oscar for the role). Danova was shocked - the role would almost certainly have made him an international star.

Although Wyler didn't want Danova, MGM did. The studio said it expected important things from him when they signed him. But now they had no definite alternative plans for him. Danova's career idled for the next two years. MGM kept him on its payroll, paying him well for doing nothing at all. Danova admitted that, although he was not bitter, the lack of work day after day was enough to drive him crazy. He stayed busy reading, writing, taking diction lessons, building furniture, and playing with his two small sons, Fabrizio and Marco, by English actress Pamela Matthews, whom he had wed in 1955.

Finally, with MGM's consent, Danova made his American debut in Los Angeles opposite Paul Muni in a musical version of Grand Hotel (1932). When it flopped, he traveled to Cuba to appear in Catch Me If You Can (1959), a film starring Gilbert Roland and Dina Merrill. Financed by soon-to-be-deposed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista, it was apparently never released. Danova's American film debut was as the lover of Leslie Caron in the now-forgotten The Man Who Understood Women (1959), starring Henry Fonda.

When Danova first came to America, he was quoted as saying that he wished to lose his accent so that he would be able to play the role he most wanted, that of an American cowboy. In 1958, he got his wish. He made his American television debut in a first-season episode of The Rifleman (1958) called 'Duel of Honor,' the first of three appearances. United Press International summed up Danova's reversal of fortune this way: "Televiewers will have the opportunity to see the man who almost played the title role in Ben-Hur (1959) - but in place of a chariot he'll be bouncing around in a stage coach...Danova, a ruggedly handsome Italian import, is making his American debut in ABC-TV's The Rifleman (1958). It's quite a comedown from his original intent to star in the most expensive movie in history."

Cesare Danova got a second chance at stardom when he was cast as Cleopatra's court advisor, Apollodorus, in the Cleopatra (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor. As originally scripted, Danova's character was to be Cleopatra's lover, servicing her when she wasn't being romanced by costars Rex Harrison and Richard Burton. "I'm sort of the third man-the real lover," Danova was quoted as saying.

But then the torrid, real-life love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton became a worldwide media sensation. The resulting scandal, since both stars were married but not to each other, generated badly needed public interest in the troubled, bloated, fantastically over-budget production. Le Scandale (as the French dubbed it) upstaged everything about the film not related to Taylor & Burton. As a result, Danova's performance was now a distraction and most of it was cut, dashing predictions that Danova "should be in big demand after this one."

In October 1963, not quite two-and-a-half months after Cleopatra's release, Pamela and Cesare Danova were divorced. The Associated Press headline stated merely: Wife Divorces Cleopatra Slave.

In his early years in America, Danova turned down the opportunity to appear as a series regular on TV for fear of being typecast and locked out of movies altogether. When he finally accepted, it was for the WWII ensemble cast Garrison's Gorillas (1967), a show patterned somewhat after The Dirty Dozen (1967). Danova said he accepted because he was the first to be cast and his was the best part. He appeared as actor, a con man, expert at disguises and spreading disinformation behind the lines among the Nazis. Although he took pains to distinguish the two roles, Danova's character was obviously similar to that played by TV contemporary Martin Landau on Mission: Impossible (1966). In any event, Garrison's Gorillas (1967) did not last beyond the 1967-1968 season.

In time, as movie roles became fewer, Danova did a great deal of television work. Two of his most memorable later screen roles (and the ones for which he is best remembered) were as Mafia Don Giovanni Cappa in Mean Streets (1973), directed by Martin Scorsese, and as corrupt mayor Carmine DePasto in National Lampoon's Animal House (1978).

Cesare Danova died of a heart attack on March 19, 1992, shortly after his 66th birthday, during a meeting of the Foreign Language Film committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), at its Los Angeles headquarters.

Ermanno Olmi was born on 24 July 1931 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) and Il posto (1961). He was married to Loredana Detto. He died on 5 May 2018 in Asiago, Veneto, Italy.

Marcello Magni was born on 27 June 1959 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for Nine (2009), Mr. Turner (2014) and Doctor Who (2005). He was married to Kathryn Hunter. He died on 18 September 2022 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy.

Giorgio Pasotti is an Italian actor who debuts in theatre as a protagonist aside Stefania Rocca in the theatrical show "Le Poligraphe" by Robert Lepage. He then appears in the film "I Piccoli Maestri" directed by Daniele Luchetti based on Luigi Meneghello's novel, and in Gabriele Muccino's directorial debut, "Ecco Fatto" with Barbara Bobulova. Throughout the years he alternates between television and cinema, he finds fame with the tv series "Distretto di Polizia" where he interprets the role of Inspector Paolo Libero. In those years he stars in Neri Marcorè's miniseries "E Poi C'è Filippo", in "Due Mamme Di Troppo" directed by Antonello Grimaldi, "La Scelta di Laura" by Alessandro Piva, and in the miniseries "David Copperfield" by Ambrogio Lo Giudice. In 2012 he enters the role of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the miniseries "Anita Garibaldi" for Rai 1. He also interprets the role of Lino Zani, Pope John Paul II's ski instructor in "Non avere paura - Un'amicizia con Papa Wojtyla", and a police agent who fights against the Germans in World War II in "A Testa Alta - I Martiri di Fiesole". He appears in the series "Il Silenzio dell'Acqua" directed by Pier Belloni, in "La Compagnia Del Cigno" by Ivan Cotroneo, in Season 1 and 2 of "Lea e I Bambini Degli Altri" and in the first two seasons of "Mina Settembre" directed by Tiziana Aristarco. He returns in cinemas with "Ultimo Bacio" directed by Gabriele Muccino, as the protagonist's best friend, he also interprets the new groom in the movie "Volevo solo Dormirle Adosso" by Eugenio Capuccio. He works in "L'Aria Salata" directed by Alessandro Angelini and in "Le Rose del Deserto" by Mario Monicelli, and as the protagonist of "Diario di un Maniaco Per Bene" by Michele Picchi. Giorgio stars in Gabriele Muccino's sequel to "L'Ultimo Bacio" in "Baciamo Ancora", and in 2013 appears in the Oscar-winning film "La Grande Bellezza" directed by Paolo Sorrentino. In 2014 he is one of the protagonists of "Sapore Di Te" by Carlo Vanzina, working with him again in "Un Matrimonio Da Favola", interpreting a closeted homosexual who hides it from his friends. Francesco Prisco chooses him for his directorial debut "Nottetempo", without forgetting the movie "Mio Papà" directed by Giulio Base exploring the themes of a large family, he is the protagonist and, for the first time, writer. In 2015 he directs with Matteo Bini and acts in the movie "Io, Arlecchino". In 2020 he directs and acts in the movie "Abbi Fede" and in November of the same year he is chosen as the new director of Teatro Stabile d'Abruzzo. In 2022 he appears in the Tv Series "Lea - Un nuovo Giorno".

Cintia Lodetti was born on 21 March 1960 in Bergamo, Italy. She is an actress, known for Contraband (1980), Escape from Hell (1980) and The Porno Killers (1980).

Erik Gandini was born on 14 August 1967 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He is a producer and director, known for Surplus: Terrorized Into Being Consumers (2003), Videocracy (2009) and Gitmo (2005).

Maurizio Donadoni was born on 7 January 1958 in Bergamo, Italy. He is an actor, known for La piovra (1984), La freccia nera (2006) and Pinocchio (2008).

Sandro Panseri was born in 1945 in Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy. He was an actor, known for Il posto (1961), Dal sabato al lunedì (1962) and Made in Italy (1965). He was married to Marie Claire Le Masson. He died on 11 April 2023 in Milan, Lombardia, Italy.

Fabio Cianchetti was born on 22 April 1952 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He is a cinematographer and actor, known for The Dreamers (2003), Canone Inverso (2000) and La terra (2006).

Gianfranco Clerici was born on 29 July 1941 in Bergamo, Italy. He is a writer and assistant director, known for Cannibal Holocaust (1980), Devil Fish (1984) and Un corpo caldo per l'inferno (1969).

Roger A. Fratter was born on 2 October 1968 in Bergamo, Italy. He is a director and editor, known for Blu38 (2021), Abraxas - Riti segreti dall'oltretomba (2001) and Rapporto di un regista su alcune giovani attrici (2008).

Giulio Questi was born on 18 March 1924 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Giocare (1957), Amori pericolosi (1964) and Death Laid an Egg (1968). He was married to Marilù Carteny. He died on 3 December 2014 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Fabio Volo was born on 24 June 1972 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Kung Fu Panda (2008), Casomai (2002) and La febbre (2005).

Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was born November 29, 1797 in Bergamo, Italy. He was born in a windowless cellar into a poor family of a government clerk. At the age of 9 he became a protégé of Johann Simon Mayr, Maestro di Cappella of the Lombard city. Johann Mayr hosted and educated young Donizetti, and later sent the talented boy to study music under the renowned Padre Stanislao Mattei, the head master of the Music School in Bologna. After graduation he enlisted in the Army, and avoided going back to poor life in Bergamo.

In 1818 Donizetti's first operas were performed in Venice with modest success. In 1822 Donizetti settled in Naples and there had his first big success with two operas: "Zoraida di Granada" (1822) and "La zingara" (1822). He was developing the Bel canto style, writing his hallmark melody lines in a perfect match to Italian lyrics. Donizetti played with variety of genre from the comedy "L'ajo nell'umbarazzo" (1824), to the heroic neo-classical drama "L'esule di Roma" (1828), to the romantic melodrama "Il Paria" (1829).

Donizetti became famous beyond Italy with his opera "Anna Bolena" (1830). The superb quality of his music made him the rival of Vincenzo Bellini and Gioachino Rossini. Donizetti's next operas "L'elisir d'amore" (1832), "Parisina" (1833), "Lucrezia Borgia" (1833), and "Maria Stuarda" (1834) were performed in Rome, Genoa, Florence, and Teatro alla Scala in Milano. Meanwhile he had a teaching position at the Naples Conservatoire and had a good reputation for his warmth, generosity and devotion to his work.

His opera "Lucia di Lammermoor" (1835) straddled the annals of the day more brilliantly than any other opera. Donizetti went to Paris, and soon after was given the position of the Court Composer in Vienna. His later operas were written to French texts, with the inevitable loss of Bel canto smoothness, which was best in his melodies written to Italian lyrics. His last works of "grand-opera" scale integrated ballet numbers in spectacular settings. "Don Pasquale" (1843) was Donizetti's last opera. He died of paralysis on April 8. 1848, in Bergamo, Italy.

Vocally challenging "L'elisir d'amore" (The Elixir of Love 1832) remains a perennial favorite of the Bel canto opera repertoire worldwide. It is a story of a young love-struck Nemorino, who bought a bottle of magic drink from a traveling drug-pusher, who claims it to be a 'love potion'. Nemorino is trying to win the heart of the coquettish Adina, who eventually discovers that Nemorino's love is true and sincere. It was made into the eponymous film in 1992, starring Luciano Pavarotti as Nemorino and Kathleen Battle as Adina.

"Una furtiva lagrima" from the opera "L'elixir d'amore" is among the most famous tenor arias. It's legendary 1904 Victor recording by Enrico Caruso was used in 'Match point' (2005), 'Neokonchennaya pyesa dlya mekhanicheskogo pianino' (1977), and many other films, often uncredited.

Guido Nicheli was born on 24 July 1934 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for S.P.Q.R. (1998), I ragazzi della 3 C (1987) and Tomorrow I'm Getting Married (1984). He died on 28 October 2007 in Desenzano del Garda, Lombardy, Italy.

Stefania Careddu was born on 13 January 1943 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. She is an actress, known for Troppo per vivere... poco per morire (1967), The Legacy of Caine (1971) and Any Gun Can Play (1967).

Mario Piave was born on 24 February 1940 in Grumello del Monte, Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for A come Andromeda (1972), Il mulino del Po (1971) and Brothers Till We Die (1977). He was married to Egle Guarino. He died on 4 May 1979 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

Alessia Tresoldi was born on 24 September 1998 in Bergamo, Italy. She is an actress, known for Reverse (2021) and E poi c'è Cattelan (EPCC) (2014).

Pope John XXIII was born on 25 November 1881 in Sotto il Monte, Bergamo, Italy. He was a writer, known for A Man Named John (1965), Tu es Pierre (1959) and Pro Mundi Vita (1961). He died on 3 June 1963 in Vatican City.

Paolo Franchi was born in Bergamo. After completing an honors degree in Literature and Philosophy, specializing in psychoanalytic art criticism, he graduated as a film director from the renowned Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Italy's national school of cinema. His graduation thesis is the only one to have been selected at the 1994 Venice Film Festival. He worked as an assistant to Nanni Loy, Francesco Maselli and Peter Del Monte, and attended select workshops by Mauro Bolognini, Giorgio Arlorio and Ermanno Olmi.

He made several short films including the docufiction "Frammenti di Sapienza" about the Italian writer Goliarda Sapienza, who featured as herself. The documentary competed at the 1995 Venice Film Festival and other major international cinema events, winning several awards.

In 2004, Franchi signed his feature-length debut film "La Spettatrice", the only Italian film to compete at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, founded by Peter Scarlet and Robert De Niro. The film earned global critical acclaim, and participated in numerous festivals (from Montreal to the Edinburgh Film Festival, from the Chicago International Film Festival to the Tokyo Film Festival, from Paris Cinema to New York's Syracuse International Film Festival).

Overall, the film garnered 21 awards worldwide including:

• Italian Golden Globe for best first feature
• Grolla d'Oro St. Vincent for artistic innovation
• Cicae Best Film Award at the Annecy Festival
• First prize from the jury at the Villerupt Festival
• Rosa Camuna best film award at the Bergamo Film Meeting 2004
• Fac 2004 Award for best European debut (Italian critics' union)
• Best Film Award and Best Screenplay at the Syracuse International Film Festival, New York

Franchi was, moreover, a nominee as best new director at Italy's premier Nastro d'Argento awards and the David di Donatello awards of 2005.

In 2007, Franchi signed his second feature film "Nessuna qualità agli eroi". The film was nominated best film of the year at the 64th Venice Film Festival, arousing controversial critical reaction coupled with great admiration from the international press (Variety, Screen International, and Positif to name a few). The film participated in numerous international festivals (from Villerupt to the Busan International Film Festival, from Annecy to Mons) and earned no less than four Italian Golden Globe nominations in 2008: best film, best actor (Elio Germano), best film script - and best director of the year to Paolo Franchi.

In 2012, he signed his third feature film "E la chiamano estate", causing a stir in the media. Amid dissension and applause, the film won two prizes at the Rome International Film Festival: the award for best actress to Isabella Ferrari and the Marc Aurelio Award for best direction to Paolo Franchi.

In 2017, Franchi made the film "Dove non ho mai abitato". The film was enthusiastically received by Italian and foreign critics and earned numerous awards including the Mario Gallo award, the Capri Hollywood award, the Ciak d'Oro best film award, the Italian Golden Globe for best soundtrack - and nomination for best film of the year. The film also received three Nastro d'Argento nominations, including best director of 2018. The film was the only Italian representative at the official Golden Goblet Awards of the Shanghai International Festival 2018 where it competed for best film.

Ewa Swann was born on 10 October 1945 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. She is an actress, known for Yusra (1971), Bye bye, Barbara (1969) and Winter Wind (1969).

Nicola Trussardi was born on 17 June 1942 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor and costume designer, known for Ready to Wear (1994), Demons 2 (1986) and Mujeres bajo las estrellas (1994). He was married to Maria Luisa Trussardi. He died on 15 April 1999 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

Jusciua Algeri was born in Seriate (Bergamo, Italy). At the age of 16 he was arrested and taken to a juvenile jail. In that period he discovered the passion for music and acting. He wrote a song, "A testa alta", and won an award at the Caltanissetta Festival. After being released in September 2014, he was discovered by filmmaker Claudio Giovannesi, who cast him in his film "Fiore" after seeing him in a stage performance in prison. The film was screened at Cannes, selected in the "Quinzaine des Réalisateurs" section. In March 2017, he died in a road accident while driving his scooter: he slipped on the wet tarmac, violently hitting a car. He died on the blow. He was father of a baby girl.

Omar Pesenti is a film director and screenwriter. Driven by a strong passion for cinema, in 2006 he debuted as a director of independent short films, winning numerous awards both in Italy and abroad; in particular with "Un passo più lungo" (2006) he won the Sony Short Festival and with "27 minutes of purity" (2009) he received the first important acknowledgments from critics. In 2012 he moved on to documentary films and starts experimenting with the language, without ever repeating himself and searching for the perfect hybrid with fictional cinema: "Tommaso" (2012), his debut docudrama, is distributed on Sky and Amazon Prime US; with his subsequent films, he obtained distributions with important broadcasters like RAI, Mediaset (Canale 5, Focus), La7, A+E Networks (History). "In the trenches" (2016), about the Great War, "Italia 70" (2018), on the so-called "years of lead", and "Wall of Chaos", about the Berlin wall and the GDR, comprise his trilogy on contemporary history.

Maria Luisa Trussardi was born on 22 January 1944 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. She was previously married to Nicola Trussardi.