Italian cinema was megapopular in our country throughout the second half of the 20th century. And in the cinemas there were full houses on the days when serious pictures were shown, and during the screenings of comedies and the so-called “spaghetti westerns”. A recognized star among Italian actors who starred in films of the latest genre was Giuliano Gemma.
Childhood
The future actor was born in 1938 in Rome. At the beginning of the war, his family moved to the town of Reggio Emilia and returned to the capital only in 1944. From school, the boy loved cinema and sports, which largely determined his future career. At the age of 12, Giuliano became interested in gymnastics, and from the age of fifteen he began to engage in boxing. Subsequently, good physical preparation helped him become a stuntman, which contributed to a quick start in the movie.
The beginning of a film career
In 1956, Giuliano Gemma came to the Chinechett studio, where extras were required for filming films of mainly historical content. A young man with an attractive appearance and athletic figure was immediately noticed, and when it turned out that he was also a professional athlete, he was invited to work as a stuntman.
The actor played his first episodic role in the film "Venice, the Moon and You" by Dino Risi. In this fun comedy starred brilliant Alberto Sordi, who at that time was already a recognized star of Italian cinema. Apparently, Giuliano did his job pretty well, so he was invited to the episodic role of a Roman officer in the film "Ben Hur", which today is considered one of the masterpieces of world cinema. The film was released in 1959 and won an Oscar in eleven nominations, breaking all records. Although the surname Gemma was not even indicated in the credits, his stately figure and radiant smile were remembered by the audience and attracted the attention of film producers and directors.
Early work
For the first time starring Giuliano Gemma starred in 1962. The debut in this capacity took place in the satirical film "Invasion of the Titans" directed by Ducho Tessari. From that moment on, their successful collaboration began, resulting in a series of “spaghetti westerns” in which Giuliano Gemma performed under the pseudonym Montgomery Wood. The character, who was personified by the actor, was called Ringo, and he immediately fell in love with the audience not only in Italy, but around the world.
In general, the 60s of the last century were very successful for the film career of Giuliano Gemma. In particular, in parallel with the work on the paintings of Ducho Tessari, he starred in the famous historical and adventure films about Angelica, film director Bernard Borderi, in which he played the role of the brave robber Nicolas, who had been in love with the irresistible beautiful marquise since childhood.
Giuliano Gemma: movies
Throughout his career in cinema, the actor sought to try himself in different roles. So, he played General Garibaldi in “Leopard” (1963) Luchino Visconti, the main role of the anti-fascist hero in the film “Corbari” (1970) Valentino Orsini, as well as the main character Nullo Bronzi in the highly social film drama “Crime in the Name of Love” by Luigi Comencini.
For his work, Giuliano Gemma has repeatedly received high film awards. One of them was the role of Major Mattis in the film "Tartari Desert." She brought the artist a special David Di Donatello Prize and a nomination in the Silver Ribbon Contest of the Italian Film Journalism Syndicate.
Another famous work by Giuliano Gemma was the role of the incorruptible police chief Cesaro Mori in the film Pasquale Squitieri "Iron Prefect." For her, in 1978, the artist received an international film award at the Karlovy Vary festival.
Collaboration with Squitieri brought Gemma several more prestigious awards, this time for his role in the film "Corleone", filmed in 1979. Around the same time, director Damiano Damiani invited the artist to the drama "The Man on His Lap." In it, Giuliano Gemma played a major role, very difficult in psychological terms, and received the Grolla D'Oro Award.
During the long film career of the artist, his partners on the film and television screens became such world-famous stars as Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Klaus Kinsky, Alain Delon, Max von Syudov, Jacques Perrin, Ernest Borgnine, Philippe Noire, Michel Mercier, Catherine Deneuve, Ursula Andress, Claudia Cardinale and Aurora Clement.
Work on television
Giuliano Gemma worked a lot on television. So, in 1985-1986, the actor starred in the role of captain of the Italian police Maffei in the serial film “Hunters for Masterpieces”, which was also shown in our country. His work in the television movie "Italian History" was also memorable. The painting was a resounding success and critics liked it, for which the artist received the Silver Star Award.
It should be noted and the participation of Julian Gemma in an interesting adventure mini-series "Desert on Fire." This project is considered the most successful brainchild of the director Enzo Castellari, and it involved such distinguished European film veterans as Claudia Cardinale, Franco Nero, Mathieu Carrier, Vittorio Gassman and Virna Lizi. In the series "Desert on Fire" Giuliano Gemma also played with young French stars - Anthony Delon and Ariel Domball, and the music for the film was written by Stefano Mainnetti. This project has won the hearts of viewers in many countries, and it has been repeatedly shown on television, including in our country.
Giuliano Gemma: personal life
The famous actor was married twice. Towards the end of his life, he moved to Cerveteri, where he lived with his wife Daniela Baba Risherme, whom he had a passion for many years. From his first marriage, he had 2 daughters: Juliana and Vera. The latter, like her father, chose an acting career.
The last years of life and the tragic death
At a fairly mature age, Giuliano Gemma became known as a very good sculptor, working mainly with metal. As the artist himself recalled, from an early age he was fond of modeling clay and carving wooden figures. The result of his work in the field of fine art was several interesting bronze compositions, which confirmed the well-known statement that a talented person is talented in everything.
In October 2013, at the age of 75, Giuliano Gemma got into a serious accident on his own car. As a result, the artist received serious injuries and was taken to a hospital in the city of Civitavecchia. The efforts of the doctors were in vain: he died a few hours later.
We introduced you to a brief biography of Giuliano Gemma, who at the dawn of his film career starred in the famous Ben-Hur film, and then about half a century pleased the audience with many wonderful and memorable acting works.