Adolfo CeliFilmography

Born:: July 27, 1922 in Messina, Sicily, Italy
Occupation:: Actor
Biography:: Although not too well known outside his native Italy, white-haired, robust Adolfo Celi gained renown as a "renaissance" man of theater and films, doing triple duty as an actor, writer and director. His first film was 1946's Un Americano in Vacanza, after which he left Italy to spend nearly two...Read More

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My Father's Wife

Synopsis: Incensed to discover that her husband has been cheating on her, a bored housewife enters into a sordid affair with her strapping stepson in this erotic drama from Italian director Andrea Bianchi (Strip Nude for Your Killer, Burial Ground). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide Read More

1986
Amici Miei Atto 3

12/19/85
Cenerentola '80

Actors: Bonnie Bianco, Pierre Cosso, Sandra Milo, Adolfo Celi, Sylva Koscina

Synopsis: In this musical adaptation of the Cinderella story geared toward teen audiences, Cindy (Bonnie Bianco) lives with her father, stepmother, and two half-sisters in Brooklyn. The shrewish stepmom hates Cindy and is taking off for Rome to get her daughters trained in classical music. Completely Read More

2/16/84
Amici Miei, Atto 2

Actors: Philippe Noiret, Ugo Tognazzi, Adolfo Celi, Gastone Moschin, Renzo Montagnani

Synopsis: In a series of vignettes that serve as a sequel to Amici Miei, director Mario Monicelli brings back several of his stars from the earlier movie to continue their antics in Florence, home of the friends of the title. All five are (or in some cases, were) close companions and have a penchant for Read More

12/22/82
Monsignor

Actors: Christopher Reeve, Geneviève Bujold, Fernando Rey, Jason Miller, Joe Cortese

Synopsis: An ambitious priest discovers that honoring the Ten Commandments isn't as easy as he imagined in this drama. Father John Flaherty (Christopher Reeve) is a Catholic priest who was ordained during World War II, and soon found himself forced to fight enemy forces while serving as a chaplain in the Read More

1982
Innamorato Pazzo

Actors: Adriano Celentano, Ornella Muti, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: Cristina (Ornella Muti) is a rich, spoiled princess visiting Rome with her royal parents. The mission of their visit is to marry her off to a super-wealthy corporate type and thereby start to turn around the losses their small kingdom is experiencing in its casino business. These less-than-noble Read More

12/18/81
Cafe Express

Actors: Nino Manfredi, Adolfo Celi, Vittorio Mezzogiorno, Marzio C. Honorato, Gigi Reder

Synopsis: This entertaining, light comedy is carried on the shoulders of Nino Manfredi, who plays a gypsy coffee vendor illegally selling expresso on trains. Inventive, creative, and needing to stay several steps ahead of the conductors and other bureaucrats out to shut down his operation, the cafe artist Read More

2/13/80
The Chosen

Actors: Kirk Douglas, Agostina Belli, Simon Ward, Anthony Quayle, Virginia McKenna

Synopsis: Robert Caine (Kirk Douglas) is a wealthy and powerful industrialist, an engineer who develops nuclear power plants. A true believer in nuclear energy, he plans to make nuclear generation commonplace around the world. He is about to retire and turn over the running of his corporations to his son Read More

11/25/77
Les Passagers

Actors: Jean-Louis Trintignant, Bernard Fresson, Mireille Darc, Richard Constantini, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: Alex (Jean-Louis Trintignant) is newly married, and he and his wife are setting up housekeeping together in Paris. However, to complete their domestic arrangement, he must drive to pick up his new 12-year-old stepson Marc (Richard Constantini) from his school in Rome. The boy is extremely cynical Read More

3/9/77
Le Grand Escogriffe

Actors: Yves Montand, Claude Brasseur, Agostina Belli, Valentina Cortese

Synopsis: When he is not working as a stage performer, Emile (Yves Montand) works as a small-time con-man. He has a brand-new plan for a big job and needs the services of one of his former assistants. He also persuades a young actress to help out with part of the plan: kidnapping the child of a very shady Read More

12/1/76
Signore e Signori Buonanotte

Synopsis: In this episodic anthology, written and directed by assorted Italian filmmakers, the political and social aspects of Italian life are chronicled. In one satirical episode, The Bomb, a bogus bomb threat at a police headquarters gradually balloons into a real terrorist plot culminating with the Read More

10/28/76
L'Affittacamere

8/13/76
La Moglie Di Mio Padre

8/4/76
The Next Man

Actors: Sean Connery, Cornelia Sharpe, Albert Paulsen, Adolfo Celi, Marco St. John

Synopsis: Audiences loved him as a Berber sheik in the historical saga The Wind and the Lion, so who better to play a Saudi Arabian minister of state who wants to make peace with Israel during the Arab oil embargo of 1976 than Sean Connery? Connery plays Khalil Abdull-Muhsen, a peace-mongering diplomat who Read More

1976
Sandokan

Synopsis: Sandokan, the Indian rebel leader who opposed the British regime during the Victorian era, was the subject of several action-adventure films of the 1960s and 1970s. Few of these efforts were completely faithful to their source, Emilio Salgari's novel Le Tigre de Mompracem, but all were eagerly Read More

1976
Amici Miei

Actors: Ugo Tognazzi, Philippe Noiret, Gastone Moschin, Adolfo Celi, Duilio del Prete

Synopsis: The famed Italian film director Pietro Germi (his sharply observant and satirical films include The Immoralist, and Divorce Italian Style) began work on this comedy, but died before he could do more than write the screenplay. However, he lived long enough to choose Mario Monicelli as his Read More

8/15/75
Libera, Amore Mio

Actors: Claudia Cardinale, Adolfo Celi, Philippe Leroy, Bekim Fehmiu, Bruno Cirino

Synopsis: After her father (Adolfo Celi) is exiled to an island off the coast of Italy for his anti-Mussolini politics, Libera (Claudia Cardinale) is increasingly incensed by the fascist government of Italy and makes a number of bold and very personal gestures against it. At first, these only result in her Read More

3/21/75
And Then There Were None

Actors: Oliver Reed, Elke Sommer, Richard Attenborough, Gert Fröbe, Stéphane Audran

Synopsis: An Italian-French-Spanish version of the much-filmed Agatha Christie story, this film is strangely set in Iran, not Great Britain. Ten guests are invited to a remote desert inn and informed that the mysterious host has described in a nursery rhyme how they will all die during the gathering. One by Read More

1975
The Phantom of Liberty

Actors: Jean-Claude Brialy, Monica Vitti, Paul Frankeur, Paul Le Person, François Maistre, Claude Piéplu, Jean Rochefort, Marie-France Pisier, Bernard Verley, Milena Vukotic, Michel Piccoli, Adriana Asti, Julien Bertheau

Synopsis: One of Luis Buñuel's most episodic films, The Phantom of Liberty focuses on no one particular narrative. In the beginning, a man sells postcards of French tourist attractions, calling them "pornographic." A sniper in Montparnasse is hailed as a hero for killing passersby. A "missing" child helps Read More

9/11/74
Il Sorriso del Grande Tentatore

Synopsis: In this psychological melodrama, a nun becomes obsessed with purifying the souls of those dwelling in her hostel-convent. The guests, who inevitably become entangled with one another, include, a reproachable Polish priest and Nazi collaborator, a murderous widow, and a reporter who has come to do Read More

1/24/74
The Long Arm of the Godfather

Actors: Adolfo Celi, Peter Lee Lawrence, Erika Blanc

1974
Hitler: The Last Ten Days

Actors: Richard Fescud, Alec Guinness, Simon Ward, Adolfo Celi, Diane Cilento, Gabriele Ferzetti

Synopsis: Alec Guinness plays against stereotype, imbuing his Adolf Hitler with an introverted solemnity in Ennio De Concini's Hitler: The Last Ten Days. Set almost entirely inside Hitler's Berlin bunker, the film chronicles the dying days of the Third Reich as the Allied armies close in on Berlin. Read More

8/31/73
Le Mataf

Actors: Michel Constantin, Georges Géret, Annie Cordy, Cathy Rosier

Synopsis: When intruders interfere in the robbery of Le Metaf (Michel Constantin) and his gang and a girl is murdered, they are set up for blackmail by an underworld figure who wants them to do a job for him. The thugs are double-crossed when they do the job, but Le Metaf wins free of their designs and gets Read More

6/20/73
La Villeggiatura

Actors: Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: Though fitted out with an English-language title, Black Holiday didn't receive much distribution outside its native Italy. Set during the 1930s, the film stars Adolfo Celi as an irrepressible anti-fascist professor. While the Mussolini government tolerates Celi so long as he remains within the Read More

5/22/73
Hit Men

Synopsis: This crime film focuses on the verbal back stabbing and gun battles characteristic of inner city life. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1973
La Mala Ordina

Actors: Woody Strode, Cyril Cusack, Henry Silva, Mario Adorf

Synopsis: This Italian action film focuses on a crook, framed as a drug kingpin, whose wife is killed by the mob as a result. He must take matters into his own hands to have revenge. Manhunt was also re-titled The Italian Connection to steal thunder from its French counterpart. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

9/2/72
Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Actors: Graham Faulkner, Judi Bowker, Alec Guinness, Leigh Lawson, Kenneth Cranham

Synopsis: St. Francis of Assisi was an extraordinarily complex and difficult figure whose effect on his contemporary society was electrifying. Even today, many people are moved by his visionary message of universal toleration. Twelfth-century Italy had an exceptionally grim and regimented society, but the Read More

3/28/72
L'Occhio Nel Labirinto

3/24/72
Who Saw Her Die?

Synopsis: When the story begins a young girl who has wandered away from her nanny at a French ski resort is abducted, killed, and buried in the snow. Later, in Venice, the young daughter of Franco (George Lazenby), a popular sculptor, is stalked by a woman in a black veil. Finally, after several Read More

1972
Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why

Synopsis: American entrepreneur Jerry Warren is credited with the direction of Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why. Judging by Warren's cinematic track record, however, one comes to the conclusion that his "direction" consisted of re-editing the scenes and supervising the English-language dubbing. Filmed in Read More

1972
Ring of Death

Synopsis: When the man he's trailing is killed a street-tough cop finds he's on someone's hit list, too. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

1972
Piazza Pulita

Actors: Adolfo Celi, Richard Conte

Synopsis: Any 1972 film starring Richard Conte was like as not produced in Italy. Despite its title, 1931: Once Upon a Time in New York is no exception to this rule. Conte and Adolfo Celi play rival Chicago gangsters, fighting tooth and tommy-gun over territorial rights. Featured in the cast are Read More

1972
Hanno Cambiato Faccia

Synopsis: The movers and shakers of our industrial society replace vampires in this Italian allegorical drama. A young employee of a large conglomerate is called to a mysterious, brooding mansion to be told of his promotion to head of an auto company. He attempts to kill the Nosferatu-like being who informs Read More

7/2/71
Cambio De Cara

Synopsis: The title Cambio de Cara translates to Change of Face. This Italian film investigates high-level corruption in a major international industry. Two reporters face serious injury or death while getting the goods on a cartel of white-collar crooks. Adolfo Celi stars as one of the fat cats, while Geraldine Hooper Read More

1971
Murders in the Rue Morgue

Actors: Christine Kaufmann, Herbert Lom

Synopsis: The fourth film to explore Edgar Allan Poe's classic tale, this clever adaptation takes some rather broad liberties with the source material. A flamboyant Jason Robards plays Cesar Charron, owner of a Grand Guignol theatre in 19th-century Paris, who is launching a stage adaptation of "Murders in Read More

1971
Un Condé

Actors: Michel Bouquet, Françoise Fabian, Gianni Garko, Michel Constantin, Bernard Fresson

Synopsis: A crackdown on drugs leads a burned out cop (Michel Bouquet) to take the law into his own hands and seek revenge against villainous drug dealers. Word comes down from above that the United States feels French authorities have been lax on their arrests of the dealers. A violent action feature finds Read More

1970
Fragment of Fear

Actors: David Hemmings, Gayle Hunnicutt, Flora Robson, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Daniel Massey

Synopsis: This chilling mystery begins when Lucy Dawson (Flora Robson) is found strangled in her apartment. Her nephew Tim (David Hemmings) is the former-drug-addict-turned-successful-author who wrote a book about his experiences. When Tim looks into his aunt's death, people give sketchy answers and the Read More

1970
In Search of Gregory

Actors: Julie Christie, Michael Sarrazin, John Hurt, Paola Pitagora, Roland Culver

Synopsis: In this psychological drama, Catherine (Julie Christie) is an attractive young woman living in Rome who is infatuated with a man named Gregory, whom she's never actually met. When her father informs her that he intends to remarry, Catherine is not interested in attending the wedding until she Read More

1970
Detective Belli

Actors: Franco Nero, Florinda Bolkan, Adolfo Celi, Delia Boccardo, Susanna Martinkova

Synopsis: In this Italian suspenser, a crooked detective begins investigating a situation on behalf of a friend and gets involved in murder, deception and double-cross. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1970
L'Alibi

Crew: Director

2/13/69
A Man for Emmanuelle

Actors: Erika Blanc, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: Emmanuelle Arsan's "Emmanuelle" character makes her very first onscreen appearance in this erotic drama starring legendary screen siren Erika Blanc (Operazione Paura, The Devil's Nightmare). Abandoned by her man, Emmanuelle (Blanc) sets out in search of the affection she so desperately craves. But Read More

1969
Seven Times Seven

Synopsis: In this caper movie, a gang of prison inmates sneak out and rob the Royal Mint. They then sneak back to prison. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

1969
Midas Run

Actors: Richard Crenna, Anne Heywood, Fred Astaire, Ralph Richardson, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: A disgruntled British secret service officer and an aspiring author turn to crime when they are again passed over for prominent career advancements. John Pedley (Fred Astaire) is the agent who has been passed over for knighthood one too many times for his liking. He proposes a plan to university Read More

1969
Danger: Diabolik

Actors: John Phillip Law, Marisa Mell, Michel Piccoli, Adolfo Celi, Terry-Thomas

Synopsis: Diabolik (John Phillip Law) is the criminal mastermind who has just pulled off a huge heist. He spends most of his free time with his girlfriend, Eva (Marisa Mell), in fond embrace. The police minister (Terry-Thomas) is approached by Valmont (Adolfo Celi), a master criminal who proposes to use his Read More

1/24/68
Fantabulous Inc.

Actors: Richard Harrison, Judi West, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: A company specializing in international espionage turns a young man into a super hero and offers his services to the United Nations. For a hefty fee, the creation will supposedly become an international policeman who will fight crime and make the world safe from the machination of evil. When the Read More

1968
Master Stroke

1968
Uno Scacco Tutto Matto

Actors: Maria Grazia Buccella, Edward G. Robinson

Synopsis: It's Your Move (Uno Scacco Tutto Matto) stars Edward G. Robinson as MacDowell, a dilettante criminal who masterminds a fantastic bank heist. MacDowell exploits the fact that his butler's niece Monique (Maria Grazia Buccella) is the exact double of the bank president's secretary. Hiring three Read More

1968
Dalle Ardenne All'Inferno

Actors: Faida Nicols

Synopsis: Set near the end of World War II in the Netherlands, Dirty Heroes concerns a group of ex-convicts recruited into the U.S. Army to recover Dutch jewels originally stolen by the Nazis as well as confiscated Allied plans. Ennio Morricone contributed the score music. ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide Read More

12/21/67
Il Padre Di Famiglia

Actors: Nino Manfredi, Leslie Caron, Ugo Tognazzi

Synopsis: Head of the Family (IL Padre de Famiglia) is a sparse seriocomic effort directed and co-written by Italian documentary filmmaker Nanni Loy. When his wife Leslie Caron announces she is pregnant, Nino Manfredi is at first overjoyed. His delight dwindles into quiet desperation as his little family Read More

9/29/67
Grand Slam

Actors: Edward G. Robinson, Janet Leigh, Robert Hoffman, Klaus Kinski, Riccardo Cucciolla

Synopsis: A group of international jewel thieves band together to pull off a huge heist in this suspenseful caper film that was shot in Europe, New York, and Brazil. The adventure begins in Rio where a burned out school teacher (Edward G. Robinson) decides to chuck his unfulfilling career and try to steal Read More

9/28/67
Das Geheimnis Der Gelben Moenche

8/10/67
O.K. Connery

Actors: Neil Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Agata Flori, Bernard Lee

Synopsis: Neil Connery stars in this forgettable spy actioner about a plastic surgeon who is blackmailed by the Allies. He is pressed into service to prevent a gang of international terrorists from taking over the world. Campy, plodding, and unintentionally funny in places, the feature remains a curiosity Read More

4/20/67
Colpo Maestro Al Servizio Di Sua Maesta Britannica

2/23/67
The Honey Pot

Actors: Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward, Cliff Robertson, Capucine, Edie Adams

Synopsis: Cecil Fox (Rex Harrison) summons his three former mistresses to his deathbed for a final visit in this engaging crime comedy. Princess Dominique (Capucine), fading movie star Merle McGill (Edie Adams), and Texas millionairess Mrs. Sheridan (Susan Hayward) all travel to pay their respects to the Read More

1967
The Bobo

Actors: Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, Rossano Brazzi, Adolfo Celi, Hattie Jacques

Synopsis: Peter Sellers stars, as the tagline states, "as that cunning matador who flees from the bulls so that he may chase the chicks!" Juan Bautista (Peter Sellers) is an inept matador who wants to be a singer. Francisco Carbonell (Adolfo Celi), the owner of a local Barcelona night spot, offers Juan a Read More

1967
Death Sentence

Synopsis: Death Sentence is the literal English translation of Setenza di Morte, the original Italian title of this spaghetti western. Robin Clarke stars as a vengeful frontiersman whose brother has been killed. In the tradition of the Budd Boetticher classic Seven Men From Now, Clarke methodically hunts Read More

1967
King of Hearts

Actors: Alan Bates, Geneviève Bujold, Julien Guiomar, Jean-Claude Brialy, Pierre Brasseur, Micheline Presle

Synopsis: The French/Italian/British King of Hearts (Le Roi de Coeur) takes place during World War I, but it might as well have been the Vietnamese conflict so far as its youthful "core" audience was concerned. Overacting outrageously, Adolfo Celi plays British colonel Alexander MacBibenbrook, who orders Read More

12/21/66
El Greco

Actors: Mel Ferrer, Rosanna Schiaffino, Franco Giacobini, Renzo Giovampietro, Mario Feliciani

Synopsis: For some reason, the elongated figures limned by the highly astigmatic painter El Greco (1541-1614) perfectly suited the grandees of Spain even though they were clearly anything but realistic, and they fascinate even today. The Greek (Cretan, actually) painter's life in Spain could have served as Read More

8/15/66
A Target for Killing

Synopsis: How to Kill a Lady is an Bond-style thriller with an international cast. The lady in question is toothsome Molly Peters. The killers are members of Lebanese crime syndicate who'd like to claim Molly's millions. Stewart Granger is the secret agent assigned to protect the girl from harm, while Read More

1966
Grand Prix

Actors: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune, Brian Bedford

Synopsis: There's a few million dollars' worth of star power and a nickel's worth of plot in the lavish race-car melodrama Grand Prix. Among the participants in this annual cross-continent competition are characters played by James Garner, Yves Montand, Brian Bedford, and Antonio Sabato. Interested parties Read More

1966
E Venne un Uomo

Actors: Rod Steiger, Adolfo Celi

Synopsis: It is no doubt extremely difficult to produce a film which is respectful of a world-renowned and widely loved man, recently deceased, who was considered to be either a saint or well on the way to being one. This unusual biographical film is based on writings (published and unpublished) of Pope Read More

11/19/65
Slalom

Actors: Vittorio Gassman, Adolfo Celi, Beba Loncar, Daniela Bianchi

Synopsis: Lucio (Vittorio Gassman) and his sidekick (Adolfo Celi) accidently gets mixed up with a gang of international counterfeiters in this fast-moving and suspenseful comedy with music from Ennio Morricone. The crooks hope to upset the U.S. economy by flooding the world with bogus bills. Lucio is an Read More

9/24/65
Von Ryan's Express

Actors: Frank Sinatra, Trevor Howard, Raffaella Carrà, Brad Dexter, James Brolin, Sergio Fantoni, Edward Mulhare

Synopsis: Von Ryan's Express is a fast-paced, well-acted World War II drama, featuring a squadron of Allied soldiers trying to escape a prison camp in Italy. While most of the prisoners at the camp are British, a determined, resourceful American Air Force colonel (Frank Sinatra) takes charge and leads the Read More

1965
Un Monsieur de Compagnie

Actors: Jean-Pierre Cassel, Irina Demick, Jean-Claude Brialy, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Catherine Deneuve, André Luguet, Sandra Milo

Synopsis: Following up 1964's Academy Award nominated L'Homme de Rio, French filmmaker Philippe de Broca wrote and directed this big-screen adaptation of André Couteaux's novel Un monsieur de compagnie. Jean-Pierre Cassel stars as Antoine, a young man who holds the philosophy "Laziness is the mother of all Read More

1965
Thunderball

Actors: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi, Rick van Nutter

Synopsis: Thunderball finds James Bond matching wits with the sinister espionage organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E, (which stands for Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). This time, S.P.E.C.T.R.E. hijacks a NATO nuclear bomber, hiding the bombs under the ocean depths and Read More

1965
The Agony and the Ecstasy

Actors: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews, Alberto Lupo

Synopsis: Adapted by Philip Dunne from the novel by Irving Stone, The Agony and the Ecstacy is the story of the 16th century war of wills between Renaissance artist Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) and "warrior pope" Julius II (Rex Harrison). Commissioned to paint a religious fresco on the ceiling of the Read More

1965
L'Homme de Rio

Actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Françoise Dorléac, Jean Servais, Milton Ribeiro, Simone Renant

Synopsis: An eight-day pass, a kidnapping, and a greedy group of South American Indians provide the basic ingredients of this madcap adventure. A French air force pilot has the pass and plans to use it to see his girl friend in Paris. He gets there just in time to see a gang of South American Indians, who Read More

2/5/64
Proibito Rubare

Actors: Adolfo Celi, Tina Pica, Mario Russo

Synopsis: After serving his creative apprenticeship in short subjects, Italian filmmaker Luigi Comencini made his feature-film debut with Guaglio. The film was also released as Proibito Rubare, and later was distributed to the U.S. as Hey, Boy! The dramatic crux of the film is the relationship between a Read More

9/10/48

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