Over 100 black and white photographs of Italy’s most dashing leading man — Marcello Mastroianni — have been on display during the Venice Film Festival to celebrate 100 years since the actor’s birth. Mastroianni, who was born September 28, 1924, is one of Italy’s most beloved actors who became an international cinema icon after his portrayal of the pensively cool protagonist of Federico Fellini’s “La Dolce Vita”.

But the versatile and charismatic actor enjoyed a nearly six-decade career, playing both dramatic and comedic roles in over 150 films, where he was often paired with the most glamorous actresses of the day, including Sophia Loren, with whom he had a lifelong friendship. The show, running through January 9, is being held on the small Venice Island of San Servolo, where an art center now occupies what was once an insane asylum.

It was organized by the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (Experimental Center of Cinematography Foundation), which tapped their cinematic archives, Italy’s largest. In the show notes, curator Laura Delli Colli called Mastroianni “a protagonist who through his characters combined the charm of a graceful indolence with a charisma and an interpretative ability that touched all the chords of cinema.” But more was at work to make him so cherished in Italy, Delli Colli told AFP. “He didn’t behave like a star and was a bit anti-star,” she said, calling Mastroianni “faithful to himself in his simplicity.”

‘Paid to play’

Mastroianni is shown in some familiar guises: cigarette in hand, wearing sunglasses and exuding Italian nonchalance or melancholy. He is also pictured on set with the top directors of the day — Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luchino Visconti — drinking champagne, joking with co-stars, or relaxing between takes. Early photos from his career see him playing opposite Gina Lollobrigida, or Loren in 1955’s “Too Bad She’s Bad”.

Later images see the veteran actor on the set of 1985’s “Maccheroni” by Ettore Scola, he and co-star Jack Lemmon sitting in the other’s chair. “Being an actor is an extraordinary job: they pay you to play and the cinema allows you to keep playing,” Mastroianni once said. Mastroianni played opposite a long list of beautiful women throughout his career, earning himself the label of “Latin lover” — one he chafed at.

Ursula Andress, “La Dolce Vita” co-star Anita Ekberg, Monica Vitti and Catherine Deneuve, with whom he had a daughter, are seen in on-set photographs with the actor. “I don’t like myself in the mirror,” the actor said, one of many of the actor’s quotes that accompany the photographs in the show.

“Short nose, fleshy mouth. The more I think about it, the more I ask myself how it’s possible that such a face feeds me,” he said. The show is titled “Marcello, Come Here”, the order given by Ekberg — splashing about in the Trevi fountain — in “La Dolce Vita”, perhaps one of cinema’s most famous scenes. Mastroianni, who won countless awards during his career, was given a career achievement Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival in 1990. He died in 1996. — AFP