Franco Citti
Franco Citti (Italian: [ˈfraŋko ˈtʃitti]; 23 April 1935 – 14 January 2016) was an Italian actor, best known as one of the close collaborators of director Pier Paolo Pasolini. He came to fame for playing the title role in Pasolini's film Accattone, which brought him a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Actor. He subsequently starred in six of Pasolini's films, as well as 60 other film and television roles.
Franco Citti

OswaldLR at the Italian Wikipedia project. · it:File:Decameron-Citti.png · Public domain
- Born
- 1935. · Rome.
- Died
- 2016. · Fiumicino.
- Nationality
- Italy and Kingdom of Italy.
- Occupation
- actor, screenwriter and director.
- Fields
- acting.
- Languages
- Italian.
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Franco Citti (Italian: [ˈfraŋko ˈtʃitti]; 23 April 1935 – 14 January 2016) was an Italian actor, best known as one of the close collaborators of director Pier Paolo Pasolini. He came to fame for playing the title role in Pasolini's film Accattone, which brought him a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Foreign Actor. He subsequently starred in six of Pasolini's films, as well as 60 other film and television roles.
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Franco Citti (1935–2016) was an Italian and Italian actor, director and film actor, among other activities. Born in Rome, the actor died in Fiumicino. Franco Citti was active in acting. Languages used include Italian.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q554430 · wikipedia · Franco Citti
In this article
Biography
Biography
His brother was the director and screenwriter Sergio Citti.
Citti was born in Rome in 1935 and was raised with his older brother Sergio Citti, working as a painter and day laborer. At the age of 26, he was discovered by Pier Paolo Pasolini, who appreciated his distinctly Roman features, and cast him in the title role of his 1961 directorial debut Accattone. Citti led a cast of other non-professional actors, and proved the breakthrough of the cast, earning a BAFTA Award nomination for a Best Foreign Actor, as well as a nomination for a Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor. Pasolini cast him in six of his subsequent films, making him one of the filmmaker's close creative collaborators. He played Carmine, opposite Anna Magnani, in Mamma Roma (1962), the title character in Oedipus Rex (1967), a cannibal in Pigsty (1969), Ser Ciappelletto in The Decameron (1971), Satan in The Canterbury Tales (1972), and the Demon in Arabian Nights (1974). He appeared in Laura Betti's 2002 documentary Pier Paolo Pasolini e la ragione di un sogno, in which he discussed his working relationship with Pasolini. Citti also worked with such notable filmmakers as Sergio Corbucci, Carlo Lizzani, Valerio Zurlini, and Bernardo Bertolucci. He appeared in a number of films directed by his brother Sergio, and co-directed with him the 1998 film Cartoni animati. Citti is perhaps best known for his role as Sicilian bodyguard Calò in The Godfather and The Godfather: Part III, uttering the memorable line "In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns." He died in Rome on 14 January 2016, at the age of 80, after a long illness.
Nastro d'Argento
Nastro d'Argento
Best Actor (Accattone)

Giovanni Orgitano and Franco Citti in a scene from Accattone, a 1961 film written and directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini.
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Rome.
Birth place
Fiumicino.
Death place
British Academy Film Award
Best Foreign Actor (Accattone)
Awards and nominations
Avellino Neorealism Film Festival Special Mention (Accattone)
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