Michele Placido (Michele Placido): biography, personal life, filmography (photo)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

This actor is well known, mainly to the older generation of viewers who watched the Italian TV series "Octopus" on Soviet television, which tells about the struggle of Police Commissioner Corrado Cattani with the Sicilian mafia. In the Soviet Union, both the character and the actor Michele Placido who played this role were known to everyone. He was certainly a cult figure.

How it all began

Michele Placido was born in the small town of Ascole Satriano on May 19, 1946. He studied at a school at a Catholic monastery. Very little is known about the childhood and youth years of the future actor; he did not come to a professional career right away. After serving in the army, Michele had a chance to work in the police of Rome. And this fact of the biography in the future helped him a lot in working on the main role in his cinematic career. The young policeman became interested in theater and cinema, which led to admission to the Academy of Dramatic Art. His first role on the Roman stage dates back to 1969. According to the actor himself, at this stage of his life he hardly thought about working in a big movie.

In the cinema

Michele Placido, whose filmography often remains in the shadow of hisfamous star role, came to her already formed master. By 1984, when the first season of "Octopus" was released on television screens in several European countries, he had already managed to play a significant number of roles in outstanding films with brilliance. Here are just some of the films with the participation of Michele Placido - the comedy "People's Romance" by Mario Monicelli, "The Divine Creation" by Luigi Commencini, "Ernesto" by Salvatore Samperi, "Three Brothers" by Francesco Rosi, "Communication through a pizzeria" by Damiano Damiani. On their example, you can see how the skill of the actor grew from role to role. Films with the participation of Michele Placido enjoyed continued success with the public and favorable attention from critics. The actor approached the role that made him famous at the age of thirty-eight. He himself is used to treating the image of Commissioner Cattani with slight irony and is not at all inclined to consider this work the pinnacle of his work in cinema.

Octopus

But no matter how ironically Michele Placido over his hero, this image turned out to be more than just significant. The hero, often left completely alone, fights to the death against the many times superior forces of evil. In this battle, he suffers heavy losses, almost everyone who was dear to him perishes. Corrado Cattani himself cannot but understand his doom in this war. But he, like a kamikaze, has no other choice but to ram. And the almost impossible happens - a lone hero could, if not crush, then seriously shakethe centuries-old power of the Italian mafia. Which with good reason considered itself immortal and invincible. But Commissioner Cattani, who burned down in the fight against the mafia, managed to raise other fighters to continue the war against evil. They came to replace him and continued the work of the deceased hero. And the most amazing thing is that they won. The invincible mafia turned out to be, if not completely defeated, then seriously injured.

Historical background of events

The great success of the television series "Octopus" is not least due to the fact that the events depicted in it were superimposed on the realities of Italian life. And the mafia in Italy is far from a cinematic phenomenon. Everything that the viewer saw on the screen happened in reality, not far away, sometimes outside the window. The mafia controlled and determined the life of a significant part of the Italian society. Her influence permeated the entire society - from the very bottom to the top of the social hierarchy. And if you do not fixate on minor historical inconsistencies, then everything happened as in the series. Mafia leaders are either destroyed or are living out their days in prison for life imprisonment. Which, however, does not mean a complete victory over evil. And in the Soviet Union, this film was also loved because the viewer could not help projecting Italian realities onto Soviet ones, and paradoxically found many intersections in them.

Death of Commissioner Cattani

Michele Placido, whose filmography had a chance to end withan endless point called "Octopus", did not want such a fate for himself. Commissioner Cattani could theoretically fight evil for several more decades before reaching a well-deserved old-age pension. But Corrado dies from automatic bursts in the finale of the fourth season, having fallen into an unarmed ambush. It was the choice of the actor himself, he dictated this decision to the writers. And it should be noted that this was the right choice - the endless repetition of plot moves and situations would only mean the destruction of the created image. A little more - and he would have turned into a parody of himself. Therefore, the deadly war with the mafia was continued by friends and associates of Corrado Cattani. And the actor Michele Placido chose to continue his creative career with other works. Both in the cinema and on the theater stage.

After "Octopus"

It was at the time when the series "Octopus" was shown with wild success in the Soviet Union, where the main character was played by Micheli Placido, the actor's biography continued in a completely opposite way. In the film by Damiano Damiani "Communication through a pizzeria" he played the characteristic role of a mafia and a hired killer. And the actor did it no less brilliantly. And since the nineties, Michele Placido has declared himself as a film director. Among his most notable works are such films as "Pummaro", "Blood Friends", "Meschansky Hero". He does not leave the theatrical stage either, where he plays King Lear - the most difficult role of Shakespeare's repertoire. Andthere is every reason to believe that Michele Placido will delight his fans with new unexpected works in cinema and theater more than once. At the same time, the artist himself, declaring his priorities, says that he would prefer to choose the theater stage and directorial work in the cinema. But he is not ready to completely refuse interesting acting offers in the field of cinema.

Afghan break

The career of the actor after the "Octopus" sometimes had very unexpected turns. Michele Placido, whose films enjoyed constant success throughout the Soviet Union, could not help but accept the invitation to play the lead role in the Soviet director Vladimir Bortko's film "The Afghan Break". And it remains only to regret that this film went almost unnoticed and not appreciated. The role of the Russian paratrooper major Mikhail Bandura has become one of the pinnacles in the work of the Italian actor. This film was shot in very difficult political conditions, in an environment as close as possible to combat. The Soviet Union in 1991 experienced a period of catastrophic collapse. And by coincidence of historical circumstances at that time, many were simply not up to the cinema. Even for such an outstanding one, where the famous actor Michele Placido, through the image of a Russian officer, showed the world the truth about a man in a senseless and bloody Afghan war. Major Bandura is fighting on it, fulfilling his officer's duty, but he cannot consider this war his own. The hero Michele Placido dies, like Commissioner Corrado Cattani, from machine gunqueues. He accepts his fate with the same doom.

Incident on the Afghan border

The biography of Michele Placido will be incomplete if one does not mention in it one seemingly completely random, but very expressive episode. In the area where "Afghan Break" was filmed, an armed conflict broke out on ethnic grounds between Uzbek and Tajik armed groups. And once the film crew, returning to the base, was ambushed and surrounded by armed men. Everything could end very badly. But the Italian police commissioner Corrado Cattani, who suddenly appeared from the hatch of a Soviet armored personnel carrier, helped to resolve the situation. Respect for this hero made it possible to consider the incident settled, and everyone went their own way. Michele Placido himself recalls with great warmth both his visit to the Soviet Union and his participation in the film "The Afghan Break". In the following time, the actor often visited Russia. In particular, he participated in the work of the Moscow Film Festival.

Michele Placido: the personal life of the artist

Stars of this level have different attitudes towards the yellow press and its attention to their personal lives. Some of them love to provoke attention to their person and everything that happens around her. Michele Placido is not one of them and does not like to put his personal life on public display. Therefore, we confine ourselves to a simple statement of facts. The artist is married for the third time, his wife is actress Federica Vicenti. His second wife was actress Simonetta Stefanelli. MichelePlacido has five children.