Memo Benassi

Domenico "Memo" Benassi (21 June 1886 – 24 February 1957) was an Italian stage and film actor who appeared in more than forty films in a mixture of leading and supporting roles.

Memo Benassi
Memo Benassi on stage (1942)
Born	Domenico Benassi (1886-06-21)21 June 1886 Sorbolo, Emilia-Romagna Italy
Died	24 February 1957(1957-02-24) (aged 70) Bologna, Emilia-Romagna Italy
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1916–1955 (film)

Life and career

Born in Sorbolo, Benassi initially formed as a musician, studying cello at the Parma Conservatory.^[1] His professional acting career was launched in the late 1910s by Gualtiero Tumiati, who offered him a role in his stage company after noting him during an amateur theatrical performance.^[1] He was later enrolled in several major theater companies of the time, notably working with Eleonora Duse and Emma and Irma Gramatica.^[1] In 1925, he formed his own stage company.^[1] He made his film debut in 1932, and had main roles in films by Alessandro Blasetti and Max Ophüls, among others.^[1] He played the composer Beethoven in the 1942 film Rossini.^[2] After the war, he mostly focused on his theatrical career, working with Giorgio Strehler and Luchino Visconti.^[1]

Selected filmography

• Notte di tempesta (1916)
• Mimì e gli straccioni (1916)
• Il gioiello sinistro (1917)
• La nemica (1917)
• Margheritella (1918)
• La scala di seta (1920)
• The Love Letters of Baroness S (1924) - Straßenmusikant Giovanni
• The Adventures of Sybil Brent (1925) - Theo Hartwig, Schriftsteller
• The Old Lady (1932) - Joe
• The Lucky Diamond (1933) - Il maggiordomo
• The Missing Treaty (1933) - John Brown - detective
• The Haller Case (1933) - Judge Haller
• L'impiegata di papà (1934) - Banchiere Monti
• Everybody's Woman (1934) - Leonardo Nanni
• Conquest of the Air (1936) - Francesco Lama di Brescia (uncredited)
• Lady of Paradise (1937) - Matteo Iran
• Scipione l'africano (1937) - Cato
• Tonight at Eleven (1938) - L'ambasciatore Leopoldo Norton
• Princess Tarakanova (1938) - L'ambasciatore russo
• La conquista dell'aria (1939) - Il Gesuita Franceesco Lama
• Orizzonte dipinto (1941) - Il burattinaio
• Il vagabondo (1941) - Fanfulla
• The Jester's Supper (1942) - Il Tornaquinci
• The Two Orphans (1942) - Il conte di Linières
• Fedora (1942) - Il principe Yariskine
• Rossini (1942) - Beethoven
• I due Foscari (1942) - Donato Almorò
• Fourth Page (1942) - Il pazzo
• The Son of the Red Corsair (1943) - Il marchese di Montelimar
• Measure for Measure (1943) - Lucio
• Peccatori (1945)
• Paese senza pace (1946) - Padron Toni
• L'ultimo sogno (1946)
• The Tyrant of Padua (1946) - Cesare, il pittore
• La taverna della libertà (1950)
• The Affairs of Messalina (1951) - Claudio / Claude
• Red Shirts (1952) - (uncredited)
• Too Bad She's Bad (1954) - (uncredited)
• Adriana Lecouvreur (1955) - Michonnet