Ninetto Davoli

Giovanni "Ninetto" Davoli (born 11 October 1948) is an Italian actor who appeared in several of Pier Paolo Pasolini's films.

Biography Davoli was born in San Pietro a Maida, Calabria. He was discovered by poet, novelist and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini, then 41, who had begun a relationship with Davoli, then a 15-year-old boy, in 1963. Pasolini considered him to be "the great love of his life," and he later cast him in his 1966 film Uccellacci e uccellini (literally Bad Birds and Little Birds but translated in English as The Hawks and the Sparrows), co-starred with celebrated comic Totò. Pasolini became the youth's mentor and friend. "Even though their sexual relations lasted only a few years, Ninetto continued to live with Pasolini and was his constant companion, as well as appearing in six more of his films."

First cast in a non-speaking role in the film Il vangelo secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to St. Matthew, 1964), Davoli played mostly comical-naïve roles in several more of Pasolini's films, the last of which was Il fiore delle Mille e una Notte (A Thousand and One Nights/Arabian Nights, 1974).

The Trilogy of Life was made at a harsh junction in the lives of Davoli and Pasolini. It was during the filming of The Canterbury Tales that Davoli left Pasolini to marry a woman. Behind the scenes, this ruined Pasolini's mood and he began composing nihilistic and angry poetry. For his next film, Arabian Nights, Pasolini did with Davoli what he had never done in a previous film: he showed Davoli's naked genitalia on screen. It is in this film that Davoli's character Aziz is a very selfish and unfeeling man whose rejection of a woman causes her death and which results in his own castration on screen. Pasolini's own hurt feelings are very evident here in what is for the most part a lighthearted fantasy film.

After Pasolini's death in 1975, Davoli turned increasingly to television productions.

In May 2015, Davoli was announced as recipient of a special Nastro d'Argento Career Award.

Selected filmography Film

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964, Pasolini) - Pastore con bambino (uncredited) The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966, Pasolini) - Innocenti Ninetto / Brother Ninetto The Witches (1967, Pasolini) - Baciu Miao (segment "La terra vista dalla luna") Requiescant (1967) - El Niño Oedipus Rex (1967, Pasolini) - Angelo Caprice Italian Style (1968, Pasolini) - Othello (segment "Che cosa sono le nuvole?") Teorema (1968, Pasolini) - Angelino - the Messenger Partner (1968) - Student Love and Anger (1969, Pasolini) - Riccetto (segment "La sequenza del fiore di carta") Porcile (Pigsty, 1969, Pasolini) - Maracchione Ostia (1970) - Fiorino The Decameron (1971, Pasolini) - Andreuccio of Perugia Er Più – storia d'amore e di coltello (1971) - Antonio Cerino, aka 'Totarello' Shadows Unseen (1972) - Giorgio the Pusher The Canterbury Tales (1972, Pasolini) - Perkin S.P.Q.R. (1972) Storia di fifa e di coltello - er seguito del più (1972) - 'Totarello' Meniconi Il maschio ruspante (1972) - Walter Anche se volessi lavorare, che faccio? (1972) - Riccetto Maria Rosa la guardona (1973) - Romolo La Tosca (1973) - Ussano Nero Storia de fratelli e de cortelli (1973) - Riccetto Bawdy Tales (1973) - Bernardino The Lady Has Been Raped (1973) - Palla Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (1974) - Giuseppe Pasqualino Cammarata, Frigate Captain (1974) - Otello Meniconi Arabian Nights (1974, Pasolini) - Aziz Appassionata (1974) - Butcher's Boy Don't Hurt Me, My Love (1974) - Giovanni 'Ninetto' Procacci Il lumacone (1974) - Ginetto Blonde in Black Leather (1975) - Il saltimbanco / l'angelo / il diavolo Reflections in Black (1975) - Sandro Lucetti Frankenstein all'italiana (1975) - Igor And Agnes Chose to Die (1976) - La disperata Sex with a Smile II (1976) - Pietro, Thief (Segment "L'armadio Di Troia") Amore all'arrabbiata (1976) - Ninetto De Terenzi Death Hunt (1977) - Mario Casotto (1977) - Il fotografo Malabestia (1978) - Filippo Diotallevi How to Seduce Your Teacher (1979) - Arturo Maschio.. femmina... fiore... frutto (1979) - Donato - un militare Good News (1979) - Fattorino Il cappotto di Astrakan (1980) Il minestrone (1981) - Giovanni The Tyrant's Heart (1981) - Filippo Count Tacchia (1982) - Ninetto Occhei, occhei (1983) - Prete (1985) - Bettler am Brunnen Momo (1986) - Nino A proposito di Roma (1987) Animali metropolitani (1987) - Spartaco Scorcelletti Le rose blu (1996) La ragazza del metrò (1989) - Donato Le rose blu (1989) - La guardia carceraria L'anno prossimo vado a letto alle dieci (1995) - Il Tenente We Free Kings (1996) - Amico di Giuseppe Cinématon #1824 (1997) Una vita non violenta (1999) - Franco One Out of Two (2006) - Giovanni Concrete Romance (2007) - Pompo Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a Piazza Vittorio (2010) - Il Tassinaro All at Sea (2011) - Alfredo Fiabeschi torna a casa (2013) Without Pity (2014) - Santili Pasolini (2014) - Epifanio Mio papà (2014) - Orso Uno anzi due (2015) - Nando Scaratti Natale a Londra – Dio salvi la regina (2016) - Er Duca Agony (2020) (formerly titled The Executrix) - Rudolfo

Television Le avventure di Calandrino e Buffalmaco (1975, TV Mini-Series) Addavenì quel giorno e quella notte (1979, TV Mini-Series) - Er Samurai Sogni e bisogni (1985, TV Mini-Series) - Er Caramella La romana (1988, TV Mini-Series) L'altro enigma (1988, TV Movie) - Il barbone Il vigile urbano (1989) L'avvocato porta (1997) - Remondino La banda (2000, TV Movie) Vite a prendere (2004, TV Movie) - Enrico Feroci