Memo Benassi

Italian actor Memo Benassi (1891-1957), was among the leading exponents of the theatrical generation that marked the transition from nineteenth-century 'mattatore' ('monstre sacré') to contemporary actor. From 1916 on, he acted in silent films, but only after the sound film set in, Benassi flourished as a screen actor.


Italian postcard by Ed. Vettori, Bologna, no. 127.


Italian postcard by IPA CT, Duplex, no. 7207. V. Uff. Rev. St., Terni. Photo: Silentium Film. Linda Pini and a young Memo Benassi in the Italian silent film La nemica/The Enemy (Ivo Illuminati, 1917), adapted from the play by Dario Niccodemi. Caption: You shameless one! Your infamous slander cannot hurt me!

A noble mask, a soft and pliant voice and an imposing physique

Memo Benassi was born Domenico Benassi in Sorbolo,Italy, in 1891. After studying acting in Milan, Benassi debuted as a generic in Ermete Novelli's company. His first big break came in 1921 when he joined the company of Eleonora Duse. He played alongside her as Oswald in Henrik Ibsen's 'Spectres'. He would be alongside the famous actress until her last tour in Pittsburgh in 1924.

Extrovertedly using his natural gifts (his noble mask, soft and pliant voice and imposing physique), Benassi gave life to a great variety of interpretations. He expressed himself, always bordering on the grotesque and eccentric, with shifting rhythms, now fast or rushed, now broken and loose. Among his interpretations are those of the Shakespearean characters Shylock in 'The Merchant of Venice, Mark Antony in 'Julius Caesar', Thersites in 'Troilus and Cressida', Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet', and Oswald in Henrik Ibsen's 'The Spectres' and Veršinin in Anton Chekhov's 'Three Sisters'.

In 1933 he was Oberon in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', directed by Max Reinhardt, with Evi Maltagliati, Rina Morelli and Luigi Almirante. In the same year, at the Chiostro Grande of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence, he played the Devil in the world premiere of Ildebrando Pizzetti's 'La rappresentazione di Santa Uliva', directed by Jacques Copeau, with Rina Morelli, Andreina Pagnani and Roldano Lupi.

In 1943 it was the turn of Igor Stravinsky's 'Histoire du soldat', with Mario Colli, and Pizzetti's 'La sacra rappresentazione di Abram e d'Isaac', with Laura Carli and Clara Petrella, at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. The following year he tackled the role of Ernesto in Christian Friedrich Hebbel's 'Agnes Bernauer', directed by Corrado Pavolini, with Vittorio Gassman, Elena Zareschi and Ernesto Calindri.

In 1949, again alongside Vittorio Gassman, he played Tersite in Shakespeare's 'Troilus and Cressida', directed by Luchino Visconti, in which Giorgio Albertazzi made his debut. In 1954 Roberto Rossellini called Benassi to play Frère Dominique in Arthur Honegger's 'Joan of Arc at the Stake', opposite Ingrid Bergman, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 32/6. Photo: A. Schmoll, Berlin / Henny Porten-Froehlich-Produktion. Henny Porten and Memo Benassi in the German silent film Das Abenteuer der Sibylle Brant/The Adventures of Sybil Brent (Carl Froehlich, 1925).


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1934-XII. Photo: Novella-Film. Isa Miranda, Tatiana Pavlova and Memo Benassi in La signora di tutti/Everybody's Woman (Max Ophüls, 1934).

A volatile and tormented personality

Memo Benassi also worked for radio and film. Between 1916 and 1920 he acted in seven Italian silent films, mostly at the company Silentium Film, including the Dario Niccodemi adaptation La nemica/The Enemy (Ivo Illuminati, 1917) starring Linda Pini. Afterwards, Benassi did two German silent films: Liebesbriefe der Baronin von S.../The Love Letters of Baroness S (Henrik Galeen, 1924) with Mia May, and Das Abenteuer der Sibylle Brant/The Adventures of Sybil Brent (Carl Froehlich, 1925) with Henny Porten.

Yet, it was when sound film had firmly set in in Italy that Benassi flourished as a screen actor. He was Judge Haller in Alessandro Blasetti's psychological drama Il caso Haller/The Haller Case (1933), also with Marta and Cele Abba and Camillo Pilotto. He was banker Monti whose spoiled daughter (Elsa De Giorgi) is taught a lesson in L'impiegata di papà/Daddy's employee (Alessandro Blasetti, 1934). He was the married industrial Leonardo Nanni who ruined himself for the Lulu-like young Gabriella (Isa Miranda) in La signora di tutti/Everybody's Woman (Max Ophüls, 1934).

Benassi acted many major parts in historical films, such as Cato in Scipione l'Africano/Scipio Africanus: The Defeat of Hannibal (Carmine Gallone, 1937), as the Russian ambassador in La principessa Tarakanova/Princess Tarakanova (Fyodor Otsep, Mario Soldati, 1938), as Tornaquinci in La cena delle beffe/The Jester's Supper (Alessandro Blasetti, 1942), as Donato Almorò in I due Foscari/The Two Orphans (Enrico Fulchignoni, 1942), and as Beethoven in Rossini (Mario Bonnard, 1942). After the war, Benassi would again play in historical films e.g. as the painter Cesare in Max Neufeld's Il tiranno di Padova/The Tyrant of Padua (1946) and as Emperor Claudius in Messalina/The Affairs of Messalina (Carmine Gallone, 1951).

From then on, Benassi's parts became scarce and even uncredited. His last major part was in Guido Salvini's Adriana Lecouvreur (1955), with Valentina Cortese in the title role. In the early days of television Benassi also took part in some transpositions of great classics, such as Hamlet (Luigi Squarzina, 1955), with Vittorio Gassman and Elena Zareschi, The Merchant of Venice (Mario Ferrero, 1955) with Romolo Valli and Anna Maria Guarnieri, and Henry IV (Claudio Fino, 1956), with Paola Borboni and Mario Scaccia.

Memo Benassi died in Bologna in 1957, at the age of 65. He was the victim of a cerebral haemorrhage, shortly after recording Anton Chekhov's 'The Swan Song' for RAI. A volatile and tormented personality, inconstant in his acting performance, Benassi was a living testimony to the crisis of the Italian theatre and an era of transition. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of this actor's passing, a biography has been published, 'Memo Benassi. A Great Different Actor' by Leonardo Bragaglia. He is interred in the village of his birth, Sorbolo. It has named a street after him and has placed a copy of Benassi's mask by sculptor Luigi Froni in the atrium of the civic centre.


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1934-XII. Photo: Novella-Film. Isa Miranda and Memo Benassi in La signora di tutti/Everybody's Woman (Max Ophüls, 1934).


Italian postcard by Rizzoli, Milano, 1934-XII. Photo: Novella-Film. Isa Miranda and Memo Benassi in La signora di tutti/Everybody's Woman (Max Ophüls, 1934).

Sources: Wikipedia (Italian and English) and IMDb.