--- name: "Adolfo Celi" canonical: "https://film.one/person/adolfo-celi" roles: ["Actor"] born: "27 July 1922" died: "19 February 1986" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-18T11:05:21.456766+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Adolfo Celi Actor. Born 27 July 1922 in Messina, Sicily, Italy. Died 19 February 1986. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 27 July 1922, Messina, Sicily, Italy - **Died:** 19 February 1986 - **Also known as:** آدولفو چلی - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_Celi, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q365044, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0148041/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9920 ## Fi1m on Adolfo Celi > Adolfo Celi is the villain who cannot be bothered to threaten you. In *Thunderball* and the films around it he sits still, lets other men shout and looks faintly bored by his own wickedness, and it kept him cast as the heavy for years. In *Thunderball* (1965) a man is fed to sharks on Emilio Largo's orders, and Largo goes back to his lunch. That is most of Adolfo Celi's method. He wears an eyepatch, keeps his hands still and lets everyone else in the frame do the moving. Other Bond villains explain themselves at length; Largo barely bothers. Celi said his character had "everything, beautiful women, fast cars, high stake gambling, all of which bored him", and the boredom is what he plays. We found, watching it again, that the lunch frightened us more than the sharks. A man who can eat after that is the one to worry about, and Celi lets us reach that thought without help. He did much of it without his own voice. His Sicilian accent was thick enough that he was dubbed in most of his films, Italian ones included, so what he had to work with was the body, the face and the pause. The career that used them started late. After training in Rome and a few post-war Italian films he left for Brazil in 1948, co-founded the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia and spent about fifteen years there as a stage actor and director. He came back to Europe around 1964, played the villain in *That Man from Rio* (1964), and within a year was Battaglia opposite Frank Sinatra in *Von Ryan's Express* (1965) and Largo. *Danger: Diabolik* (1968), for Mario Bava, gave him one more heavy, Ralph Valmont. The trouble with being that good at one thing is that people keep asking for it. Celi was cast as the heavy for the rest of his international career, and even in *Thunderball* he is outdone: Luciana Paluzzi's Fiona Volpe gets the sharper lines, and Connery wakes up for her, not for him. Celi's answer was to go home. Through the 1970s and 1980s he worked steadily in Italian film and television, three films with Mario Monicelli and two with Vittorio Gassman among them, and as Professor Sassaroli in *My Friends* (1975) he turned the villain's authority into comedy: the same weight, the same refusal to hurry, now aimed at a joke. When he did use his own voice, in the BBC serial *The Borgias* (1981), the accent was held against him, which is a hard thing to say of an actor who had spent his international career proving he did not need it. Start with Largo, because everyone does, and watch what Celi does while Connery is talking. Nothing, mostly, and it is harder than it looks. Then find the Italian comedies, where the same stillness is turned on the people around him for laughs. ## Biography Adolfo Celi (27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian actor and director. He is best known internationally for playing Emilio Largo in the James Bond film *Thunderball* (1965). Born in Curcuraci, Messina, Sicily, Celi appeared in nearly 100 films, often in supporting roles as villains. He began his career in post-war Italian cinema and spent many years as a stage actor and director in Brazil and Argentina, co-founding the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia and directing three films there, including *Tico-Tico no Fubá* (1952). His other notable film roles include appearances in *That Man from Rio* (1964), *Von Ryan's Express* (1965), *Danger: Diabolik* (1968) and *My Friends* (1975). *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Thunderball* (1965), Fi1m 66, as Emilio Largo — [page](https://film.one/film/thunderball.md) ## Complete filmography (99) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *O Construtor de Sonhos* (1994), Acting - *Cinderella '87* (1987), series, as Goncalvo Gherardeschi - *My Friends Act III* (1985), as Professor Sassaroli - *T.I.R.* (1984), series, as Oreste Balestrini - *Cinderella '80* (1984), as Goncalvo Gherardeschi - *My Friends Act II* (1982), as Professeur Sassaroli - *Monsignor* (1982), as Cardinal Vinci - *L'occhio di Giuda* (1982), as Sir Henry - *La sconosciuta* (1982), as Taladis - *Madly in Love* (1981), as Gustavo VI di San Tulipe - *The Borgias* (1981), series, as Rodrigo Borgia - *Carnapping - Ordered, Stolen and Sold* (1980), as Polizeipräsident - *Café Express* (1980), as Chief Inspector Ramacci Pisanelli - *The Perfect Crime* (1978), as Sir Harold Boyd - *Le braghe del padrone* (1978), as Eugenio - the president - *Professor Kranz german in Germany* (1978), as Carcamano - *The Tiger Is Still Alive: Sandokan to the Rescue* (1977), as James Brooke - *Edipo Re* (1977), Acting - *Holocaust 2000* (1977), as Dr. Kerouac - *Pane, burro e marmellata* (1977), as Aristide Bertelli - *The Passengers* (1977), as Boetani - *Che notte quella notte!* (1977), as Dottore - *Merciless Man* (1976), as Commissario Lo Gallo - *The Big Operator* (1976), as Rifai - *The Next Man* (1976), as Al Sharif - *Horse Fever* (1976), as President of the Court - *Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen* (1976), as Vladimiro Palese - *The Landlord* (1976), as Giudice Damiani - *Confessions of a Frustrated Housewife* (1976), as Antonio - *Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man* (1976), as Polizeichef - *Pure as a Lily* (1976), as L'onorevole - *Sandokan* (1976), series, as James Brooke - *The bitter case of the Baroness of Carini* (1975), series, as Don Mariano D'Agrò - *My Friends* (1975), as Il Professor Sassaroli - *Libera, My Love* (1975), as Felice Valente - Libera's father - *The Balloon Vendor* (1974), as Dr. Monforte - *The Tempter* (1974), as Father Borelli - *And Then There Were None* (1974), as General André Salvé - *The Phantom of Liberty* (1974), as Doctor - *The Seaman* (1973), as Me Desbordes - *Hitler: The Last Ten Days* (1973), as General Hans Krebs - *1931: Once Upon a Time in New York* (1973), as The Pole - *Holidays* (1973), as Commissioner Rizzuto - *Joe Petrosino* (1972), series, as Joe Petrosino - *The Italian Connection* (1972), as Don Vito Tressoldi - *The Long Arm of the Godfather* (1972), as Don Carmelo - *Naked Girl Killed in the Park* (1972), as Inspector Huber - *Who Saw Her Die?* (1972), as Serafian - *Who Killed the Prosecutor and Why?* (1972), as Inspector Vezzi - *Eye in the Labyrinth* (1972), as Frank - *Brother Sun, Sister Moon* (1972), as Konsul - *Una chica casi decente* (1971), as César Martín de Valdés 'Duque' - *Murders in the Rue Morgue* (1971), as Inspector Vidocq - *They Have Changed Their Face* (1971), as Giovanni Nosferatu - *Brancaleone at the Crusades* (1970), as Re Boemondo - *The Cop* (1970), as Le commissaire divisionnaire - *Fragment of Fear* (1970), as Signor Bardoni - *The Night of the Assassin* (1970), as Hermes - *Death Knocks Twice* (1969), as "der Professor" - *In Search of Gregory* (1969), as Max - *A Man for Emmanuelle* (1969), as Sandri - *Detective Belli* (1969), as Avvocato Fontana - *The Archangel* (1969), as Marco Tarocchi Roda - *Midas Run* (1969), as Ferranti - *Alibi* (1969), Adolfo, Director, Screenplay, Story - *Fantabulous Inc.* (1968), as Karl Maria van Beethoven - *It's Your Move* (1968), as Bayon / Guinet - *Seven Times Seven* (1968), as Gefängnisdirektor - *Danger: Diabolik* (1968), as Ralph Valmont - *Death Sentence* (1968), as Friar Baldwin - *Grand Slam* (1967), as Mark Milford - *Dirty Heroes* (1967), as Luc Rollman - *The Honey Pot* (1967), as Inspector Rizzi - *Operation Kid Brother* (1967), as Mr. Thai - 'Beta' - *The Bobo* (1967), as Francisco Carbonell - *Master Stroke* (1967), as Mr. Bernard - *Grand Prix* (1966), as Agostini Manetta - *King of Hearts* (1966), as Schottischer Colonel - *Pleasant Nights* (1966), as Bernardozzo - *Target for Killing* (1966), as Henry Perkins - *Yankee* (1966), as Grande Concho - *El Greco* (1966), as Don Miguel de las Cuevas - *Thunderball* (1965), as Emilio Largo — Fi1m 66, [page](https://film.one/film/thunderball.md) - *A Man Named John* (1965), as Msgr. Radini Tedeschi - *Snow Job* (1965), as Riccardo - *The Agony and the Ecstasy* (1965), as Giovanni de' Medici - *Von Ryan's Express* (1965), as Battaglia - *Crime on a Summer Morning* (1965), as Mr. Van Willie - *Beautiful Families* (1964), as Professor Della Porta - *Male Companion* (1964), as Benvenuto - *Three Nights of Love* (1964), as Alberto - *That Man from Rio* (1964), as Señor Mario De Castro - *Sandokan the Great* (1963), Acting - *Tico-Tico no Fubá* (1952), Director, Producer - *Caiçara* (1950), Director, Story, Screenplay - *Emigrantes* (1948), as Il professore - *Guaglio* (1948), as Don Pietro Tassinare - *Christmas at Camp 119* (1947), as John, il sergente americano - *Un americano in vacanza* (1946), as Tom ## Gallery - ![Adolfo Celi](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-b68ad1e834be.png) Adolfo Celi — Fernando Di Leo / Franco Villa, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Celi_La_mala_ordina_2.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Un americano in vacanza - foto scena (Adolfo Celi, Valentina Cortese e Leo Dale) (1945)](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-655d5616e74f.jpg) Un americano in vacanza - foto scena (Adolfo Celi, Valentina Cortese e Leo Dale) (1945) — Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Americaoinvacanza.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![scena dal film Amici miei (1975)](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-0f7ef62d0b0d.png) scena dal film Amici miei (1975) — Mario Monicelli (director) / Luigi Kuveiller (cinematographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6b/Amici_miei_06.png/1280px-Amici_miei_06.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![scena dal film Amici miei (1975)](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-475cb44e145c.png) scena dal film Amici miei (1975) — Mario Monicelli (director) / Luigi Kuveiller (cinematographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6f/Amici_miei_14.png/1280px-Amici_miei_14.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) - ![Adolfo Celi](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-bd9c823f6ab9.jpg) Adolfo Celi — Image via TMDB - ![Adolfo Celi](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-69c742460f7d.jpg) Adolfo Celi — Image via TMDB - ![scena dal film Amici miei (1975)](https://film.one/media/person/1025870/gallery-4bcb8e7a60ca.png) scena dal film Amici miei (1975) — Mario Monicelli (director) / Luigi Kuveiller (cinematographer), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Amici_miei_16.png/1280px-Amici_miei_16.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/adolfo-celi