Massimo Serato

Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years.

Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading roles in several historical dramas and sword and sandal epics, mainly Italian, as well as roles in major international films. His notable appearances include Piccolo mondo antico (1941),The Naked Maja (1958), David and Goliath (1960), The Loves of Hercules (1960), El Cid (1961), 55 Days at Peking (1963) Camille 2000 (1969) and Don't Look Now (1973). In 1947 he won a Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the neorealist war-drama film Il sole sorge ancora.

He had an affair with the actress Anna Magnani who bore him a son, Cellino, whom she affectionately called Luca. Luca contracted polio at an early age; - " In time he was able to walk with steel braces but [he] spent much of his time in a wheelchair." 

Serato died in Rome in 1989.

Selected filmography

• Luisa Sanfelice (1942)
• In High Places (1943)
• The Materassi Sisters (1944)
• The Courier of the King (1947)
• I cavalieri dalle maschere nere(1948)
• The Dance of Death (1948)
• Flying Squadron (1949)
• The Pirates of Capri (1949)
• The Thief of Venice (1950)
• Shadows Over Naples (1951)
• Love and Blood (1951)
• Il Conte di Sant'Elmo (1951)
• Milady and the Musketeers (1952), as Comte de Rochefort
• The Merchant of Venice (1953)
• The Man from Cairo (1953)
• Lucrèce Borgia (1953). as Alfonso of Aragon
• Pietà per chi cade (1954)
• Public Opinion (1954)
• The Widow (1955)
• La trovatella di Milano (1955)
• Supreme Confession (1956)
• The Silent Enemy (1958)
• Slave Women of Corinth (1958)
• The Naked Maja (1958)
• Captain Falcon (1958)
• The Sword and the Cross (1958)
• The Magistrate (1959)
• Cavalier in Devil's Castle (1959)
• The Pirate and the Slave Girl(1959)
• Tunis Top Secret (1959)
• David and Goliath (1960)
• The Loves of Hercules (1960)
• Queen of the Pirates (1960)
• Ti aspetterò all'inferno (it) (1960)
• Femmine di lusso (1960)
• El Cid (1961), as Fanez
• Constantine and the Cross (1961), as Maxentius
• Pontius Pilate (1962), as Nicodemus
• Venus Against the Son of Hercules(1962)
• The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan(1962), as Cardinal Richelieu
• The Invincible Masked Rider (1963)
• 55 Days at Peking (1963), as Menotti Garibaldi
• Samson and the Slave Queen(1963)
• Goliath and the Rebel Slave (1963)
• Brennus, Enemy of Rome (1963), as Marcus Furius Camillus
• Samson vs. the Giant King (1964)
• Gladiators Seven (1964)
• Jacob and Esau (1964)
• Hero of Rome (1964), as Lucius Tarquinius Superbus
• The Lion of Thebes (1964)
• Challenge of the Gladiator (1965)
• Wild, Wild Planet (1966)
• The Lost Woman (1966)
• The Naughty Cheerleader (1970)
• Cloud of Dust... Cry of Death... Sartana Is Coming (1970)
• The Gamblers (1970)
• Don't Look Now (1973)
• Autopsy (1975)
• Killer Nun (1978)
• Via degli specchi (1982)