Robert Rietti
Encyclopedia
Robert Rietti usually credited as Robert Rietty, is a Italian
actor and director.
, veteran actor of the stage and screen) who noticed the boy had completely memorized a copy of a script he had given Lucio having wanted help from his son while rehearsing his lines for a play. Vittorio had Lucio join his own acting school (which turned out students such as Ida Lupino
). Hollywood motion picture king David O. Selznick
, having seen the boy perform, tried to sign him to an extended contract with his studio but, being so young, strict schooling laws of the time forced him to decline the offer. He was handpicked by Alfred Hitchcock
for Secret Agent (1936), but again turned down the part. Eventually his father managed to work around these laws and under the name Bobby Rietti he became one of the most popular child actors of the 30s, making over 22 motion pictures before having turned 10 years of age. In the theater he scored his first success starring as Poor Jo in Dickens' Bleakhouse sharing the billing with Gracie Fields
, after which he starred as Jonathan opposite Elizebeth Bergner in The Boy David.
He was 15 years old when World War II
broke out and, being of Italian family, he was placed in a detention camp together with his father and brother Ronaldo (Ronald Rietti, later a film director and producer). After eight months he was released upon special request to organize an army unit made up of professional actors to entertain the troops. It was during this time that his stage name was altered to Robert Rietty in an attempt to make it sound less Italian and more Irish (who were neutral during the war). It was under the name Robert Rietty that he would come to be known best by the public. After 5½ years of army service Robert returned to public attention, picking up where he had left off. Over the next several years he participated in every form of entertainment: radio, stage, motion pictures and the early days of television.
In radio Robert teamed up with Orson Welles
twice for The Third Man (1951) (a.k.a. Harry Lime)- based on the hit film and the crime drama series The Black Museum (1952) broadcast to the US armed forces. This proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two and Orson made sure to use Robert in many of his motion picture productions. Robert was also a regular on the radio series Horatio Hornblower (1952), Scarlet Pimpernel (1952) and Theater Royal (1954) the latter with Sir Lawrence Olivier as well as frequent guest appearances on other radio shows. In motion pictures Robert continued to work mostly in character parts with the exception of his performances in Call of the Blood
(1948), Prelude to Fame
(1950) and Stock Car (1955). Also during this time he was heavily involved in the theatre starring in dozens of plays, even writing quite a few, and was editor of the drama quarterly Gambit.
He once found the script of the Italian play To Live in Peace which his father had translated to English but had no luck convincing anyone to produce. Despite the fact the story was rejected countless times, Robert rewrote the script and found a producer willing to back the project with his father in the lead role as Don Geronimo and himself as Maso. The play became an instant success winning many awards and toured in Europe eventually being made twice as films made for Television in 1951 and 1952. Together with his father, Robert was knighted by the Italian Government for their contribution to the Italian entertainment industry in particular from translating a great many Italian plays into English. Roberts knighthood was then upgraded. Early television took up much of Robert's time, guest-starring repeatedly in over 100 TV shows, many of them being shot live in those days. In television he often got the chance to work together with his father again most notably in The Jack Benny Program episode "Jack Falls Into Canal in Venice" (1957) and in the pilot for the series Harry's Girls (1960). During the next 15 years most of Robert's acting was confined to TV and film with his most memorable performances in The Crooked Road
(1965) with Robert Ryan
and Stewart Granger
, Hell Is Empty (1967) produced by his brother Ronald Rietti and co-starring French actress Martine Carol
(who died before the end of shooting the film), The Italian Job
(1969) and The Omen
(1976) with Gregory Peck
.
During this time he made the change from actor to director (although he continued acting) becoming heavily involved in post-production work, directing and revoicing, and became unquestionably the most sought-after director of the kind known throughout Hollywood and Europe as the "King Of Dubbers" and "Man of a Thousand Voices". His direction was used for practically every film in the James Bond Series (even acting in several) and a never ending list of hundreds of pictures. Through this he came to work with such stars as Henry Fonda
, Jack Lemmon
, Gregory Peck
, Orson Welles
, John Huston
, Rod Steiger
, Elizabeth Taylor
, Sean Connery
and Walter Matthau
among others. For his work and direction of Robert De Niro
and Joe Pesci
in Sergio Leone
's gangster film Once Upon a Time in America
(1984). Robert has been an active actor for over 80 years.
His son, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, is an Orthodox
rabbi
who lives in the United States
and lectures extensively for Gateways
, a Jewish outreach organization.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
actor and director.
Biography
Born of Italian heritage, Lucio Rietti was “discovered” at the age of 8 by his father Vittorio (Vittorio RiettiVittorio Rietti
Vittorio Rietti was an Italian-born stage and movie actor and director who later achieved success in British television...
, veteran actor of the stage and screen) who noticed the boy had completely memorized a copy of a script he had given Lucio having wanted help from his son while rehearsing his lines for a play. Vittorio had Lucio join his own acting school (which turned out students such as Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino
Ida Lupino was an English-born film actress and director, and a pioneer among women filmmakers. In her 48-year career, she appeared in 59 films and directed seven others, mostly in the United States. She appeared in serial television programmes 58 times and directed 50 other episodes...
). Hollywood motion picture king David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick
David O. Selznick was an American film producer. He is best known for having produced Gone with the Wind and Rebecca , both of which earned him an Oscar for Best Picture.-Early years:...
, having seen the boy perform, tried to sign him to an extended contract with his studio but, being so young, strict schooling laws of the time forced him to decline the offer. He was handpicked by Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
for Secret Agent (1936), but again turned down the part. Eventually his father managed to work around these laws and under the name Bobby Rietti he became one of the most popular child actors of the 30s, making over 22 motion pictures before having turned 10 years of age. In the theater he scored his first success starring as Poor Jo in Dickens' Bleakhouse sharing the billing with Gracie Fields
Gracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
, after which he starred as Jonathan opposite Elizebeth Bergner in The Boy David.
He was 15 years old when World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out and, being of Italian family, he was placed in a detention camp together with his father and brother Ronaldo (Ronald Rietti, later a film director and producer). After eight months he was released upon special request to organize an army unit made up of professional actors to entertain the troops. It was during this time that his stage name was altered to Robert Rietty in an attempt to make it sound less Italian and more Irish (who were neutral during the war). It was under the name Robert Rietty that he would come to be known best by the public. After 5½ years of army service Robert returned to public attention, picking up where he had left off. Over the next several years he participated in every form of entertainment: radio, stage, motion pictures and the early days of television.
In radio Robert teamed up with Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
twice for The Third Man (1951) (a.k.a. Harry Lime)- based on the hit film and the crime drama series The Black Museum (1952) broadcast to the US armed forces. This proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two and Orson made sure to use Robert in many of his motion picture productions. Robert was also a regular on the radio series Horatio Hornblower (1952), Scarlet Pimpernel (1952) and Theater Royal (1954) the latter with Sir Lawrence Olivier as well as frequent guest appearances on other radio shows. In motion pictures Robert continued to work mostly in character parts with the exception of his performances in Call of the Blood
Call of the Blood
Call of the Blood is a 1949 British-Italian drama film directed by John Clements and Ladislao Vajda and starring Clements, Kay Hammond and John Justin. In the Edwardian Era a British family move to Sicily where the husband has an affair with a local woman...
(1948), Prelude to Fame
Prelude to Fame
Prelude to Fame is a 1950 British drama film directed by Fergus McDonell from a story by Aldous Huxley. It starred Guy Rolfe, Kathleen Byron, Kathleen Ryan, and James Robertson Justice.-Synopsis:...
(1950) and Stock Car (1955). Also during this time he was heavily involved in the theatre starring in dozens of plays, even writing quite a few, and was editor of the drama quarterly Gambit.
He once found the script of the Italian play To Live in Peace which his father had translated to English but had no luck convincing anyone to produce. Despite the fact the story was rejected countless times, Robert rewrote the script and found a producer willing to back the project with his father in the lead role as Don Geronimo and himself as Maso. The play became an instant success winning many awards and toured in Europe eventually being made twice as films made for Television in 1951 and 1952. Together with his father, Robert was knighted by the Italian Government for their contribution to the Italian entertainment industry in particular from translating a great many Italian plays into English. Roberts knighthood was then upgraded. Early television took up much of Robert's time, guest-starring repeatedly in over 100 TV shows, many of them being shot live in those days. In television he often got the chance to work together with his father again most notably in The Jack Benny Program episode "Jack Falls Into Canal in Venice" (1957) and in the pilot for the series Harry's Girls (1960). During the next 15 years most of Robert's acting was confined to TV and film with his most memorable performances in The Crooked Road
The Crooked Road
The Crooked Road is a 1965 British film directed by Don Chaffey. It stars Robert Ryan and Janet Munro.-Cast:*Robert Ryan as Richard Ashley*Stewart Granger as Duke of Orgagna*Nadia Gray as Cosima*Katherine Woodville as Elena*Marius Goring as Harlequin...
(1965) with Robert Ryan
Robert Ryan
Robert Bushnell Ryan was an American actor who often played hardened cops and ruthless villains.-Early life and career:...
and Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger
Stewart Granger was an English-American film actor, mainly associated with heroic and romantic leading roles. He was a popular leading man from the 1940s to the early 1960s rising to fame through his appearances in the Gainsborough melodramas.-Early life:He was born James Lablache Stewart in Old...
, Hell Is Empty (1967) produced by his brother Ronald Rietti and co-starring French actress Martine Carol
Martine Carol
-Biography:Born Marie-Louise Jeanne Nicolle Mourer in Saint-Mandé, Val-de-Marne, , she studied acting under René Simon , making her stage debut in 1940 and her first motion picture in 1943. One of the most beautiful women in film, she was frequently cast as an elegant blonde seductress...
(who died before the end of shooting the film), The Italian Job
The Italian Job
The Italian Job is a 1969 British caper film, written by Troy Kennedy Martin, produced by Michael Deeley and directed by Peter Collinson. Subsequent television showings and releases on video have established it as an institution in the United Kingdom....
(1969) and The Omen
The Omen
An original score for the film, including the movie's theme song Ave Satani, was composed by Jerry Goldsmith, for which he received the only Oscar of his long career. The score features a strong choral segment, with a foreboding Latin chant...
(1976) with Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
.
During this time he made the change from actor to director (although he continued acting) becoming heavily involved in post-production work, directing and revoicing, and became unquestionably the most sought-after director of the kind known throughout Hollywood and Europe as the "King Of Dubbers" and "Man of a Thousand Voices". His direction was used for practically every film in the James Bond Series (even acting in several) and a never ending list of hundreds of pictures. Through this he came to work with such stars as Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
, Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon
John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III was an American actor and musician. He starred in more than 60 films including Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Mister Roberts , Days of Wine and Roses, The Great Race, Irma la Douce, The Odd Couple, Save the Tiger John Uhler "Jack" Lemmon III (February 8, 1925June...
, Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
, Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
, John Huston
John Huston
John Marcellus Huston was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics: The Maltese Falcon , The Treasure of the Sierra Madre , Key Largo , The Asphalt Jungle , The African Queen , Moulin Rouge...
, Rod Steiger
Rod Steiger
Rodney Stephen "Rod" Steiger was an Academy Award-winning American actor known for his performances in such films as On the Waterfront, The Big Knife, Oklahoma!, The Harder They Fall, Across the Bridge, The Pawnbroker, Doctor Zhivago, In the Heat of the Night, and Waterloo as well as the...
, Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor
Dame Elizabeth Rosemond "Liz" Taylor, DBE was a British-American actress. From her early years as a child star with MGM, she became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood's Golden Age...
, Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
and Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
among others. For his work and direction of Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973...
and Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
in Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone
Sergio Leone was an Italian film director, producer and screenwriter most associated with the "Spaghetti Western" genre.Leone's film-making style includes juxtaposing extreme close-up shots with lengthy long shots...
's gangster film Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America
Once Upon a Time in America is a 1984 Italian epic crime film co-written and directed by Sergio Leone and starring Robert De Niro and James Woods. The story chronicles the lives of Jewish ghetto youths who rise to prominence in New York City's world of organized crime...
(1984). Robert has been an active actor for over 80 years.
His son, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, is an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
who lives in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and lectures extensively for Gateways
Gateways (organization)
Gateways is an organization whose self-declared mission is it to "raise Jewish consciousness and help stem the rising tide of Jewish assimilation among American Jews."-Origins:...
, a Jewish outreach organization.