Armand Assante
Award-winning American actor Armand Assante has given memorable performances in such movies as “Private Benjamin”, “The Marrying Man”, “1492: Conquest of Paradise”, “Judge Dredd” and “American Gangster” to name a few.
Assante, however, is probably most celebrated for his work on the small screen. A regular on two NBC series, “How to Survive a Marriage” (as Johnny McGee) and “The Doctors” (as Dr. Mike Powers), he scored his first triumph with his role of Richard Mansfield on the CBS miniseries “Jack the Ripper”, for which he took home nominations at the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards. He later won an Emmy Award as well as Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations for the HBO drama “Gotti”, where he brilliantly portrayed crime kingpin John Gotti. Assante was later again nominated for a Golden Globe as well as a Golden Satellite award for his portrayal of Odysseus in the miniseries adaptation of “The Odyssey”. Photo by Mike Belissimo
Dean Martin
Born Dino Paul Crocetti on June 6, 1916 , Dean Martin would later become one of the entertainment world’s biggest superstars. Nicknamed the “King of Cool”, he was one of the members of the “Rat Pack” and a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.
As a singer, Martin recorded countless hits including “Memories Are Made of This”, “That’s Amore”, “Everybody Loves Somebody”, “Mambo Italiano”, “Sway”, “Volare” and “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?”. As an actor he played straight man to comic genius Jerry Lewis in a highly successful series of films commencing with My Friend Irma going on to later became an impressive dramatic actor.
For almost ten years from the mid 1960s he hosted one of the most successful television shows of all time, The Dean Martin Show. Martin passed away on Christmas Day in 1995 leaving a vast legacy through his many recordings, television specials/series and movies.
Giancarlo Giannini
Giancarlo Giannini, Oscar-nominated Italian actor and director was born in La Spezia, Italy. At 18, he enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Art D’Amico in Rome. In 1965, Giannini made his big-screen debut in Libido. His successful collaboration with the legendary Italian director Lina Wertmüller resulted in several award-winning films with Giannini as the male lead. His many appearances include, Film d’amore e d’anarchia, ovvero ‘stamattina alle 10 in via dei Fiori nella nota casa di tolleranza…(1973), Travolti da un insolito destino nell’azzurro mare d’agosto (1974) and Pasqualino Settebellezze (1975). He also starred in Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s masterpiece, Lili Marleen (1981).
Giannini is well known for his dubbing of international stars. His fluency in English and mastery of dialects have brought him a number of supporting roles in Hollywood, including, A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Hannibal (2001), Darkness (2002) and Man on Fire (2004). He appeared in Casino Royale (2006), and in the sequel, Quantum of Solace (2008).
