Rino Lupo

Biography

According to his own introduction to Alfredo Nunes de Matos in 1923, when he appeared in Oporto, Portugal, he had been working in films in Italy (1908-1911), for Gaumont in Paris (1911-1914), where he had met Louis Feuillade, and then Copenhaguen and Moscow (1914-1917). During the Russian Revolution of 1917, he fled to Warsaw, Poland, adopting the name Caesar Lupow, starting an acting academy there, and directing several films, until he heard of Oporto production company, Invicta Film. He was immediately accepted - even though his credentials were not documented, mostly because Invicta's director, George Pallu was not wishing to direct Mulheres da Beira (1923). The film knew commercial success, and he stayed to direct several more films. He created an acting academy at Oporto with limited success, where he had a pupil that would become a real master director, Manoel de Oliveira. In Portugal, he was referred to in a few newspaper articles as Rino Lupo Vitalino, due to an error reading his country attribute in 'Rino Lupo, o Italiano'. Since 1930, he is no longer referenced, leaving to speculation of an eventual name change to Roberto Lupo.