Totò Majorana

Biography

On 2 February 1874, Militello in Val di Catania echoed with the first cry of Totò Majorana, a Sicilian boy who would grow up to haunt the silent screen. Three decades later, audiences first felt his presence in *The Red Diamond* (1913), followed swiftly by the wartime drama *For Napoleon and France* (1914) and the brooding *L’eredità di Caino* (1921). Off-camera, he shared his life with actress Ada Masenza, their marriage a quiet counter-melody to the flickering glare of early cinema. Rome, the city that had applauded him, closed his curtain on 19 May 1944.