Adolfo Celi
Adolfo Celi (27 July 1922 – 19 February 1986) was an Italian film actor and director known for his work on stage, TV, and in almost 100 films. Born in Curcuraci, Sicily, he became famous worldwide for his role as the villain Emilio Largo in the 1965 James Bond movie Thunderball. He later spoofed this character in OK Connery (Operation Double 007) with Sean Connery’s brother, Neil Connery.
Celi began as a film actor in postwar Italy and soon moved to Brazil, where he helped start the Teatro Brasileiro de Comédia in São Paulo with Paulo Autran and Tônia Carrero. He also found success on stage in Argentina and Brazil. In the 1950s he directed three films in South America, including the Brazilian hit Tico-Tico no Fubá (1952).
His international exposure grew after he played the villain in Philippe de Broca’s That Man from Rio, a role that helped him land Battaglia, the camp commandant, in Von Ryan’s Express alongside Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard. He became known to many as Ralph Valmont in Danger: Diabolik and as Don Vito Tressoldi in La mala ordina (Hired to Kill, 1972).
Celi was considered for Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather, which later went to Marlon Brando. He also starred in Italian comedies such as Amici Miei and Brancaleone alle Crociate, and did notable TV work, including Petrosino (1972) and La Baronessa di Carini (1975) as the Baron of Carini.
Fluent in Sicilian, Italian and several other languages, Celi was often dubbed in English-language films because of his strong accent, though he wasn’t dubbed in The Borgias (1981), where he played Rodrigo Borgia. He was married three times—Tônia Carrero, Marília Branco, and Veronica Lazăr—and his daughter Alessandra Celi followed in his footsteps as an actress. He died of a heart attack in Siena, Tuscany, at age 63.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 09:03 (CET).