Franco Nero

 ( 1941 Births ) 

Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero (born 23 November 1941), known professionally as Franco Nero, is an Italian actor. His breakthrough role was as the title character in the Spaghetti Western film Django (1966), which made him a pop culture icon and launched an international career that includes over 200 leading and supporting roles in a wide variety of films and television productions.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Nero was actively involved in many popular Italian "B movie trends", including polizieschi, Giallo, and Spaghetti Westerns. His best-known films include (1966), Camelot (1967), The Day of the Owl (1968), The Mercenary (1968), Battle of Neretva (1969), Tristana (1970), Compañeros (1970), Confessions of a Police Captain (1971), The Fifth Cord (1971), High Crime (1973), Street Law (1974), Keoma (1976), Hitch-Hike (1977), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Enter the Ninja (1981), Die Hard 2 (1990), Letters to Juliet (2010), Cars 2 (2011), (2017), and The Pope's Exorcist (2023).

Nero has had a long relationship with Vanessa Redgrave, which began during the filming of Camelot. With Redgrave, Nero starred in two films directed by Tinto Brass: Dropout (1970) and La Vacanza (1971). They were married in 2006, and are the parents of the actor Carlo Gabriel Nero (b.1969).

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Early life Francesco Clemente Giuseppe Sparanero Franco Nero in MyMovies Franco Nero in CinemaItaliano.info Franco Nero in Cinemastore Italy Francoo Nero Biography in Hollywood.com was born in San Prospero Parmense (Parma, Emilia-Romagna), the son of a commissioned officer in the Carabinieri. His parents were originally from San Severo (Foggia, Apulia). He grew up in Bedonia and in Milan. He studied briefly at the Economy and Trade faculty of the local university, before leaving to study at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano.

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Career Nero's first film role was a small part in Pelle viva (1962), and he had his first lead role in Sergio Corbucci's Django (1966) a Spaghetti Western and one of his best-known films. In 1966 from Django he went on to appear in eight more films released that year including Texas, Adios (1966) and Massacre Time.

In 1967, he appeared in Camelot as Lancelot, where Nero met his longtime romantic partner, and later his wife, Vanessa Redgrave. Following this he appeared in the mafia film The Day of the Owl opposite Claudia Cardinale released in 1968.

A lack of proficiency in English tended to limit these roles, although Nero also appeared in other English-language films including The Virgin and the Gypsy (1970), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Enter the Ninja (1981) and Die Hard 2 (1990).

Although often typecast in films like Los amigos (1973) or Keoma (1976) he has attempted an impressive range of characters, such as Abel in John Huston's epic (1966), the humiliated engineer out for revenge in Street Law, the gay lieutenant in Querelle (1982), and Serbian mediaeval hero in The Falcon (1983). Nero has appeared in over 150 films, and has written, produced and starred in one: Jonathan degli orsi (1993). Franco Nero Interview from 1Kult.com (English subtitled)

More recently, Nero starred in Hungarian director 's Honfoglalás (Conquest) in 1996, in Li chiamarono... briganti! (1999) by Pasquale Squitieri and subsequently in Koltay's Sacra Corona (Holy Crown) in 2001.

In 2009, Nero played an eccentric author called "Mario Puzzo" in Mord ist mein Geschäft, Liebling ("Murder is my trade, darling", Italian title "Tesoro, sono un killer"). German critics found his performance was the best part of the film: "Having Franco Nero playing in this film is really a great joy – it is only regrettable that after his appearances there is still so much film left.""Dass Franco Nero in diesem Film mitspielt, macht wirklich großen Spaß – schade nur, dass nach seinen Auftritten noch so viel Film übrig ist."

In 2010, Nero appeared in the film Letters to Juliet with Redgrave. In 2011, he appeared as a guest star on the season 13 premiere episode of . His character, although Italian, was based on Dominique Strauss-Kahn. In the same year, he received a star on the Italian Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In 2012, Nero made a cameo appearance in the film Django Unchained in one scene alongside Jamie Foxx, who stars as Django Freeman in the film. Nero, playing the original Django, questions Foxx's Django about how his name is spelled, and asks him to spell it, referencing a scene from Nero's role as Django in the original Django film. Upon learning that their names are spelled the same way, Nero's Django says "I know" to Foxx's Django.

In 2016 and 2017, he interpreted Gabriele Tinti's poetry, giving voice to the masterpieces in the National Roman Museum.

Nero appears in the dark comedy feature film The Immortalist in 2020, along with Sherilyn Fenn, Paul Rodriguez, Aries Spears and Jeff DuJardin, directed by Vlad Kozlov.

In June 2024, principal photography was completed on The Estate, a feature drama, executive produced by Nero, his wife Vanessa Redgrave, and son Carlo Gabriel Nero. The film is written and directed by his son, and stars Nero and Vanessa Redgrave.

In May 2025, Nero joined the cast of Bertrand Mandico's upcoming film Roma elastica.

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Personal life His romantic involvement with English actress Vanessa Redgrave began in 1966 when they met on the set of Camelot. In 1969, they had a son, Carlo Gabriel Redgrave Sparanero (known professionally as Carlo Gabriel Nero), a screenwriter and director. After separating for many years, during which they both had relationships with other people, they reunited and married on 31 December 2006. Carlo Nero directed Redgrave in the cinematic adaptation of Wallace Shawn's play The Fever.

Nero dated actresses Catherine Deneuve, Goldie Hawn and Ursula Andress in the 1970s.O'Brian, Jack (2 February 1970). " Playboy Rebuffed". The Jersey Journal.O'Brian, Jack (8 September 1975). " Goldie and Vanessa's Oldie". Lebanon Daily News" Kiss & Tell". New Straits Times. 9 January 1986.

In 1983, he had a second son, Frank Sparanero (also known as Frankie Nero or Frank Nero Jr). Born in Rome by Danica Pevec (a.k.a. Alexandra Romanov), Frankie began his acting career with Pupi Avati in 1996 at a film Festival and then 1999 with the film Buck and the Magic Bracelet by Tonino Ricci. In addition to being an actor, he is also an artist, architect and photographer.

In December 1987, a paternity suit was filed against him in court in Colombia where he was filming a movie. Mauricia Mena claimed that Nero had fathered her son Franquito after a brief romantic affair.

In 1994, Nero walked his future stepdaughter Natasha Richardson (1963–2009) down the aisle when she married actor Liam Neeson. Her father, Tony Richardson, had died in 1991.

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Filmography

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Film

1965	I Knew Her Well	Italo	Antonio Pietrangeli
	The Tramplers	Charley Garvey	Albert Band
	Wild, Wild Planet	Lt. Jake Jacowitz	Antonio Margheriti
1966	War of the Planets		Antonio Margheriti
	Hired Killer	Tony Lo Bello	Franco Prosperi
	Django	Django	Sergio Corbucci
	Massacre Time	Tom Corbett	Lucio Fulci
	The Third Eye	Mino Alberti	Mino Guerrini
	Texas, Adios	Sheriff Burt Sullivan	Ferdinando Baldi
		Abel	John Huston	First American film
1967	Man, Pride and Vengeance	Don José	Luigi Bazzoni
	Camelot	Lancelot	Joshua Logan	Singing voice by Gene Merlino Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Male
1968	The Day of the Owl	Capt. Claudio Bellodi	Damiano Damiani	David di Donatello Award for Best Actor
	Sardinia Kidnapped	Gavino	Gianfranco Mingozzi
	The Mercenary	Sergei "Polack" Kowalski	Sergio Corbucci
	A Quiet Place in the Country	Leonardo Ferri	Elio Petri
1969	The Fifth Day of Peace	Ensign Bruno Grauber	Giuliano Montaldo
	Detective Belli	Detective Stefano Belli	Romolo Guerrieri
	Battle of Neretva	Capt. Michele Riva	Veljko Bulajić
1970	Tristana	Horacio	Luis Buñuel
	The Virgin and the Gypsy	The Gypsy	Christopher Miles	Nominated—Laurel Awards
	Dropout	Bruno Grazza	Tinto Brass
	Compañeros	Yodlaf Peterson	Sergio Corbucci
1971	The Case Is Closed, Forget It	Vanzi	Damiano Damiani
	Confessions of a Police Captain	Deputy D.A. Traini	Damiano Damiani	Italian Golden Globe Award for Best Actor
	The Fifth Cord	Andrea Bild	Luigi Bazzoni
	La vacanza	Osiride	Tinto Brass
	Long Live Your Death	Dmitri Vassilovich Orlowsky	Duccio Tessari
1972	Pope Joan	Louis II of Italy	Michael Anderson
	The Monk	Ambrosio	Ado Kyrou
1973	Redneck	Mosquito	Silvio Narizzano
	Deaf Smith & Johnny Ears	Johnny Ears	Paolo Cavara
	The Assassination of Matteotti	Giacomo Matteotti	Florestano Vancini
	High Crime	Vice Commissioner Alessandro Nelli	Enzo G. Castellari
	White Fang	Jason Scott	Lucio Fulci
	Blood Brothers (1974 film)	Nicola Bellizzi	Pasquale Squitieri
1974	Last Days of Mussolini	Walter Audisio	Carlo Lizzani
	Street Law	Carlo Antonelli	Enzo G. Castellari
	Challenge to White Fang	Jason Scott	Lucio Fulci
1975	Smiling Maniacs	Judge Roberto Dani	Marcello Aliprandi
	How to Kill a Judge	Giacomo Solaris	Damiano Damiani
	Cry, Onion!	Onion Stark	Enzo G. Castellari
	The Flower in His Mouth	Professor Michele Belcore	Luigi Zampa
1976	Victory March	Capt. Asciutto	Marco Bellocchio
	Death Rite	Sadry	Claude Chabrol
	Submission	Armand	Salvatore Samperi
	Keoma	Keoma Shannon	Enzo G. Castellari
1977	Sahara Cross	Jean Bellard	Tonino Valerii
	Hitch-Hike	Walter Mancini	Pasquale Festa Campanile
1978	Force 10 from Navarone	Captain Nicolai Lescovar \ Colonel von Ingorslebon	Guy Hamilton
1979	The Visitor	Jesus Christ	Giulio Paradisi	Uncredited
	Mimi	Guido	Florestano Vancini
	The Shark Hunter	Mike DiDonato	Enzo G. Castellari
1980	The Man with Bogart's Face	Hakim	Robert Day
	The Blue-Eyed Bandit	Renzo Dominici	Alfredo Giannetti
	Day of the Cobra	Larry Stanzani	Enzo G. Castellari
1981	The Salamander	Carabinieri Colonel Dante Matucci	Peter Zinner
	The Falcon	Strahinja Banović	Vatroslav Mimica
	Enter the Ninja	Cole	Menahem Golan
1982	Red Bells	John Reed	Sergei Bondarchuk
	Kamikaze 1989	Weiss	Wolf Gremm
	Querelle	Lieutenant Seblon	Rainer Werner Fassbinder
	Grog	Nicola Fanelli	Francesco Laudadio
1983	Red Bells II	John Reed	Sergei Bondarchuk
1985	Andre Handles Them All	André	Peter Fratzscher
	The Repenter	Judge Falco	Pasquale Squitieri
1987	Sweet Country	Paul	Michael Cacoyannis
	The Girl	Johan Berg	Arne Mattsson
	Django Strikes Again	Django	Nello Rossati
	Grosso guaio a Cartagena	Francis	Tommaso Dazzi
1988	Top Line	Ted Angelo	Nello Rossati
	Pigmalione 88	Lorenzo	Flavio Mogherini
	Young Toscanini	Claudio Toscanini	Franco Zeffirelli
	Magdalene	Janza
	Run for Your Life	Comissare	Terence Young
1990	Die Hard 2	General Ramon Esperanza	Renny Harlin
	Breath of Life	Gesulado	Beppe Cino
1991	Amelia Lópes O'Neill	Fernando	Valeria Sarmiento
1992	Brothers and Sisters	Franco	Pupi Avati
	Crimson Dawn	Paul Herzog	Marcello Aliprandi
	Zoloto	Gabriele da Poppi	Fabio Bonzi
	The Player	Himself	Robert Altman	Scene deleted
1993	The Lucona Affair	Enzo Lombardo	Jack Gold
	Jonathan of the Bears	Jonathan Kowalski	Enzo G. Castellari
1995	Io e il re	Major Ferri	Lucio Gaudino
1996	The Italians Are Coming	Luigi	Eyal Halfon
	The Innocent Sleep	Adolfo Cavani	Scott Michell
	The Conquest	Árpád	Gábor Koltay
1997	Il tocco – La sfida	Jesus Barro	Enrico Coletti
	La medaglia	Ferrero	Sergio Rossi
1998	The Versace Murder	Gianni Versace	Menahem Golan
	Talk of Angels	Dr. Vicente Areavaga	Nick Hamm
1999	Brigands	Nerza	Pasquale Squitieri
	Uninvited	Ralph Barolo	Carlo Gabriel Nero
2000	Mirka	Giancarlo	Rachid Benhadj
	Winds of Passion	Michele Giangrande	Sandro Cecca
2001	Chimera	The Businessman	Pappi Corsicato
	Sacra Corona	Bishop Gellért	Gábor Koltay
	The Sleeping Wife	Marco	Silvano Agosti
		General Michelangelo Francini	Brian Trenchard-Smith
2002	Fumata blanca	Cardinal Tura	Miquel García Borda
	Ultimo stadio	Antonio	Ivano De Matteo
2004	Post Coitum	Bakchus	Juraj Jakubisko
	Guardians of the Clouds	Il Padre	Luciano Odorisio
2005	Forever Blues	Luca	Franco Nero	Also directorial debut
2006	Hans	The Magistrate	Louis Nero
	Amore e libertà – Masaniello	Vicerè D'Arcos	Angelo Antonucci
2007	Mineurs	Michele Acucella	Fulvio Wetzl
2008	Márió, a varázsló	Mario	Tamás Almási
	Bastardi	Rene Iuvara	Federico Del Zoppo, Andres Alce Meldonado
	The Rage	Mentore	Louis Nero
		King Mathias II of Hungary	Juraj Jakubisko
	Ti stramo - Ho voglia di un'ultima notte da manuale prima di tre baci sopra il cielo	Vagrant	Pino Insegno, Gianluca Sodaro	Cameo appearance
2009	Mord ist mein Geschäft, Liebling	Enrico Puzzo	Sebastian Niemann
	Palestrina - Prince of Music	Domenico Ferrabosco	Georg Brintrup
2010	Angelus Hiroshimae	The Hunter	Giancarlo Planta
	Letters to Juliet	Lorenzo Bartolini	Gary Winick
	Prigioniero di un segreto	Vagrant	Carlo Fusco
2011	Rasputin	Narrator	Louis Nero
	New Order	Dr. Cornelius Van Morgen	Marco Rosson
	Father	Enrico	Pasquale Squitieri
	Cars 2	Uncle Topolino	John Lasseter	Voice
2012	Canepazzo	Alvaro Genta	David Petrucci
	A Memória que me Contam	Paolo	Lúcia Murat
	Django Unchained	Amerigo Vessepi	Quentin Tarantino	Cameo
	The Woods	Enzo Philipo	Michael Mandell
2013	Cadences obstinées	Carmine	Fanny Ardant
		Circles Introduction	Mike Disa Shukō Murase Yasuomi Umetsu Victor Cook Jong-Sik Nam Kim Sang-jin Lee Seung-Gyu	Voice Italian version only
2014	Nymph	Niko	Milan Todorović
	Love Island	Marquis Polesini	Jasmila Žbanić
	Figli di Maam	Herod	Paolo Consorti
2016	Il Ragazzo della Giudecca	Salvatore	Alfonso Bergamo
	The Lost City of Z	Baron de Gondoriz	James Gray
2017	The Neighborhood	Guglielmo	Frank D'Angelo
		Julius	Chad Stahelski
	Il crimine non va in pensione	Primario	Fabio Fulco
	Iceman	Ditob	Felix Randau
	The Time of Their Lives	Alberto	Roger Goldby
2018	The Broken Key	Hiram Abif	Louis Nero
	Red Land (Rosso Istria)	Professor Ambrosin	Maximiliano Hernando Bruno
	A Rose in Winter	Rainer Praeger	Joshua Sinclair
2019	Ed è subito sera	Rosario De Martino	Claudio Insegno
	The Collini Case	Fabrizio Collini	Marco Kreuzpaintner
2020	Recon	Angelo	Robert David Port
2021	The Match	Branko	Jakov Sedlar, Dominik Sedlar
	Off the Rails	Giovanni	Jules Williamson
	Immortalist	Paolo	Vladislav Kozlov
2022	The Man from Rome	The Pope	Sergio Dow
	The Man Who Drew God	Emanuele	Franco Nero	Also director
2023	The Pope's Exorcist	The Pope	Julius Avery	Nominated - Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actor
2024	Giorni Felici	Antonio	Simone Petralia
2025	In the Hand of Dante	Don Lecco	Julian Schnabel	Completed
			Bertrand Mandico	Filming

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Television

1975	The Legend of Valentino	Rudolph Valentino	Melville Shavelson	Television film
1976	21 Hours at Munich	Luttif Afif	William A. Graham	Television film
1978	The Pirate	Sheikh Baydr Al-Fay the Pirate	Ken Annakin	Miniseries
1979	Le rose di Danzica	General Konrad van Der Berg	Alberto Bevilacqua	Television miniseries
1983	Wagner	Crespi	Tony Palmer	Television miniseries
	Die Försterbuben	Andreas Boehme	Peter Patzak	Television film
1984	The Last Days of Pompeii	Arbaces	Peter R. Hunt	Television miniseries
1985	Un marinaio e mezzo	Nick	Tommaso Dazzi	Television film
	The Hitchhiker	Dr. Peter Milne	Mai Zetterling	Television series Episode: "Murderous Feelings"
1986	Un altare per la madre		Edith Bruck	Television film
1987	Il generale	Giuseppe Garibaldi	Luigi Magni	Television miniseries
1988	Windmills of the Gods	Ionescu	Lee Philips	Television miniseries
1989	The Magistrate	Paolo Pizzi	Kathy Mueller	Television miniseries
	The Betrothed	Friar Cristoforo	Salvatore Nocita	Television miniseries
1990	Blaues Blut	Sandro Castellani	Sidney Hayers	Television series Episode: "Gegen die Uhr"
	Oggi ho vinto anch'io	Saverio Palluca	Lodovico Gasparini	Television film
1991	Young Catherine	Count Mikhail Vorontsov	Michael Anderson	Television miniseries
	Julianus barát	Domenico	Gábor Koltay	Television miniseries
1992	Touch and Die	Aquani	Piernico Solinas	Television film
1993	Das Babylon Komplott	Chris Lang	Peter Patzak	Television film
	Azzurro profondo	Luca Morinari	Filippo De Luigi	Television film
1994	Nemici intimi	Lorenzo Stradella	Piernico Solinas	Television film
	The Dragon Ring	The Dragon King	Lamberto Bava	Television miniseries
1996	The Return of Sandokan	Yogi Azim	Enzo G. Castellari	Television miniseries
1997	David	Nathan	Robert Markowitz	Television film
	Desert of Fire	Marcel Duvivier	Enzo G. Castellari	Television miniseries
	Painted Lady	Robert Tassi	Julian Jarrold	Television miniseries
	Nessuno escluso	Alfonso Martinez	Massimo Spano	Television film
	Bella Mafia	Mario Domino	David Greene	Television film
1998	Il tesoro di Damasco	Andrea	José María Sánchez	Television film
2000	St. Paul	Gamaliel	Roger Young	Television miniseries
2001	La voce del sangue	Antonio Castaldi	Alessandro Di Robilant	Television film
	The Crusaders	Ibn-Azul	Dominique Othenin-Girard	Television miniseries
2002	Die achte Todsünde: Toskana-Karussell	Giuseppe Mantaldo	Peter Patzak	Television film
2003	The Uncrowned Heart	Bear's Trainer	Peter Patzak	Television film
	Liebe, Lügen, Leidenschaften	Pietro Bellini	Marco Serafini	Television miniseries
	Cattive inclinazioni	Vagrant	Pierfrancesco Campanella	Television film
2005	Summer Solstice	Lorenzo	Giles Foster	Television film
2006	The Holy Family	Zechariah	Raffaele Mertes	Television film
2007	Der Fürst und das Mädchen	Count Massimo di Romano	Karsten Wichniarz, Axel de Roche	Television series 8 episodes
	Two Families	Morandi	Romano Scavolini	Television film
2008	Il sangue e la rosa	Umberto Mancini	Salvatore Samperi, Luciano Odorisio, Luigi Parisi	Television series Episode: "Prima puntata"
	Mein Herz in Chile	Carlos Sanchez	Jörg Grünler	Television film
	A Night at the Grand Hotel	Ferran Moreno	Thorsten Näter	Television film
	Rosamunde Pilcher's Four Seasons	Max Freeman	Giles Foster	Television miniseries
2010		Augustine of Hippo	Christian Duguay	Television miniseries
2011		Roberto Distasio	Michael Slovis	Television series Episode: ""
2017–18	Delicious	Joe Benelli	John Hardwick, Clare Kilner	Television series 4 episodes
2019	Christmas in Rome	Luigi Forlinghetti	Ernie Barbarash	Hallmark Channel movie
2022	Django	Reverend	Francesca Comencini	Television series

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Video games

2011		Uncle Topolino	Voice

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Discography

• 1985 – Will Change The World/ Cambierà (Lovers, LVNP 802, 7" – with his son Carlo)

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External links

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