Biography

Arduíno Colassanti (15 February 1936 – 22 February 2014) was an Italian-born Brazilian actor. With a 40-year span, Colassanti's mainly associated with films made during the 1960s an 1970s, under the Cinema Novo (Brazilian New Wave) movement. He's known for portraing the titular frenchman in 1971s "Como Era Gostoso o Meu Francês" (How Tasty Was My Little Frenchman). Seen as one of the main leading men of Cinema Novo by his distinguishable blond hair and blue eyes, during his career Colassanti was directed by filmmakers such as Nelson Pereira dos Santos, Leon Hirszman, Walter Lima Jr., Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, Tereza Trautman and Luiz Carlos Lacerda. Born in Livorno, Italy, Colassanti was also a surfer and an pioneer in the early steps of aquatic photography in Brazil. He spent his twillight years in the city of Niterói, where he passed and was buried in 2014.