Nino Capozzi

[Johan Melle]

Nino Capozzi in the fotoromanzo "Amore bugiardo" (1952)

Tall, dark-haired and exceptionally handsome and well-dressed, Nino Capozzi is a textbook example of the Italian "bel tenebroso" whose good looks helped him became one of the most prominent leading men in fotoromanzi of the 1950s.

Nino's first fotoromanzo was "Destino di sangue", published in the famed milanese fotoromanzo magazine Bolero Film, but he then switched to starring for the Rome-based magazine Tipo, who used him in countless fotoromanzi. His success was instant and he become a beloved idol for the many impressionable female readers of fotoromanzo magazines.

In fact, it is thanks primarily to Nino's communication with his horde of female admirers that it has been possible to discover a few scarce biographical details for him, for when responding to his fans in Tipo's letter column, he revealed that he was born in Rome in 1926.

Although his success in fotoromanzi never extended to films, he did appear as an extra in numerous films since at least the end of the 1940s and until the first half of the 1960s, sometimes in speaking parts. In Tipo's letter column he revealed that he loved to dance and in films he is in fact quite frequently seen in scenes featuring dancing, for example in Moglie e buoi... (1956) where he dances with Sandra Milo.


FILMOGRAPHY

1949

1. L'imperatore di Capri (uncredited) .... Hotel guest
   
   1950
2. Totò cerca moglie (uncredited) .... Guest at the embassy party
   
   1951
3. Era lui, sì, sì! (uncredited) .... Nightclub client
4. Incantesimo tragico (uncredited) .... Wedding guest
   
   1954
5. I tre ladri (uncredited) .... Store customer
6. The Barefoot Contessa (uncredited) .... Roulette player
   
   1956
7. Moglie e buoi... (uncredited) .... Party guest
   
   1964
8. Che fine ha fatto Totò Baby? (uncredited) .... One of Totò Baby's victims

[Johan Melle]

A little selection of beautiful 1950s fotoromanzo covers featuring Nino:

[Johan Melle]

A little selection of fotoromanzo roles from Nino's extensive career:

"Tu, mia rivale" (Tipo, 1952)

"La peccatrice" (Tipo, 1952-53), an adaptation of the novel "Manon Lescaut" by Prévost

"Lettere nascoste" (Tipo, 1953)

"Il bacio di una morta" (Tipo, 1955)

"L'ombra del dubbio" (Tipo, 1956)

"Questo nostro difficile amore" (Tipo, 1956)

"...ed ella non rispose!" (Tipo, 1957)

"Carmen" (Tipo, 1958), an adaptation of the famous opera by Bizet

[Johan Melle]

And now the movie roles:

The earliest role I've found for Nino is in the Totò comedy L'imperatore di Capri (1949) as a hotel guest, shown dancing or in the background in numerous shots

He can also be glimpsed dancing in another Totò comedy: Totò cerca moglie (1950) as Guest at the embassy party

[Johan Melle]

Incantesimo tragico (1951) as Wedding guest

This is yet another film where he dances - here with fellow generica Terry Dalton

Bad picture but this is Nino at the table in Era lui, sì, sì! (1951) as Nightclub client

And with Totò again in I tre ladri (1954) as Store customer

[Johan Melle]

Nino in the Hollywood production The Barefoot Contessa (1954) as Roulette player

Moglie e buoi... (1956) as a party guest who dances with Sandra Milo!

And here a surprisingly late role in Che fine ha fatto Totò Baby? (1964) where he speaks a brief line as one of Totò Baby's victims