Mussolini: The Untold Story
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
George C Scott
Lee Grant
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Virginia Madsen
Raul Julia
Gabriel Byrne
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
George C. Scott's portrait of Benito Mussolini, like Bob Hoskins' before him in the "other" Mussolini movie that premiered more than two months earlier, painted Il Duce only superficially, dealing primarily with his personal life and leaving much of 20th century Italian history in the shadows and World War II in the newspapers. Like the Hoskins version, the Italian temperament and strengths had to be conveyed by an almost totally non-Italian cast (at least in the lead roles).
Aside from the overaged-for-the-part Scott, there were Jewish-girl-from-the Bronx Lee Grant as Benito's tormented wife, Rachele; Irishman Gabriel Byrne, who earlier had played another Italian lad, Christopher Columbus, as Mussolini's son, Vittorio; Puerto Rico-born Raul Julia as Benito's conniving son-in-law, Count Ciano; and relative American newcomer Virginia Madsen, who earlier had played Marion Davies in the television movie about Davies' romance with William Randolph Hearst, is a golden blonde Claretta, Mussolini's mistress whom newspaper photos always have depicted as dark and brooding.
Italo-American Broadway actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, known to moviegoers as Al Pacino's sister is "Scarface," best captured the moment(s) as Il Duce's daughter, Edda, who married Ciano. Filmed primarily in Yugoslavia, this Mussolini movie earned two Emmy Award nominations: for film editing and sound mixing.
Cast
George C Scott
Lee Grant
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Virginia Madsen
Raul Julia
Gabriel Byrne
Robert Downey Jr.
Gunnar Moeller
Vernon Dobtcheff
Anne Louise Lambert
Gina Bellman
Kenneth Colley
Michael Aldridge
Annabel Leventon
Godfrey James
Wolf Kahler
Paul Herzberg
David Suchet
Paul Kehagias
Spencer Chandler
Tracey Ward
Constantine Gregory
Philip Madoc
Bruce Lidington
Tony Vogel
Deborah Norton
Milton Johns
Virginia Hey
Ryan Mitchell
Monique Sofronski
Stephen Marshall
George Coulouris
Eileen Way
David Pollan
Richard Kane
Robert Gwilyn
Michael Forest
Michael Mackenzie
John Moreno
Janet Rasak
Crew
Del Acevedo
Giusy Bovino
Petar Buntic
Stanislav Dobrina
Ronald J. Fagan
Sharon Howard-field
Noelle Imparato
Dusko Jericevic
Marijan Karoglan
Raymond Katz
Marsha Kleinman
Harry Lange
Piero Mecacci
Ruth Morley
Hal W Polaire
Laurence Rosenthal
Stirling Silliphant
Stirling Silliphant
Bernard Sofronski
Robert Steadman
Rod Stephens
George Stephenson
Andrea Viotti
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Miscellaneous Notes
Aired in United States November 24, 1985
Aired in United States November 25, 1985
Aired in United States November 26, 1985
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Not to be confused with the 1985-86 television season's first dramatic treatment of Mussolini's life. HBO's "Mussolini: The Decline and Fall of Il Duce," which aired in September l985, deals with the final years of the dictator's rule, and starred Bob Hoskins in the title role.
