Django icon Franco Nero on Tuesday
said he owed everything to Laurence Olivier and John Huston as
he was feted at the Italian culture ministry for getting a star
on the Hollywood walk of Fame earlier this year.
"I've had a sixty-year career and done it all. I've enjoyed
directing, writing, and producing, too. I am a man of cinema, so
I am very satisfied," said the 84-year-old actor.
Nero dedicated the honour to two giants of cinema who, he says,
were "pivotal" to his career: Laurence Olivier and John Huston.
Olivier "told me: 'Sure, you have a great physique; you could
play the hero like the Americans do—clean-shaven and always
winning. But how monotonous! Or, you can be an actor: you change
roles constantly, and while you'll have ups and downs, in the
long run, you'll reap the rewards."
And I followed his advice."
John Huston, meanwhile, cast him in The Bible.
"He was the one who taught me English and gave me records of
Shakespearean plays performed in English—which helped me prepare
for Camelot, where he met his future wife and mother of his son
Vanessa Redgrave.
Huston's gift helped shape the trajectory of Nero's acting
career—a journey spanning a thousand roles, including a cameo in
Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained—that has continued unabated
over the years.
"I'm a tractor; I don't stop," he said.
Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli said "I'm a minister but I'd
like to be Franco Nero" while Culture Undersecretary Lucia
Borgonzoni said "Franco Nero had always been snubbed by the
radical chic, so this recognition was all the more deserved".
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