Marcello Mastroianni - The Birth of Cool
Marcello Mastroianni, born Sept. 28, 1924, Fontana Liri, Italy, actor who became the preeminent leading man in Italian cinema during the 1960s. An attractive man whose acting style projected a mood of casual affability, he achieved international fame as the screen symbol of the modern European.
Mastroianni enrolled at the University of Rome after World War II. He began an acting career in amateur theatricals sponsored by the university, and in 1948 he joined Italy’s leading theatrical troupe.