Robert Rietti - Biography

Biography

Born of Italian heritage, Lucio Rietti was “discovered” at the age of 8 by his father Vittorio (Vittorio Rietti, veteran actor of the stage and screen) who noticed the boy had completely memorised a copy of a script he had given Lucio having wanted help from his son while rehearsing his lines for a play. Vittorio had Lucio join his own acting school (which turned out students such as Ida Lupino). Hollywood mogul David O. Selznick, having seen the boy perform, tried to sign him to an extended contract with his studio but, being so young, strict schooling laws of the time forced him to decline the offer. He was handpicked by Alfred Hitchcock for Secret Agent (1936), but again turned down the part. Eventually his father managed to work around these laws and under the name Bobby Rietti he became one of the most popular child actors of the 1930s, making over 22 films before having turned 10 years of age. In the theatre he scored his first success starring as Poor Jo in Dickens' Bleak House sharing the billing with Gracie Fields, after which he starred as Jonathan opposite Elizebeth Bergner in The Boy David.

He was 15 years old when World War II broke out and, being of Italian family, he was placed in a detention camp together with his father and brother Ronaldo (Ronald Rietti, later a film director and producer). After eight months he was released upon special request to organise an army unit made up of professional actors to entertain the troops. It was during this time that his stage name was altered to Robert Rietty in an attempt to make it sound less Italian and more Irish (who were neutral during the war). It was under the name Robert Rietty that he would come to be known best by the public. After 5½ years of army service Robert returned to public attention, picking up where he had left off. Over the next several years he participated in every form of entertainment: radio, stage, films and the early days of television.

In radio Robert teamed up with Orson Welles twice for The Third Man (1951) (a.k.a. Harry Lime)- based on the hit film and the crime drama series The Black Museum (1952) broadcast to the US armed forces. This proved to be the beginning of a lifelong friendship between the two and Orson made sure to use Robert in many of his films. Robert was also a regular on the radio series Horatio Hornblower (1952), Scarlet Pimpernel (1952) and Theatre Royal (1954) the latter with Sir Laurence Olivier as well as frequent guest appearances on other radio shows. In motion pictures Robert continued to work mostly in character parts with the exception of his performances in Call of the Blood (1948), Prelude to Fame (1950) and Stock Car (1955). Also during this time he was heavily involved in the theatre starring in dozens of plays, even writing quite a few, and was editor of the drama quarterly Gambit.

He once found the script of the Italian play To Live in Peace which his father had translated to English but had no luck convincing anyone to produce. Despite the fact the story was rejected countless times, Robert rewrote the script and found a producer willing to back the project with his father in the lead role as Don Geronimo and himself as Maso. The play became an instant success winning many awards and toured in Europe eventually being made twice as films made for Television in 1951 and 1952. Together with his father, Robert was knighted by the Italian Government for their contribution to the Italian entertainment industry in particular from translating a great many Italian plays into English. Roberts knighthood was then upgraded. Early television took up much of Robert's time, guest-starring repeatedly in over 100 TV shows, many of them being shot live in those days. In television he often got the chance to work together with his father again most notably in The Jack Benny Program episode "Jack Falls Into Canal in Venice" (1957) and in the pilot for the series Harry's Girls (1960). During the next 15 years most of Robert's acting was confined to TV and film with his most memorable performances in The Crooked Road (1965) with Robert Ryan and Stewart Granger, Hell Is Empty (1967) produced by his brother Ronald Rietti and co-starring French actress Martine Carol (who died before the end of shooting the film), The Italian Job (1969) and The Omen (1976) with Gregory Peck.

During this time he made the change from actor to director (although he continued acting) becoming heavily involved in post-production work, directing and revoicing, and became unquestionably the most sought-after director of the kind known throughout Hollywood and Europe as the "King Of Dubbers" and "Man of a Thousand Voices". His direction was used for practically every film in the James Bond Series (even acting in several) and a never ending list of hundreds of pictures. Through this he came to work with such stars as Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Gregory Peck, Orson Welles, John Huston, Rod Steiger, Elizabeth Taylor, Sean Connery and Walter Matthau among others. For his work and direction of Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci in Sergio Leone's gangster film Once Upon a Time in America (1984). Robert has been an active actor for over 80 years.

His son, Rabbi Jonathan Rietti, is an Orthodox rabbi who lives in the United States and lectures extensively for Gateways, a Jewish outreach organisation.