Antonino Faà di Bruno
actor (1910–1981)

Antonino Faà di Bruno (15 December 1910 – 2 May 1981) was an Italian actor and former military officer.
Biography
A member of the aristocratic Faà di Bruno family, Antonino Faà di Bruno was born in London, the son of Marchese Alessandro Faà di Bruno (who was the Italian consul in London at that time) and of his wife Fanny Costì. He was named after his namesake ancestor, Antonino Faà di Bruno (1762–1829), who was Bishop of Asti in the 19th century.
He took up a military career, becoming a lieutenant in the grenadiers and fighting in Italian East Africa. After his retirement in 1964, with the rank of Brigadier General, Faà di Bruno started a career as an actor, working with Carlo Lizzani (La vita agra), Pier Paolo Pasolini (Pigsty), Vittorio De Sica (Lo chiameremo Andrea), Billy Wilder (Avanti!), Federico Fellini (Amarcord), Luciano Salce (Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo compleanno), Mario Monicelli (We Want the Colonels).
Tall at 1.96 metres (6 ft 5 in), with a baritone voice and an aristocratic bearing, Antonino Faà di Bruno was often cast in roles of high rank, nobleman, officers and members of the ruling class. He performed as a character actor in several commedia all'italiana films, and became known for playing the role of retired Lt.Col. Vittorio Emanuele Ribaud, who attempted a coup d'état in We Want the Colonels, and of the Duke-Count Piercarlo Semenzara in Il secondo tragico Fantozzi.
Personal life and death
In 1947, he married the widow of his cousin Emilio Faà di Bruno who had died in 1943, Anna Maria Andreini. He later adopted their daughters, Camilla and Costanza.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Antonino Faà di Bruno” as actor (1910–1981). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as actor (1910–1981). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3183990. VIAF identifies the subject as 110145541821196600473. The Library of Congress control number is no2015167161. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1910, 1981, 1762 and 1829.
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This entry incorporates text from “Antonino Faà di Bruno” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.