Adolfo Celi is born in Sicily in July of 1927, Celi would have an amazing career spanning five decades appearing in over 100 films as either an actor or director.
Yet despite all the films through all the years Celi is most remembered as the treacherous Emilio Largo or #2 of the SPECTRE organization playing opposite Sean Connery’s James Bond 007 in 1965’s smash hit ‘Thunderball’.
Celi is widely considered one of the top Bond villains of all time and one of only a few who fights Bond man to man.
Largo perhaps is best remembered as the ring kissing villain who, when he wasn’t piloting his Disco Volante yacht, enjoyed feeding his enemies and even some of his friends to his sharks at Rock Point in the Bahamas.
Did you know Celi actually spoofed his role as Largo in the far out Bond parity ‘Operation Kid Brother’ staring none other than Neil Connery (Sean Connery’s real life kid brother)?
Did you also know ‘Thunderball’, when adjusted for inflation earned over $1 Billion dollars (say it like Dr. Evil), that places it 2nd all time for Bond films behind only ‘Skyfall’?
Check out all the seasons of The Latch Key Kids Podcast especially Season One ‘Breaking Bond’ streaming now on Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Audible, and Apple Podcasts.