Frédéric Mariotti

Frédéric Mariotti (1 April 1883 – 22 February 1971) was a French stage and film actor whose career spanned more than four decades through the early silent film era into the early 1950s.

Frédéric Mariotti was born in Marseille and began his film career in the 1917 Georges Monca-directed La bonne hôtesse, starring Roger Vincent and Gabrielle Robinne, for Pathé Frères. In 1919, he appeared in the Louis Feuillade-directed crime drama Barrabas, which ran in twelve installments. This was followed by another film serial released the same year, La nouvelle aurore (also known as Les nouvelles aventures de Chéri-Bibi), directed by Emile-Edouard Violet, comprising sixteen episodes.

One of Frédéric Mariotti's most internationally recalled roles is perhaps that of Toni in the 1926 United States Rex Ingram directed Mare Nostrum, which starred American actress Alice Terry and Spanish actor Antonio Moreno and based on the Vicente Blasco Ibáñez penned novel of the same name. The film was long thought lost, but was rediscovered and restored. Mariotti would round out the silent film era of the 1920s in French films directed by Georges Pallu, Julien Duvivier, Henri Ménessier, and Louis Mercanton.

Mariotti transitioned to sound films with relative ease and during the 1930s he appeared in approximately forty-five films. During the Second World War and the German occupation of northern and western France he continued to appear onscreen in films directed by André Luguet, Jean Boyer, Jean de Limur, Édouard Delmont, and Jean Dréville; albeit largely in smaller roles and bit parts.

Following the end of the Second War War, Mariotti continued appearing onscreen; however, his roles grew smaller and were often uncredited appearances. His last film role was a small, uncredited part in the Charles-Félix Tavano-directed comedy Coq en pâte, starring Maurice Escande and Jacqueline Gauthier, filmed in 1951 and released in 1952. Following his appearance in Coq en pâte, Mariotti retired from film, having appeared in over one-hundred motion pictures.

Frédéric Mariotti lived in Paris after his retirement from films and died there in 1971, aged 87.