After seeing the House of Gucci cast, you may be wondering what the actual Gucci family and their associates looked like in real life. The film itself stars Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto and more as members of the famed Gucci family—but we’ll let you be the judge on whether or not these actors bear a real resemblance to their counterparts below.
House of Gucci, which premiered on November 24, 2021, follows the story of Patrizia Reggiani and her journey into the Gucci fold. Patrizia, played by Lady Gaga, falls in love with and marries Maurizio Gucci, heir to the Italian luxury label’s empire. But when they first meet, Maurizio, played by Adam Driver, wants little to do with the family business. His father Rodolfo (Jeremy Irons) and his uncle Aldo (Al Pacino) are the ones who reign. Patrizia won’t stand for it, even if it costs her own marriage to Maurizio—or someone’s life, for that matter.
The film, which was directed by Ridley Scott, was based on the 2001 book, The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed by Sara Gay Forden (a title which certainly captures the themes of the film itself). Keep on reading below to meet the House of Gucci cast and the real-life people who inspired both projects.
Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani
Image: AP Photo/Luca Bruno & MGM/Everett Collection.
Born in 1948 to a poor family in the northern Italian city of Vignola, Patrizia Reggiani married none other than Gucci heir Maurizio Gucci in 1973. After their marriage fell apart, Patrizia would soon become known in the media as “The Black Widow” for her convicted ploy to kill Maurizio, who was shot dead in 1995. While Patrizia never admitted guilt to the murder-for-hire plot against her ex-husband, she did confess to wanting him dead after he moved on with Paola Franchi—a much younger woman and former model. Patrizia, for her part, was convinced of murder in 1998 and sentenced to 29 years. She ended up serving only 18 years and was released in October 2016. Today, Patrizia is still alive and living in Milan.
Adam Driver as Maurizio Gucci
Image: AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis & MGM/Everett Collection.
Maurizio Gucci was born in 1948 in Florence, Italy as the son of Rodolfo Gucci and grandson to Gucci founder, Guccio Gucci. Despite his father’s disapproval, Maurizio married Patrizia Reggiani in 1972, and the couple welcomed daughters together: Alessandra, born in 1977, and Allegra, born in 1981.
When Maurizio’s father died in 1983, the younger Gucci inherited his entire stake in the family business. Just two years later, Maurizio walked out on his wife. The head of the fashion house went on a trip to Florence and sent a friend to tell Patrizia that he wouldn’t be coming back and that their marriage was over. By 1990, Maurizio started dating his childhood friend, Paola Franchi. The couple began living together in a luxury apartment in Milan, where they would stay for the next five years. During this time, Maurizio made a series of shoddy financial decisions that ultimately forced him to sell his remaining stock in Gucci in 1993, therefore terminating the Gucci family’s last connection to the Gucci brand. Still, Maurizio made plans to marry Paola after his divorce was finalized from Patrizia in 1994. Their wedding never ended up happening, as Maurizio was shot four times and killed at the age of 46 in 1995.
Jared Leto as Paolo Gucci
Image: AP Photo/MGM/Everett Collection.
Cousin to Maurizio Gucci and one of Aldo Gucci’s four children, Paolo served as chief designer for Gucci during the late 1960s. In 1978, his father named him vice-president of Gucci’s American branch. But his elite tenure at the company did not last long. His father and uncle Rodolfo opted to fire him in 1980 after learning that he attempted to launch his own label under the Gucci name without first consulting them. Paolo spent the next several years seeking revenge against his family through a series of largely failed lawsuits against them. His most sinister plot against his father occurred in 1986, when his father was sentenced to one year and one day in prison after Paolo tipped off the IRS to the elder Gucci’s tax evasion.
For all his attempts at success—and revenge—Paolo ended up bankrupt and even served a short stint in jail for failing to pay alimony and child support to his second ex-wife, Jenny Garwood, and their daughter. He died at the age of 64 in 1995 of complications from chronic hepatitis.
Jeremy Irons as Rodolfo Gucci
Image: AP Photo/MGM/Everett Collection.
Rodolfo Gucci was the youngest of company founder Guccio Gucci’s five sons. Before joining the family business, Rodolfo worked as an actor in over 40 films. It was during this period of his life that he met actress Sandra Ravel, whom he married in 1944. The couple welcomed their son and only child, Maurizio Gucci, four years later. Newly married and a recent father, Rodolfo, along with his brothers Ugo, Aldo and Vasco (their other brother, Enzo, died as a child) went on to inherit their father Guccio’s share of the business when he passed away in 1953. He served at the company for 30 years until his death in 1983, at which point he left what was his 50 percent stake in Gucci to his son Maurizio at the time.
Al Pacino as Aldo Gucci
Image: AP Photo/MGM/Everett Collection.
Guccio Gucci’s eldest biological son, Aldo, was born in 1905. Aldo began working for the family company in 1925 at the age of 20 as a package delivery person. He went on to open the first Gucci shop outside of Florence in 1938 in Rome, and soon set his sights for expansion across the globe. In 1953, it was Aldo who opened the first-ever Gucci boutique in New York City.
For many years, Aldo shared 50-50 ownership of Gucci with his brother Rodolfo following the death of their other brother, Vasco. As chairman of Gucci Shops. Inc., Aldo felt that Rodolfo hadn’t done as much for Gucci as he did and didn’t deserve such a large cut of the company. Looking to find a more lucrative arrangement for himself and his sons, Aldo went on to set up Gucci’s perfume subsidiary. He assumed 80 percent ownership of the subsidiary for himself and his kids—but the arrangement ultimately landed him in hot water with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. His own son, Paolo, tipped off the government agency to his father’s tax evasion, landing Aldo in prison for just over a year in 1986. Aldo died just four years later in 1990 at the age of 84.
Salma Hayek as Giuseppina “Pina” Auriemma
Image: AP Photo/MGM/Everett Collection.
Perhaps Patrizia Reggiani’s most-trusted confidant, Giuseppina “Pina” Auriemma served for years as Lady Gucci’s personal psychic. Her relationship with Patrizia took a dark turn, however, after she reportedly acted as the intermediary in a murder-for-hire plot against Patrizia’s ex-husband, Maurizio Gucci. In 1998, Pina confessed that she helped Patrizia hire a hitman to kill Maurizio. The psychic first contacted a hotel porter named Ivano Savioni, who in turn contacted getaway driver Orazio Cicala. Cicala hired gunman Benedetto Ceraulo, who ultimately shot and killed Maurizio on the morning of March 27, 1995. All five accomplices were charged and convicted of Maurizio’s murder, along with Patrizia. Pina, for her part, was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 1998 but was released early in 2010.
Reeve Carney as Tom Ford
MEGA/AP Images.
Long before he became known for his eponymous fashion empire, Tom Ford was a young designer fresh out of Texas who decided to make the jump overseas to pursue a more European sensibility. He moved to Milan and joined Gucci in 1990 as the brand’s chief women’s-wear designer, where he quickly climbed up the ladder until he was appointed Gucci’s creative director in 1994. Ford’s vision is largely credited as having restored Gucci’s fame and bringing the company away from the near-bankruptcy. By the time Ford left the company in 2004, Gucci was worth well over $10 billion.
The House of Gucci by Sara Gay Forden
Image: Courtesy Custom House.
Buy: 'The House of Gucci' by Sara Gay Forden $13.89
For more about House of Gucci, read the book the movie is based on: The House of Gucci: A Sensational Story of Murder, Madness, Glamour, and Greed. In the book, which was first published in 2001, author Sara Gay Forden tells the sensational true story of how Maurizio Gucci was murdered on the morning of March 27, 1995, in Milan, and the events that led to the arrest of his ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, a.k.a. the “Black Widow.” The book investigates why Patrizia may have had a motive to kill her ex-husband—was it because of his mistress? Was his spending out of control?—and whether she really was the reason for his death. (Plus, who else could have done it.) The House of Gucci is described as a “page-turning account of high fashion, high finance, and heartrending personal tragedy.”
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