Actor. Born Bartolomeo Pagano, he starred in a series of swenty six silent films including,”Cabiria” (1914), “Maciste” (1915), “Maciste The Alphinist” (1916), “Maciste The Athlete” (1919), “Maciste And The Chinese Cabinet” (1923), “Maciste Against The Sheik” (1925), and “Maciste In Hell” (1926). He legally changed his name to Maciste in 1915 after the success of his second film. The actor retired from films in 1928, married and raised a family in the town of his birth, where he died at 68. The character Maciste survived Pagano’s death and was revived with great success in Italian cinema in the 1960s with several different actors in the role of the strongman.