Meet Vanessa Redgrave's Husband, Franco Nero

In the film "Letters to Juliet," award-winning English actor Vanessa Redgrave plays a widow named Claire who'd walked away from the love of her life 50 years earlier. The pair had met in Verona, Italy, while she studied abroad. Before she left the city, Claire partook in the centuries-old tradition of tacking a letter written to the fictional Shakespearean heroine Juliet to the wall of the courtyard where she'd supposedly lived. Decades later, an American woman finds the letter and makes it her mission to bring the lost lovers together once again.

Oddly enough, Redgrave's own love story shares striking similarities to that of the character she played. According to the Los Angeles Times, she met the Italian actor Franco Nero on the set of the 1966 movie "Camelot." Adorably, she played Guinevere and he played Lancelot. They fell in love, hard and fast, and welcomed a son into the world three years later. Shortly after, they went their separate ways — but in full "Letters to Juliet" fashion, they reconnected in 1996 and all the feelings came flooding back. The couple made their love permanent by marrying in 2006. But aside from pining after his Oscar-winning wife, what has Nero been up to all these years? Here's everything you need to know.

Frank Nero was only 25 years old when he starred as the titular character in a 1966 spaghetti Western film "Django." Back then, he had no clue that his performance would later inspire one of the best Hollywood films of all time. "When we started, I really wasn't sure if we'd ever even finish the film," he told The Hollywood Reporter. But his portrayal of the brooding cowboy spawned a whopping 30 sequels and innumerable fans, including a young Quentin Tarantino.

That's right — in 2013, Nero made a cameo in the award-winning movie "Django Unchained," which he'd inadvertently catalyzed 50 years previously. Apparently, Tarantino saw the original film when he was only 14 and working in a video store. He instantly became a bona fide fanboy. "He knew practically all my work, he recited lines from my movies, and the music from my movies," Nero said. "He knew almost all of them." Even today, he's baffled by how it all went down. According to him, "It's one of the things that cannot be explained."

Franco Nero's IMDb page is simply bursting at the seams. To start with, he has an incredible 239 acting credits to his name, including works from both Italy and abroad. In 2005, though, he took on an entirely different role: that of director. His first stab at the job was with the film "Forever Blues," but he subsequently hung up his directorial hat for more than a decade, until he released the short "Apocalypse Angel." He's currently working on a low-budget Italian flick called "L'uomo che disegnò Dio" (The Man Who Drew God), which will reportedly feature a cameo by embattled actor Kevin Spacey, which, unsurprisingly, has some people up in arms (via AV Club). "I'm very happy Kevin agreed to participate in my film," Nero told ABC News. "I consider him a great actor and I can't wait to start the movie." 

Nero's also listed as a producer on 15 different movies and shows, including "Love Island" (but not the one you're thinking of!). This one's about a pregnant French woman who vacations with her husband and daughter on a Croatian island where they all fall for the same woman, per IMDb. So, it's safe to say that Nero's "Love Island" is no less steamy than its reality TV show twin.

Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave gave birth to their only child, Carlo Gabriel Sparanero (who now goes by the surname Nero), in 1969 (via IDMb). Taking after his famous parents, he took a keen interest in film, largely as a writer and director. He's primarily known for "The Fever," "Eyes of St John," and "Uninvited." But to some, he's known as the brother-in-law to Liam Neeson. You see, Neeson was married to the late actress Natasha Jane Richardson — the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and the late director and producer Tony Richardson — from 1994 until her untimely death at age 45 (via Express).

Because Tony Richardson died of AIDS in 1991, Natasha died in 2009, and Redgrave's siblings — sister, Lynn, and brother, Corin — died just days apart in 2010, many people have speculated that the Redgrave family has a curse. When Franco Nero's brother-in-law became critically injured after falling from a four-story building, reporters asked if he gave any credence to the curse. He said he doesn't believe in the stuff, adding, "I think in family, you have to forgive, mainly" (via Express). 

Curse or no curse, Nero isn't expecting to leave this world anytime soon. In fact, he's as happy and healthy as can be. "I feel young," the 79-year-old told Express. "I enjoy every day of my life. I never get bored."