This week marks a full century since the actor Marcello Mastroianni entered our world on September 28, 1924. Now, nearly 30 years on since he exited, it remains quasi-illegal to write anything about him without using the two words he detested most of all: “Latin Lover.”

Dating back to at least 1960, when his performance in Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita transformed the Lazio-born actor into an international star, these words stained Mastroianni’s reputation like lipstick on a collar — despite his lifelong efforts to scrub it clean.