Renny Ottolina

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Renny Ottolina
Born December 11, 1928
Valencia, Carabobo, Venezuela
Died March 16, 1978

Reinaldo José "Renny" Ottolina Pinto (born December 11, 1928 in Valencia, Carabobo, died 1978) was a Venezuelan-born producer and entertainer. His mother died when he was two years old. At the age of six his father moved him to Caracas with his paternal grandmother, for he was going to Germany. Renny didn't graduate high school, but was a fast learner and he was mostly self-taught. At the age of seventeen, he started working in one of only a handful of radio stations that existed at the time in Caracas, as a broadcaster. With his perfect diction and harmonic voice, he quickly became a favorite among listeners. He learned English by working at the American embassy.

[edit] Career

ABC took note of him and brought him to New York, to star in his own TV show. Even though he had a latin accent, after a short time they moved him to compete with Jack Paar. After almost a year, ABC acquired 45% of the stocks in a new Venezuelan TV station, where they offered Ottolina the post of "Head Manager". He accepted and put together the entire staff that would populate the station. He resigned when he solicited stocks in exchange of his full attention. RCTV snatched him as an independent producer, and gave him two shows: El Show de Renny and Renny Presenta would be the cornerstone of RCTV's programing. The first was a variety show and the second would focus on Venezuela and its natural beauties. After two years, he decided "to take and give you a break" for a year, and moved to Italy. This would become common practice for him, taking sabbaticals in France and London. He lost his spot on RCTV, when management decided that Renny was making more money in his time slot that they were. From there he moved to TVN-5, where after a few months the same thing happened. It was at this point that the three TV stations in Venezuela decided to not allow independent productions.An old friend working as a radio manager convinced Renny to come back to his roots in radio. On the air again, he began to take a political stand. This served as a platform for the presidential campaign of 1978 when he ran for President. He died on March 16, 1978 in a plane crash during the presidential campaign which was ultimately won by Luis Herrera Campins.

  • In 2005 Carlos Alarico Gómez made a biographical book about the life of Renny Ottolina, for the Biblioteca Biográfica Venezolana, with the seal of El Nacional, (the cover of this book is the principal photo of this article).

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[edit] External links

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