Ugo Tognazzi

Ugo Tognazzi
Born Ottavio Tognazzi
23 March 1922(1922-03-23)
Cremona, Lombardy, Italy
Died 27 October 1990(1990-10-27) (aged 68)
Rome, Italy
Occupation actor, director, screenwriter
Years active 1950 - 1990
Spouse Franca Bettoia (1972-1990)

Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 - 27 October 1990) was an Italian film, TV, and theatre actor, director, and screenwriter.

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Early life

Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company.

After his return in the native city in 1936, he worked in a salami production plant. In World War II, he was called to the Army, returning home after the Armistice of September 1943. His passion for spectacles and acting dates from his early years, and also during the conflict he had organized spectacles for his fellow soldiers. In 1945 he moved to Milan, where he was enrolled in the theatrical company led by Wanda Osiris. A few years later he formed his own successful musical revue company.

Career

In 1950 Tognazzi made his debut for cinema, in I cadetti di Guascogna directed by Mario Mattoli. In the following year he met Raimondo Vianello, with whom he formed a successful comical duo for the new-born RAI TV (1954–1960). Their shows, sometimes containing satirical aspects, were also among the first ones to be censored in Italian television.

After the successful role in The Fascist (Il Federale) (1961), directed by Luciano Salce, Tognazzi became one of the most renowned characters of the so-called Commedia all'Italiana (Italian comedy style). He worked with all the main directors of Italian cinema, including Mario Monicelli (Amici miei), Marco Ferreri (La grande abbuffata), Nanni Loy, Dino Risi, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Pigsty), Ettore Scola, Alberto Lattuada, Pupi Avati and others. Tognazzi also directed some of his films, including the 1967 film Il fischio al naso. The film was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival.[1]

He was a famous actor in Italy, and starred in some important international films, which brought him fame.

Roger Vadim cast Ugo Tognazzi as Mark Hand, the Catchman, in 1968's Barbarella. He rescues Barbarella (Jane Fonda) from the biting dolls she encounters, and after her rescue, he requests payment by asking her to make love with him (the "old-fashioned" way, not the psycho-cardiopathic way of their future).

In 1981 he won the Best Male Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. While he worked primarily in Italian cinema, Tognazzi is perhaps best remembered for his role as Renato Baldi, the gay owner of a St. Tropez nightclub, in the 1978 French comedy La Cage aux Folles which became the highest grossing foreign film ever released in the U.S.

Personal life

Ugo Tognazzi died of a brain hemorrhage in Rome in 1990, although rumors persist to this day that his chronic depression led to suicide.

His sons Ricky Tognazzi (b. 1955) and Gianmarco Tognazzi (b. 1967) are cinema actors. He was also the father of the Norwegian film director and film producer Thomas Robsahm (b. 1964). His daughter Maria Sole Tognazzi (b. 1971) is, like Ricky, a film director.

Filmography

Actor

Director

References

  1. ^ "IMDB.com: Awards for The Seventh Floor". imdb.com. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061668/awards. Retrieved 2010-02-27. 

External links