Ugo Tognazzi Biography

Italian actor

Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter.

Early life

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

After his return to his native city in 1936, he worked in a cured meats production plant where he achieved the position of accountant. During World War II, he was inducted into the Army and returned home after the Armistice of 8 September 1943, and joined the Brigate Nere for a while. His p*ion for theater and acting dates from his early years, and also during the conflict he organized shows 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 cinematic debut in I cadetti di Guascogna directed by Mario Mattoli. The following year, he met Raimondo Vianello, with whom he formed a successful comedy duo for the new-born RAI TV (1954–1960). Their shows, sometimes containing satirical material, were among the first to be censored on 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), Carlo Lizzani (La vita agra), Dino Risi, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Pigsty), Ettore Scola, Alberto Lattuada, Nanni Loy, 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.

He was a well-known actor in Italy, and starred in several important international films, which brought him fame in other parts of the world.

Roger Vadim cast Tognazzi as Mark Hand, the Catchman, in Barbarella (1968). 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 Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man, 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 there were rumors that his chronic depression led to suicide. He is buried in the cemetery of Velletri.

His sons Ricky Tognazzi (b. 1955) and Gianmarco Tognazzi (b. 1967) are actors. Another son, Thomas Robsahm (b. 1964), is a Norwegian film director and film producer. His daughter, Maria Sole Tognazzi (b. 1971), is also a film director.

Filmography

Actor

  • The Cadets of Gascony (1950) as Ugo Bossi
  • La paura fa 90 (1951) as Anastasio Lapin / Saverio Bompignac
  • Una bruna indiavolata (1951) as Carlo Soldi
  • Auguri e figli maschi (1951) as Mario
  • The Enchanting Enemy (1953) as Direttore della fabbrica
  • Love in the City (1953) as Himself (segment "Italiani si voltano, Gli")
  • Sua altezza ha detto: no! (1953) as Ronchi
  • Siamo tutti milanesi (1953) as Filippo
  • If You Won a Hundred Million (1953) as Ugo (segment "Il principale")
  • Café Chantant (1953) as Se stesso / Himself
  • *i alla ribalta (1954) as Himself
  • Laugh! Laugh! Laugh! (1954) as Dottore
  • Milanese in Naples (1954) as Franco Baraldi
  • La moglie è uguale per tutti (1955) as Ugo
  • Domenica è sempre domenica (1958) as Ugo
  • Toto in the Moon (1958) as Achille Paoloni
  • Mia nonna poliziotto (1958) as Lucio
  • Marinai, donne e guai (1958) as Domenico Campana
  • Il terribile Teodoro (1958)
  • Guardatele ma non toccatele (1959) as Maresciallo Valentino La Notte
  • Fantasmi e ladri (1959) as Gaetano
  • Non perdiamo la testa (1959) as Tony Cuccar
  • Policarpo, "ufficiale di scrittura" (1959) as The Starched Professor (uncredited)
  • Le cameriere (1959) as Mario, il Ladro
  • Le Confident de ces dames (1959) as Cesar
  • Noi siamo due evasi (1959) as Bernardo Cesarotti
  • La *ssa di Santa Lucia (1959) as L'avvocato
  • La cambiale (1959) as Alfredo Balzarini
  • La pica sul Pacifico (1959) as Roberto De Nobel
  • Tipi da spiaggia (1959) as Pasubio Giovinezza
  • La sceriffa (1959) as Colorado Joe
  • I bacc*i di Tiberio (1960) as Primo, the Driver
  • Genitori in blue jeans (1960) as Renzino
  • Il principe fusto (1960) as Frate
  • Il mio amico Jekyll (1960) as Professor Fabius / Giacinto Floria
  • Le olimpiadi dei mariti (1960) as Ugo Bitetti
  • Femmine di lusso (1960) as Ugo Lemeni
  • Un dollaro di fifa (1960) as Alamo
  • Tu che ne dici? (1960) as Solitario
  • A noi piace freddo (1960) as Ugo Bevilacqua
  • Gli incensurati (1961) as Farinon
  • Sua Eccellenza si fermò a mangiare (1961) as Ernesto
  • Che gioia vivere! (1961) as 1. Anarchist
  • The Fascist (1961) as Primo Arcovazzi
  • Cinque marines per cento ragazze (1961) as Sergente Imparato
  • La ragazza di mille mesi (1961) as Maurizio d'Alteni
  • Il mantenuto (1961) as Stefano Garbelli (uncredited)
  • I magnifici tre (1961) as Domingo
  • Pugni pupe e marinai (1961) as Capo Campana / Tognazzi
  • Una domenica d'estate (1962)
  • La voglia matta (1962) as Antonio Berlinghieri
  • Psycosissimo (1962) as Ugo Bertolazzi
  • A Girl... and a Million (1962) as Un automobilista (uncredited)
  • I tromboni di fra' Diavolo (1962) as Sergente Visicato
  • I motorizzati (1962) as Achille Pestani
  • March on Rome (1962) as Umberto Gavazza
  • La donna degli altri è sempre più bella (1963) as Himself (segment "La luna di miele")
  • The Shortest Day (1963) as Pecoraio
  • RoGoPaG (1963) as Togni (segment "Il pollo ruspante")
  • Le ore dell'amore (1963) as Gianni
  • The Conjugal Bed (1963) as Alfonso
  • I mostri (1963) as The Father (segment "L'Educazione sentimentale") / Policeman (segment "Il Mostro") / Stefano (segment "Come un Padre") / Battacchi (segment "Il povero Soldato") / L'Onorevole (segment "La Giornata dell'Onorevole") / Latin Lover (segment "Latin Lovers-Amanti latini") / Pilade Fioravanti (segment "Testimone volontario") / The Traffic Warden (segment "L'Agguato") / The Car Owner (segment "Vernissage") / The Man at Cinema (segment "Scenda l'Oblio") / The Husband (segment "L'Oppio dei Popoli") / Guarnacci (segment "La nobile Arte")
  • I fuorilegge del matrimonio (1963) as Vasco Timballo
  • Le motorizzate (1963)
  • La donna degli altri è sempre più bella (1963) as Himself (segment "La luna di miele")
  • Alta infedeltà (1964) as Cesare (segment "Gente Moderna")
  • Liolà (1964) as Liolà
  • La Donna scimmia (1964) as Antonio Focaccia
  • La vita agra (1964) as Luciano Bianchi
  • Il magnifico cornuto (1964) as Andrea Artusi
  • Controsesso (1964) as The professor (segment "Professore, Il")
  • Una moglie americana (1965) as Riccardo Vanzi
  • I Complessi (1965) as Prof. Gildo Beozi (segment "Il Complesso della Schiava nubiana")
  • Io la conoscevo bene (1965) as Gigi Baggini
  • Oggi, domani, dopodomani (1965) as Man With Car (segment "L'uomo dei 5 palloni") (uncredited)
  • Menage all'italiana (1965) as Carlo Vignola Federico Valdesi
  • Break-up (1965) as Man With Car
  • Follie d'estate (1966)
  • Silly Toons (1966) as Simple Simon
  • Marcia nuziale (1966) as Frank
  • A Question of Honour (1966) as Efisio Mulas
  • I nostri mariti (1966) as Appuntato Umberto Codegato (segment "Il Marito di Attilia")
  • Le piacevoli notti (1966) as Uguccione de' Tornaquinci
  • The Seventh Floor (1967) as Giuseppe Inzerna
  • L'immorale (1967) as Sergio Masini
  • Il padre di famiglia (1967) as Remo
  • Gli altri, gli altri... e noi (1967)
  • L'harem (1967) as Himself (uncredited)
  • Straziami, ma di baci saziami (1968) as Umberto Ciceri
  • Barbarella (1968) as Mark Hand
  • Sissignore (1968) as Oscar Pettini
  • La bambolona (1968) as Giulio Broggini
  • Satyricon (1969) as Trimalchione
  • Porcile (1969) as Herdhitze
  • Il Commissario Pepe (1969) as Commissario Antonio Pepe
  • Nell'anno del Signore... (1969) as Cardinal Agostino Rivarola
  • Cuori solitari (1970) as Stefano
  • Venga a prendere il caffè... da noi (1970) as Emerenziano Paronzini
  • Splendori e miserie di Madame Royale (1970) as Alessio / Madame Royale
  • La califfa (1970) as Annibale Doberdò - il proprietario della fabbrica
  • La supertestimone (1971) as Marino Bottecchia detto 'Moc*ino'
  • In nome del popolo italiano (1971) as Mariano Bonifazi
  • Stanza 17-17, palazzo delle t*e, ufficio imposte (1971) as Ugo La Strizza
  • Questa specie d'amore (1972) as Federico / Federico's father
  • L'udienza (1972) as Aureliano Diaz
  • Il maestro e Margherita (1972) as Nikolaj Afanasijevic Maksudov 'Maestro'
  • Il generale dorme in piedi (1972) as Col. Umberto Leone
  • Vogliamo i colonnelli (1973) as Onorevole Giuseppe 'Beppe' Tritoni
  • La grande abbuffata (1973) as Ugo
  • Property Is No Longer a Theft (1973) as The Butcher
  • Don't Touch the White Woman! (1974) as Mitch
  • Claretta and Ben (1974) as Gino Pistone
  • Permettete signora che ami vostra figlia? (1974) as Gino Pistone
  • Romanzo popolare (1974) as Giulio Basletti
  • La mazurka del barone, della santa e del fico fiorone (1975) as Baron Anteo Pellacani
  • La smagliatura (1975) as Georgis
  • Amici miei (1975) as Lello Mascetti
  • L'anatra all'arancia (1975) as Livio Stefani
  • Al piacere di rivederla (1976) as Mario Aldara
  • Telefoni bianchi (1976) as Adelmo
  • Cattivi pensieri (1976) as Mario Marani
  • Signore e signori, buonanotte (1976) as General in Toilet
  • La stanza del vescovo (1977) as Temistocle Mario Orimbelli
  • Casotto (1977) as Alfredo Cerquetti
  • Il gatto (1977) as Amedeo Pecoraro
  • I nuovi mostri (1977) as Il marito (segment "L'uccellino della Val Padana") / Il cuoco (segment "Hostaria") / Il figlio (segment "Mammina mammona")
  • Nenè (1977) as 'Baffo' - the barber (uncredited)
  • La mazzetta (1978) as Il commissario *enza
  • Primo amore (1978) as Ugo
  • La Cage aux Folles (1978) as Renato Baldi
  • Dove vai in vacanza? (1978) as Enrico (segment "Sarò tutta per te")
  • L'ingorgo - Una storia impossibile (1979) as Professor
  • I viaggiatori della sera (1979) as Orso Banti
  • Sono fotogenico (1980) as Himself (uncredited)
  • La terrazza (1980) as Amedeo
  • Arrivano i bersaglieri (1980) as Don Prospero
  • Sunday Lovers (1980) as Armando (segment "Armando's Notebook")
  • La Cage aux Folles II (1980) as Renato Baldi
  • Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981) as Primo Spaggiari
  • Scusa se è poco (1982) as Carlo Reani
  • Amici miei atto II (1982) as Conte Raffaello Mascetti
  • The Key (1983) as Un ubriaco (cameo)
  • Scherzo del destino in agguato dietro l'angolo come un brigante da strada (1983) as On. Vincenzo De Andreiis
  • Il petòmane (1983) as Joseph Pujol
  • Dagobert (1984) as La pape Honorius et son sosie
  • Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno (1984) as Bertoldo
  • Fatto su misura (1984) as Dottor Nathan
  • La Cage aux folles 3 - 'Elles' se marient (1985) as Renato Baldi
  • Amici miei atto III (1985) as Lello Mascetti
  • Ultimo minuto (1987) as Walter Ferroni
  • Arrivederci e grazie (1988) as Carlo
  • I giorni del commissario Ambrosio (1988) as Giulio Ambrosio
  • Tolérance (1989) as Marmant
  • La batalla de los Tres Reyes (1990) as Carlo di Palma

Director

  • Il mantenuto (1961)
  • Il fischio al naso (1967)
  • Sissignore (1968)
  • Cattivi pensieri (1976)
  • I viaggiatori della sera (1979)

References

    External links

    • Ugo Tognazzi at IMDb

    Description above from the Wikipedia article Ugo Tognazzi, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

    Ugo Tognazzi