Profile of Paolo Villaggio on Famous Like Me

Paolo Villaggio (born in Genova, 31 December 1932) is an Italian actor, writer, director and comedian, famous especially for his grotesque irony and satire.

Biography

Early life

Born on 31 December 1932 he lived his childhood in poverty due to the World War II. Later he had many jobs, among which a clerk for the Italsider Co. It was then that Paolo Villaggio created his most famous character, the accountant Ugo Fantozzi, which later brought him glory.

Maurizio Costanzo discovered his artistic potential and in 1967 he advised Villaggio to play in a cabaret in Rome. From there, Villaggio passed on to be part of the TV programme "Bonta Lore", in which his aggressive, evil or obedient characters find their consecration.

Accountant Ugo Fantozzi

After his television experience, he started writing in the Espresso and Europeo short stories based on the character Accountant Ugo Fantozzi, the man with a weak character, followed by misfortune and by the "mega-director" of the "mega-company" where Fantozzi worked.

In 1971 the publishing house Rizzoli published the book "Fantozzi", based on these stories, giving Paolo Villaggio an international fame. The success of his best-sellers (he actually wrote three of them, all published by Rozzoli) gave him the opportunity to enter the film industry with success. Actually, Villaggio already played in some movies (among them, "Brancaleone alle crociate" of Mario Monicelli in 1970), but it was only the famous film "Fantozzi" of Luciano Salce in 1975 which made him appreciated in this branch, too.

Many other followed, of which nine were based on the mythical accountant (one of Salce, 7 of Neri Parenti and 1 if Domenico Saverni), in others he played minor characters, such as Giandomenico Fracchia and the professor Krantz.

Other films

Villaggio has played, not always with skill and luck, in many comedies. Sometimes, quiting the routine of his creations, worked with great masters of the Italian cinema, such as Federico Fellini (in 1990 at "La voce della Luna"), together with Roberto Benigni), Lina Wertmuller (in 1992 at "Io speriamo che me la cavo"), Ermanno Olmi (in 1993 at "Il segreto del bosco vecchio"), Mario Monicelli (in 1994 at "Cari fottutissimi amici") and Gabriele Salvatores (in 2000 at "Denti").

Among the many film prizes Paolo Villaggio received, worths mentioning the David of Donatello del 1990, il Nastro d'Argento in 1992 and the Golden Lion for his entire career in 1996.

During all these years, he never ceased his activity as a writer: he continued to publish regularly successful books, changing his publishing house in 1994, passing to Mondadori. He published "Fantozzi saluta e se ne va" (1994-1995; "Fantozzi salutes and goes away"), "Vita morte e miracoli di un pezzo di merda" ("Dead life and the miracles of a piece of shit") (2002), "7 grammi in 70 anni" (7 grammes in 70 years) (2003) and his last one "Sono incazzato come una belva" in 2004.

He is best known as a cinema actor and a writer, but he was also a good theatre actor: he played Arpagone in the L'Avare of Moliere in 1996. In the same year, he also led the satirical news bulletin Striscia la Notizia (broadcasted on Canale 5), together with Ezio Greggio. More recently, he participated in the television fiction "Carabinieri", in which he played the role of a tramp which often helped the law enforcement into the solving cases.

Filmography

• Eat it (1968)
• I Quattro del Pater Noster (1969)
• Il terribile ispettore (1969)
• Pensando a te (1969)
• La Torta in cielo (1970)
• Brancaleone alle crociate (1970)
• Senza famiglia, nullatenenti cercano affetto (1972)
• Beati i ricchi (1972)
• Che c'entriamo noi con la rivoluzione? (1973)
• Non toccare la donna bianca (1974)
• Vado, sistemo l'America e torno (1974)
• La mazurka del barone, della santa e del fico fiorone (1974)
• Alla mia cara mamma nel giorno del suo compleanno (1974)
• Fantozzi (1975)
• Di che segno sei? (1976)
• Signore e signori, buonanotte (1976)
• Quelle strane occasioni (1976)
• Il secondo tragico Fantozzi (1976)
• Il Belpaese (1977)
• Dove vai in vacanza? (1977)
• Tre tigri contro tre tigri (1977)
• Il Signor Robinson (1977)
• Io tigro, tu tigri, egli tigra (1978)
• Professor Kranz tedesco di Germania (1978)
• Dottor Jekyll e gentile signora (1979)
• Rag. Arturo De Fanti, bancario precario (1979)
• La locandiera (1980)
• Mirandolina (1980)
• Fantozzi contro tutti (1980; qui anche regista)
• Fracchia la belva umana (1981)
• Il turno (1981)
• Pappa e Ciccia (1982)
• Bonnie e Clyde all'italiana (1982)
• Sogni mostruosamente proibiti (1983)
• Fantozzi subisce ancora (1983)
• A tu per tu (1984)
• Sogni e bisogni (1984)
• Superfantozzi (1985)
• I pompieri (1985)
• Fracchia contro Dracula (1985)
• Scuola di ladri (1986)
• Grandi Magazzini (1986)
• Roba da ricchi (1987)
• Rimini, Rimini (1987)
• Scuola di ladri - seconda parte (1987)
• Missione Eroica. I pompieri 2 (1987)
• Il Volpone (1988)
• Fantozzi va in pensione (1988)
• Come e dura l'avventura (1988)
• La Voce della Luna (1989)
• Ho vinto la lotteria di Capodanno (1989)
• Fantozzi alla riscossa (1990)
• Le Comiche (1990)
• Le Comiche 2 (1992)
• Il Segreto del bosco vecchio (1993)
• Io Speriamo che me la cavo (1993)
• Fantozzi in paradiso (1993)
• Cari fottutissimi amici (1994)
• Le nuove comiche (1994)
• Palla di neve (1995)
• Io no spik inglish (1995)
• Camerieri (1995)
• Fantozzi - Il ritorno (1996)
• Banzai (1997)
• Un bugiardo in Paradiso (1998)
• Per motivi di famiglia (1998)
• Fantozzi 2000 - La clonazione (1999)
• Azzurro (2000)
• Denti (2000)
• Hermano (2000)
• I promessi sposi (2001)
• Heidi (2001)
• San Giovanni - L'apocalisse (2002)
• Gas (2005)

Bibliografy

• Fantozzi
• Come farsi una cultura mostruosa
• Il secondo tragico libro di Fantozzi
• Fantozzi contro tutti
• Fantozzi subisce ancora
• Rag. Ugo Fantozzi: "Caro direttore ti scrivo...". Lettere del tragicomico ragioniere
• Fantozzi saluta e se ne va: le ultime lettere del rag. Ugo Fantozzi
• Vita morte e miracoli di un pezzo di merda
• 7 grammi in 70 anni
• Sono incazzato come una belva

This content from Wikipedia is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Paolo Villaggio