Ugo Tognazzi

Known for ActingBorn 1922-03-23Died 1990-10-27Cremona, Lombardy, Italy

Ottavio "Ugo" Tognazzi (23 March 1922 – 27 October 1990) was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the most important faces of Italian comedy together with Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi, Marcello Mastroianni, and Alberto Sordi. 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 Black Brigades for a while. His passion 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. In 1950, Tognazzi made his cinematic debut in The Cadets of Gascony 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 (My Friends), Marco Ferreri (La Grande Bouffe), 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 The Seventh Floor. 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. Tognazzi had various relationships during his life, being married to actresses Margarete Robsahm and later Franca Bettoia. He had four children from three different women: 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 producer; his daughter, Maria Sole Tognazzi (b. 1971), is also a film director. ... Source: Article "Ugo Tognazzi" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.Read more

Movies & web series

E il Casanova di Fellini?

We Are Cinema

Always on Sunday

Il principe fusto

Se vincessi cento milioni

Spécial cinéma

La voglia matta di vivere

Tu che ne dici?

Yiddish Connection

Droit de Réponse

A Very Handy Man

My Friends

SuperTotò

Le Grand Échiquier

FBI – Francesco Bertolazzi investigatore

Gli altri, gli altri e noi

The Maids

My Friends Act II

Portrait Of My Father

The Sheriff

Fatto su misura

Menage Italian Style

The Conspirators

March on Rome

Baby Doll

The Incredible Mr. Piccoli

I Knew Her Well

Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura

Come Home and Meet My Wife

The Monsters

The Terrace

Property Is No Longer a Theft

The Ape Woman

Formula 1 - Speed fever

In the Name of the Italian People

Sogni e bisogni

Ro.Go.Pa.G.

We Like It Cold

La Grande Bouffe

Pleased To See You Again

The New Monsters

Pigsty

Bertoldo, Bertoldino, and Cacasenno

The Man with the Balloons

La moglie è uguale per tutti

Complexes

Traffic Jam

My Pal, Dr. Jekyll