Alberto Sordi
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Alberto Sordi, also known as Albertone, (June 15 1920, Rome - February 25 2003, Rome) was a beloved Italian actor and a film director. He was also the voice of Oliver Hardy in the Italian version of the Laurel & Hardy films. Not only an actor and director, Sordi can also be considered a key figure to understand Italian culture and history.
Early life
Born in Rome to a schoolteacher and a musician, Sordi enrolled in Milan's dramatic arts academy but was kicked out because of his thick Roman accent. Ironically, it was his accent that would later prove to be his trademark.Career
In a career that spanned seven decades, Sordi established himself as an icon of Italian cinema with his representative skill at both comedy and drama. His movie career began in the late working as a dubber for the Italian versions of Laurel and Hardy shorts, voicing Oliver Hardy. Early roles included Fellini’s The White Sheik in 1952, Fellini's I Vitelloni (1953), a movie about young slackers, in which he plays a weak, effeminate immature loafer and a starring role in Lo Scapolo (The Bachelor) playing a single man trying to find love. In 1959 he appeared in Monicelli's The Great War, considered by many critics and film historians to be one of the best Italian comedies. The Hollywood Foreign Press recognized his abilities when he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Il Diavolo (1963). Sordi acted alongside Britain’s David Niven in the World War II comedy The Best of Enemies and in 1965 he was in another highly regarded comedy, I Complessi (Complexes). Sordi also succeeded in dramatic roles, most notablely in 1977's Un Borghese Piccolo Piccolo (An Average Little Man) in which he portrays a man whose son is killed in an armed robbery and sets out to extract revenge. In 1984, he directed and coscripted Tutti Dentro (Everybody Inside), in which he played a magistrate who has warrants for corruption served on ministers and businessmen.Selected filmography
- Lo Sceicco Bianco (1951) [link]
- I Vitelloni (1953)
- Il seduttore (1954)
- Mi permette babbo (1956)
- Il conte Max (1957)
- La grande Guerra (1959)
- Tutti a casa (1960)
- Il vigile (1960)
- Gastone (1960)
- Una vita difficile (1961)
- I due nemici (1962)
- ''An Italian in America (1967)
- Il medico della mutua (1968)
- Detenuto in attesa di giudizio (1971)
- Lo scopone scientifico (1972)
- Un borghese piccolo piccolo (1978)
Awards
Sordi won five David di Donatello, Italy's most prestigious film award, and four awards for his works from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists. He also received a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 1995, and The Golden Globe Award for his performance as an Italian labourer stranded in Sweden in To Bed or Not to Bed. In 1999, the city of Rome made him honorary mayor for a day to celebrate his eightieth birthday.Death
Sordi died shortly before his eighty-third birthday following a heart attack, he was the last survivor of the golden era of Italian cinema.External links
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