Alberto Sordi
Alberto Sordi was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter.
Sordi is considered one of the most important actors in the history of Italian cinema and one of the best in commedia all'italiana. Together with Nino Manfredi, Vittorio Gassman and Ugo Tognazzi he formed a quartet that starred in the most popular movies of this genre. His trio with Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Magnani was one of the most prominent in the Roman cinema.
Sordi established himself as an icon from a career that spanned seven decades of Italian cinema with his skills in comedy and light drama. He started as a voice actor and a theater actor, but eventually grew to fame as a comedian. In the 1960s, he started interpreting complex dramatic characters, as well as directing his own films: his credits as a director include 19 movies. Sordi won five Nastro d'argento, ten David di Donatello, a Golden Globe, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and many other awards and accolades.
Early years and education
Alberto Sordi was born in Rome, in via San Cosimato, 7, on the 15th of June, 1920. His father Pietro Sordi was a music professor, he played tuba contrabbasso in the orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma. His mother Maria Righetti was an elementary school teacher. Alberto Sordi was the fifth of their children, his elder siblings were Savina, Giuseppe, and Aurelia. He received his name after Alberto, the couple's third son, who died in 1916 being only several days old. The Sordi family was coming from Valmontone where Alberto spent a part of his childhood.Already in elementary school Alberto started staging small puppet plays. At the age of 7, he developed interest in opera. He sang in the Sistine Chapel Choir headed by Lorenzo Perosi. When Sordi's voice changed to bass, he studied opera and performed as an opera singer for several years. However, the parents did not support his pursuit of an acting career. Only the maternal grandfather Primo Righetti encouraged Alberto Sordi to try himself as a performer and even presented him with a tuxedo with some money inside the pocket. For several years, he wore that costume on stage.
In 1936, he recorded a disc of children's fairy tales for the Fonit record company and left for Milan with the proceeds There Sordi enrolled to Accademia dei Filodrammatici, for which he abandoned his studies at the Istituto di Avviamento Commerciale "Giulio Romano" in Rome. However, to please his mother, he graduated as an accountant several years later. From Accademia dei Filodrammatici he was expelled for the thick Romanesco dialect. In light theatre, after an unsuccessful attempt with the company of Aldo Fabrizi and Anna Fougez in the 1936–1937 season in the show San Giovanni, he tried again in the following season. He formed a comic duo with his childhood friend, they debuted at Cinema Teatro Pace in Milan but had little success and had to go back to Rome.
Career
Voice actor
In 1937, he returned to Rome and found himself several roles as a background actor at Cinecittà. In the same year, he won a competition organised by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to dub the voice of Oliver Hardy, along with Mauro Zambuto, who dubbed Stan Laurel. As recalled by Sordi himself, he went into the auditions with no specific dubbing experience and with little expectation of success, given the competition from established professionals in the industry. It was MGM dubbing director Franco Schirato who considered Sordi's low register and 'warm and mellow' voice an ideal match for the character's considerable size ; he was therefore cast without delay, debuting in the dubbing of the comedy Below Zero in 1939, followed by the feature film The Flying Deuces in the same year.As a voice actor, Sordi worked until 1956. In addition to numerous other Laurel and Hardy films, he gave the voice to, among others, Bruce Bennett, Anthony Quinn, John Ireland, Robert Mitchum, Pedro Armendáriz and, for the Italians, Franco Fabrizi and even Marcello Mastroianni, in the 1950 film Sunday in August. His own voice was dubbed over by Gualtiero De Angelis in Cuori nella tormenta and Carlo Romano in Bullet for Stefano. After 1952, he no longer worked as a voice actor, giving all his energy to acting.
Theater and cinema actor
Sordi finally managed to make his debut in the revue theatre in the company of and Nanda Primavera in the 1938–1939 season with the show Ma in campagna è un'altra... rosa. In this show he initially had the role of stilé, but was later promoted to the role of butler in a sketch by Benini and Gori written especially for him. In 1938–39, he played in several movies, including Princess Tarakanova and The Night of Tricks.In 1940, he was called to arms. He was assigned to the 82nd Infantry Regiment "Torino" and served in the regimental orchestra, they played accompanying the soldiers' departures for the brief French campaign. During the service, Sordi still had time to pursue his artistic career. In this period, he played minor roles in Giararub directed by Goffredo Alessandrini, La Signorina by Ladislao Kish, Le signorine della villa accanto by Gian Paolo Rosmino. The first major success came with Mario Mattoli's The Three Pilots. On stage he was getting known as a comedian and joined the Compagnia di riviste di Fanfulla. In 1943, he played a part in Mattoli's Ritorna Za-Bum at Teatro Quirino.
In 1950, with Vittorio De Sica he co-founded the P.F.C., but disengaged from it in 1951. Also in 1950, he debuted as a protagonist in Mamma Mia, What an Impression!. However, the film received tepid reviews from critics and the audience. In 1951 he first started collaborating with Federico Fellini: they made The White Sheik in 1952 and I vitelloni in 1953, a movie about young slackers, in which he plays a weak immature loafer. For I vitelloni Sordi was praised by critics and for the first time appreciated highly as a dramatic actor and honoured with Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor In 1954 he played in as many as in 13 films, including An American in Rome, Il seduttore, etc. Late in 1953, Sordi went to New York with Goffredo Lombardo who intended to shoot there Un romano a New York. Though the project was never realized, the trip made Sordi think about perspectives in foreign cinema.
For his performance in The Bachelor directed by Antonio Pietrangeli, Sordi was awarded with Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor. In 1955, during a trip to Kansas city, he was greatly welcomed as the city was a homeland of his character. Sordi was presented with the symbolic key to the city and the title of honorary citizen.
As the genre of Italian comedy progressed and took shape, Sordi's signature character crystallized into something that critics referred to as so-called 'average Italian'. These characters tend to be overbearing with the weak and servile with the powerful, from whom they try to get privileges. Promotion of such characters was criticized and by some called 'giving a bad example' because their representation somehow justified such behavior and gave some the example as an excuse for their meagreness. Some important characters he did were Ubaldo Impallato in Bravissimo, Peppino in Fortunella, Bepi in Venice, the Moon and You, Alberto Nardi in Il vedovo.
In 1959, Sordi appeared in Monicelli's Great War, considered by many critics and film historians to be one of the best Italian comedies. For the role in this film, he was awarded with his second Nastro d'Argento for Best Actor and the first David di Donatello. The Great War marks a turning point in his career, when Sordi moved on from playing meager 'average Italians' to interpreting complex dramatic characters. The 1960 film Everybody Go Home directed by Luigi Comencini also was a great success, it was referred to as one of the most important cinema in post-war Italy. Sordi won his second David di Donatello for it, as well as the Grolla d'oro.
Sordi acted alongside Britain's David Niven in the World War II comedy The Best of Enemies. In 1963, he was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical or Comedy for Il diavolo. The movie also won the Golden Bear at Berlin International Film Festival. In 1965, he was in another highly regarded comedy, I complessi.
In 1969, he was a juror at the 6th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1984, he directed and co-scripted Tutti dentro, in which he played a judge who has warrants for corruption served on ministers and businessmen. In 1985, he was a member of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival. Sordi appeared in more than 150 films in his film career.
Film director
His credits as a director include 19 films.In 1966, Sordi made his directorial debut with the comedy Fumo di Londra, acting as both writer and performer in the lead role. The performance brought him another David di Donatello. In 1967, together with Vittorio De Sica, he went to the USA where they co-created An Italian in America. From that moment Sordi decided to concentrate on creating his own films, where he would be both director and screenwriter. In 1969, he released Help Me, My Love starring Monica Vitti. He made two more movies with Vitti in the main lead: Polvere di stelle and I Know That You Know That I Know.
In 1980, he released Catherine and I. Two years later, he directed Journey with Papa where he starred alongside Carlo Verdone. The duo of two actors from different generations was very well received by audiences and the film's box office were record high. Released during the Christmas holidays, the film started Sordi's tradition of making a film every year before Christmas. In December 1983, he released.
In 1984, he directed and co-scripted Tutti dentro, in which he played a judge who has warrants for corruption served on ministers and businessmen. In 1985, Sordi was a member of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival.