Eduardo De Filippo


Eduardo De Filippo OMRI, also known mononymously as Eduardo, was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and . Considered one of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century, De Filippo was the author of many theatrical dramas staged and directed by himself first and later awarded and played outside Italy. For his artistic merits and contributions to Italian culture, he was named senator for life by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini.

Early life and family

De Filippo was born in Naples on 26 May 1900. For many years, his birth date was mistakenly thought to be 24 May, but recent research in anagraphic books proved 26 to be the right date. Eduardo was the second son of playwright and actor Eduardo Scarpetta, the "king" of Neapolitan theatre, and theatre seamstress and costumier Luisa De Filippo. He and his siblings Annunziata "Titina" and Giuseppe "Peppino" were extramarital because Scarpetta was actually married since 1876 to Rosa De Filippo, Luisa's paternal aunt. Scarpetta had six more illegitimate children from various affairs, including actors Ernesto Murolo and Eduardo Passarelli. Scarpetta never acknowledged Eduardo De Filippo and his siblings, which is why the son took his mother's name.

Career

Theatre

Eduardo De Filippo first appeared on stage at the age of four. At 14, he became a professional actor in Scarpetta's company and played there until 1927. In 1925, the company played in Milan's Teatro Fossati where Eduardo di Filippo was spotted and then praised in a review by Renato Simoni, then the most influential critic of Italy.
In 1931, Eduardo formed a theatre company with his brother Peppino and sister Titina, called Compagnia del Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo. They invented a new genre and a unique artistic approach, rooted in commedia dell'arte but not prone to its limitations. In 1931–32 the company toured Italy, then they returned to Naples and staged for Teatro Nuovo such plays as Farmacia di turno, Tutti insieme canteremo, Miseria Bella. On 24 December 1931, they performed a one-act play Natale in casa Cupiello and it has such success that the engagement was extended for 6 months instead of one week. Soon they moved to Sannazzaro and staged there Chi è cchiu' felice 'e me, Amore e balestre. Soon Pirandello give Eduardo the right to adapt Liolà, the play with Peppino in the title role had great success. It was followed by several other plays, gradually Compagnia del Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo grew into one of the most influential theatre companies in the country and was acknowledged as the one that made a revolution in Italian theatre. The protagonists of Eduardo's plays were usually misfortuned, traumatized, and scorned by the closest relatives and friends, but remained full of virtue and human dignity. The pain of the heroes was always taken from life itself and that is why Eduardo's plays resonated with the audience.
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, raising sympathies for Fascism in society made the company's work much harder: their performances were often interrupted and the brothers received multiple threats. In 1936, 1938, and 1941 Eduardo's antifascist stance was officially condemned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1937, he refused to participate in Sabato teatrale. In 1944, under the Italian Social Republic, Eduardo and Peppino were included in the list of people to be exiled from Rome to the North.
Peppino left the troupe in 1944 due to artistic differences, so in 1945 Eduardo and Titina created Teatro di Eduardo. They debuted in Naples in Teatro San Carlo on 25 March 1945. However, Titina left the company in the early 1950s. After the war, in 1948 Eduardo bought the S. Ferdinando theatre in Naples, inaugurated in 1954. However, in 1954 Titina was forced to leave the company and the theatre due to health problems.
In 1962, the company toured in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Austria, and Belgium.
In 1967, he presented Il Contratto at the 26th Theatre Festival in Venezia. Also in 1967, his son Luca started playing in his father's company, first under the pseudonym Luca della Porta.
In the 1970s, De Filippo came to London; in 1972, he performed his famed play Napoli milionaria. In 1973, Franco Zeffirelli's production of De Filippo's 1959 play Sabato, domenica e lunedì, starring Joan Plowright, Frank Finlay, and Laurence Olivier, was presented at London's National Theatre and won the London drama critics' award.
On 18 December 1972, he was honoured with the Antonio Feltrinelli Award for his lifelong contribution to theatrical arts. De Filippo was praised for his poetic approach and unique way of showing drama through comedy; for breaking the limits of a dialect and opening Neapolitan culture to the world.
In January 1980, after several years of struggle, he finally opened his drama school in Florence.
In 1981, for "highest achievements in the arts of theatre and literature", he was named senator for life by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini. In the same year, he was appointed to lead the 1981–82 course of Literature at the Theatre Institute in Rome.

Cinema

De Filippo first role in cinema was in Mario Bonnard's Tre uomini in frak.
In 1950, De Filippo filmed Napoli milionaria, based on his 1945 play. He also starred in De Sica's L'oro di Napoli with Totò and Sophia Loren in 1954. In 1964, Vittorio De Sica made Matrimonio all’Italiana based on De Filippo's play Filumena Marturano, where Filumena was portrayed by Sophia Loren.
In 1979, Laurence Olivier filmed Filumena with Frank Finlay and Joan Plowright in the lead roles.
De Filippo was the one to discover the talent of Marina Confalone, in his theatre company she thrived into one of the best Italian actresses of her time.

Personal life and death

De Filippo was married three times. His first wife was Dorothy Pennington, they married in 1928 and separated after a few months. In 1954, he married the actress Thea Prandi, with whom he already had two children: Luisa "Luisella" and Luca. Luisella played in her father's theatre and showed remarkable talent. The couple separated in 1959. In early 1960, on Christmas holidays Luisella, stayed with her mother and brother at the Savoia-Belvedere hotel near Rome. On 5 January 1960, she suddenly lost consciousness while playing and died suddenly from a cerebral haemorrhage. De Filippo was at the rehearsal when he got the news, he never fully recovered. Luisella was buried at Verano cemetery. Thea Prandi died in 1961 from a tumour. On 4 February 1977, he married writer and playwright Isabella Quarantotti. The actress Angelica Ippolito is his step-daughter, born to Quarantotti and her first husband, scientist Felice Ippolito.
In 1963, De Filippo lost his sister Titina after a long illness. In 1980, his brother Peppino died. Eduardo died of kidney failure on 31 October 1984, in Rome, at the age of 84. His artistic legacy was inherited by his son Luca.

Works

Theatre

  • Farmacia di turno
  • Uomo e galantuomo
  • *Requie a l'anema soja/I morti non fanno paura
  • Ditegli sempre di sì
  • Filosoficamente
  • Sik-sik, l'artefice magico
  • Chi è cchiu' felice 'e me
  • Quei figuri di trent'anni fa
  • Ogni anno punto e da capo
  • È arrivato 'o trentuno
  • Natale in casa Cupiello
  • La voce del padrone/Il successo del giorno
  • Napoli milionaria
  • Filumena Marturano
  • Questi fantasmi
  • Le voci di dentro
  • La grande magia
  • La paura numero uno
  • Mia famiglia
  • Bene mio e core mio
  • De Pretore Vincenzo
  • Sabato, domenica e lunedì
  • Il sindaco del rione Sanità
  • L'arte della commedia
  • Il monumento
  • ''Gli esami non finiscono mai''

Filmography