Lando Buzzanca

Born in Sicily, Lando Buzzanca sought fame as an actor from an early age. After dropping out of school and relocating to Rome as a teenager in the early 1950s, Buzzanca worked a series of odd jobs, landing his first minor film role as a Jewish slave in the 1959 production of "Ben-Hur." From there, he slowly ascended the ranks of the Italian film world, playing supporting roles in movies such as 1961's "Divorce, Italian Style" with Sophia Loren and Antonio Pietrangeli's 1963 comedy "The Girl from Parma." During the sexual revolution of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Buzzanco came to typify the macho ladies' man in films like 1967's "Don Juan in Sicily," 1969's "The Viking Who Became a Bigamist" and 1971's "Homo Eroticus." Throughout the 1970s, Buzzanca became more famous in other countries than in his native Italy as he cemented his image as the typical Italian male by his appearances in the comedies "The Senator Likes Women" and "Una noche embarazosa." In 1984, the actor turned his attention to television when he hosted the Italian variety show "Varietà," and from there began a second career as a TV personality. In 2010, Buzzanca starred in the series "Io e mio figlio - Nuove storie per il commissario Vivaldi," and in 2012 the veteran performer juggled two popular series, "Il restauratore" and "Terra Ribelle 2."