Paolo Villaggio

Paolo Villaggio was one of the most beloved comedic talents in Italian history. As an actor, writer, director, and comedian, Villaggio created characters beloved for their eccentricities, including the overbearing Professor Krantz, the shy Giandomenico Fraccha, and most famously, the grotesquely servile accountant Ugo Fantozzi. Village also found time to author books, and act in dramatic roles. Born in Genoa, Italy on December 30, 1932, Villaggio's family expected him to become a lawyer, but he dropped out of law school before he could earn his degree. He worked a number of odd jobs after leaving university, including as a clerk at a steel company, where he first dreamt up the character of Ugo Fantozzi. His comedic chops impressed the TV host Maurizio Costanzo, who helped Villaggio secure a spot with a cabaret in Rome. Before long, he was hired by the TV show "Quelli della domenica (Those Guys of Sunday)" to perform his characters on the air. Villaggio's appearances were a hit, and lead to him securing writing gigs with the magazines L'Espresso and L'Europeo, where he contributed hilarious short stories about his beleaguered accountant Ugo Fantozzi, which were eventually collected into a tome by Rizzoli Publishing House, and released under the title "Fantozzi" in 1971. The book was a massive hit, selling over a million copies and receiving the prestigious Gogol Prize in Moscow. In 1975, the book was turned into a film by director Luciano Salce. It too was a hit, and lead to a sequel the following year, entitled "il second tragico Fantozzi" (1976). Villagio would keep writing throughout the 80s, and by the nineties, he was also appearing in films by some of the world's most renowned directors, including Federico Fellini's final film, "La voce della luna" (1990), Lina Wertmüller's "lo speriamio che me la cavo" (1992), and Ermanno Olmi's "The Secret of the Old Woods" (1993). On July 3, 2017, Paolo Villaggio died in Rome, from complications due to diabetes. He was 84 years old.