The Treccani Italian Encyclopedia
Institute has added famed late Roman actor Alberto Sordi to the
93rd volume of its Biographical Dictionary of Italians, a
project that began in 1960 and is still incomplete.
Sordi's entry, curated by film critic and film historian
Alberto Crespi, is included in the just-published volume, which
runs from Pope Sixtus V to 20th-century politician and banker
Gaetano Stammati.
The chapter devoted to the actor reviews his career in
theatre, radio, dubbing, and cinema, along with a host of
interesting anecdotes and curious facts.
One example touches on Sordi's first two films - Mamma mia
che impressione! and The White Sheik - both of which were
colossal flops, in recalling how Sordi once said in an interview
that the films were such flops that people thought even
mentioning them would bring bad luck.
The encyclopedia entry tells the story of how, despite these
flops, great director Federico Fellini wanted Sordi at all costs
in his 1953 film I Vitelloni.
However, the director had to accept the fact that Sordi's
name wouldn't appear on the posters, to prevent movie goers from
avoiding the film.
The entry also recalls that a debate still rages today among
film critics and fans over the real name of Sordi's character in
one of his most iconic films, An American in Rome.
The character's first name, Nando, isn't up for debate, but
the character's last name is often pronounced in subtly
different ways during the film, resulting in speculation over
whether it is actually Mericoni, Meliconi, or even Moriconi.
Sordi was born in the Trastevere neighbourhood of Rome on
June 15, 1920, and starred in a long list of successful films
with various directors, including Dino Risi, Giorgio Bianchi,
Mario Monicelli, Vittorio De Sica, Elio Petri, and Luigi Filippo
D'Amico.
Crespi said there were years in which "nearly all films were
written for him".
"The scripts for both Dino Risi films Il Sorpasso and I
Mostri were made for him, and the fortunate thing for the other
'colonels' of comedy (Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi, Nino
Manfredi) was that Sordi had slowed down (in 1954 alone he
starred in 12 films) and he couldn't, nor did he want to, make
all the films that were offered to him," Crespi said.
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