Paolo Villaggio

Paolo Villaggio (Italian: [ˈpaːolo vilˈladdʒo]; 30 December 1932 – 3 July 2017) was an Italian actor, comedian, film director, and writer. He is noted for the characters he created with paradoxical and grotesque characteristics: Professor Kranz, the ultra-timid Giandomenico Fracchia, and the obsequious and meek accountant Ugo Fantozzi, perhaps the favourite character in Italian comedy. He wrote several books, usually of satirical character. He also acted in dramatic roles, and appeared in several movies.

Early life

Paolo Villaggio was born in Genoa, to Ettore Villaggio (1905–1992), a surveyor originally from Palermo, and Maria, originally from Venice, a German-language teacher. Paolo had a twin brother, Piero, who taught at the University of Pisa.

From there, Villaggio was hired for the TV programme Quelli della domenica (The Sunday guys), in which Fantozzi made his first appearance, introduced his characters, the aggressive "Professor Kranz" and the hypocritical "Giandomenico Fracchia".

Career

Awards

He received several cinema awards, including the David di Donatello (1990), the Nastro d'Argento (1992) and the Golden Lion for his entire career (1992).

Fantozzi

After his television experience, Villaggio started writing, for the magazines L'Espresso and L'Europeo, short stories featuring accountant Ugo Fantozzi, a man with a weak character, dogged by misfortune and by the "mega-director" of the "mega-company" where he works. In 1971, the publishing house Rizzoli released the book Fantozzi, a collection of these stories, which sold over a million copies, followed soon by the sequel Il secondo tragico libro di Fantozzi.