Ugo Tognazzi

About Ugo Tognazzi

Who is it?: Actor, Director, Writer
Birth Day: March 23, 1922
Birth Place:  Cremona, Lombardy, Italy, Italy
Died On: 27 October 1990(1990-10-27) (aged 68)\nRome, Lazio, Italy
Birth Sign: Aries
Occupation: actor, director, screenwriter
Years active: 1950–1990
Height: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Political party: Radical Party
Spouse(s): Franca Bettoia (1972–1990)

Ugo Tognazzi Net Worth

Ugo Tognazzi was born on March 23, 1922 in  Cremona, Lombardy, Italy, Italy, is Actor, Director, Writer. Despite his many superb performances accumulated over a four-decade stretch (and I do mean many), this virile, mustachioed, stocky-framed Italian character star will be forever cherished if only for his one classic comedy role, that of slightly mincing gay cabaret owner Renato Baldi in La cage aux folles (1978), one of the biggest cross-over foreign hits to ever land on American soil. Born in Cremona, Italy, on March 23, 1922, by the time he was a teen he was a bookkeeper for a salami factory and performed in local amateur theatricals on the sly. Appearing on the stage, he finally found an entry into films at age 28 in 1950. He built a solid resume in primarily Neopolitan features and became a middle-aged European star the following decade. Turning in a number of powerhouse character studies, he excelled as bon vivants, adulterous husbands and other suave gents in farcical comedy and saucy, sardonic romps, particularly those of director/writer Marco Ferreri, yet demonstrated remarkable range when it came to portraying world-weary protagonists in political drama or grim satire. For Ferreri alone he appeared in the award-winning Una storia moderna - L'ape regina (1963) [The Conjugal Bed]; Controsesso (1964) [Countersex]; Marcia nuziale (1966) [The Wedding March]; L'udienza (1972) [The Audience] and the masterful La grande bouffe (1973), among others.For whatever reason, he decided to take a chance and co-star with the wonderful Michel Serrault in an image-shattering part in 1978. What he did was experience the most popular role of his career as one-half of an aging homosexual couple who operate a drag club. "La Cage Aux Folles" went on to spawn two sequels and an American remake. Tognazzi won several acting honors over the course of his long career and, in 1981, capped it off with the Cannes Film Festival award for his trenchant performance in La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo (1981) [Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man], the tale of a near-bankrupt factory owner who attempts to use the kidnapping of his son (played by his real-life eldest son Ricky Tognazzi) to his financial advantage. Although he directed a handful of his own films, some of them explicitly sexual in nature, he achieved his true brilliance in the works of other famed European directors, notably Ferrari, Bertolucci, Risi, Molinaro and Monicelli. Tognazzi was also the father of actor Gianmarco Tognazzi and director Maria Sole Tognazzi, and had another son, producer/writer Thomas Robsahm, via a relationship with actress Margrete Robsahm. In 1972, at age 50, Tognazzi wed actress Franca Bettoia, who survives him. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1990 at age 68.
Ugo Tognazzi is a member of Actor

💰 Net worth: Under Review

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Biography/Timeline

1943

After his return to his native city in 1936, he worked in a salami production plant. During World War II, he was inducted into the Army and returned home after the Armistice of 8 September 1943, and joined the Brigate Nere for a while. His passion for theater and acting dates from his early years, and also during the conflict he organized shows for his fellow Soldiers. In 1945, he moved to Milan, where he was enrolled in the theatrical company led by Wanda Osiris. A few years later, he formed his own successful musical revue company.

1950

In 1950, Tognazzi made his cinematic debut in I cadetti di Guascogna directed by Mario Mattoli. The following year, he met Raimondo Vianello, with whom he formed a successful comedy duo for the new-born RAI TV (1954–1960). Their shows, sometimes containing satirical material, were among the first to be censored on Italian television.

1955

His sons Ricky Tognazzi (b. 1955) and Gianmarco Tognazzi (b. 1967) are cinema actors. He was also the father of the Norwegian film Director and film Producer Thomas Robsahm (b. 1964). His daughter Maria Sole Tognazzi (b. 1971) is, like Ricky, a film Director.

1961

After the successful role in The Fascist (Il Federale) (1961), directed by Luciano Salce, Tognazzi became one of the most renowned characters of the so-called Commedia all'Italiana (Italian comedy style). He worked with all the main Directors of Italian cinema, including Mario Monicelli (Amici miei), Marco Ferreri (La grande abbuffata), Carlo Lizzani (La vita agra), Dino Risi, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Pigsty), Ettore Scola, Alberto Lattuada, Nanni Loy, Pupi Avati and others. Tognazzi also directed some of his films, including the 1967 film Il fischio al naso. The film was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival.

1968

Roger Vadim cast Tognazzi as Mark Hand, the Catchman, in Barbarella (1968). He rescues Barbarella (Jane Fonda) from the biting dolls she encounters, and after her rescue, he requests payment by asking her to make love with him (the "old-fashioned" way, not the psycho-cardiopathic way of their future).

1981

In 1981, he won the Best Male Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. While he worked primarily in Italian cinema, Tognazzi is perhaps best remembered for his role as Renato Baldi, the gay owner of a St. Tropez nightclub, in the 1978 French comedy La Cage aux Folles which became the highest grossing foreign film ever released in the U.S.

1990

Ugo Tognazzi died of a brain hemorrhage in Rome in 1990, although rumors persist to this day that his chronic depression led to suicide. He is buried in the cemetery of Velletri.