Toth Database - Cinema

Roberto Remigio Benigni

Castiglion Fiorentino , 27 October 1952

Roberto was born in Manciano Mercy, near Castiglion Fiorentino (Arezzo), by Luigi Benigni, and Isolina Pipi, both farmers. Roberto, is the youngest after their sisters Bruna, Albertina and Anna. In 1958 he moved with his family to lawn, and later in Vergaio. Enrolled in Seminary, abandons him after the flood of 4 November 1966, to complete his secondary studies in the Istituto Tecnico commerciale Dantini di Prato earning his diploma in accounting. Her true passion is for the show. In 1983 while filming Tu mi Turbi knows the actress Nicoletta Braschi who would become his wife on 26 December 1911 with a private ceremony in the cloistered convent of the Capuchin Sisters of via Pacchioni in Cesena. Having started as a singer and musician debuted on stage in December 1971, late teens, at the Teatro Metastaio di Prato with the show The naked King directed by Paolo Magelli. Tuscan farmer's character that he outlines, largely autobiographical, already contains the ambivalence that characterizes even after his interpretations: firstly, an unbounded exuberance gestural and verbal, especially that recurs again Open the plebleo and elocution irreverence towards any form of authority, on the other hand an almost childlike candor, that gives way to a surreal mood and melancholy. In 1976 is sent to the Premio Tenco and contribute significantly to its assertion that this will also participate in the 1977, 1979, 1981, 1986. In 1977 Roberto Benigni arrives at the cinema with the movie Berlinguer I love you, written and directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci, the film through many hardships, before at a part of critics and audiences as a movie cult. The censors of the time attacked the film, preventing its spread in several rooms.Italian Communist Party sympathizer, on 6 June 1983 appeared at a rally of the FGCI in Rome, where he took in her arms and rocked the leader Enrico Berlinguer. It was unprecedented; until then, Italian politicians were known for their seriousness and formality, and Berlinguer was the most serious of all. The event marked a turning point, after which politicians experimented with new ways, attending even less formal events and generally changing the style of their public life to an appearance more familiar. During the festival of San Remo 1980, Roberto Benigni staged a passionate kiss, live on television, with the presenter Olimpia Carlisi, but mainly makes history his epithet Wojtilaccio to reprimand the Pope who came from the East, Pope John Paul II. With Giuseppe Bertolucci will collaborate again in 1983 with an anthology of performances by comedian in squares and theatres throughout Italy, Tuttobenigni, then replicated on videotape in 1996 with Tuttobenigni. 

In 1983 he began his career as a film director with Tu mi turbi, film episodes. He began a collaboration with Renzo Arbore to two films:

Il pap'occhio of 1980 and "Ff. SS" – I.e. "... What did you bring me to do over a Posillipo if you don't love me anymore?", a film that does not get the expected success. First landed in the United States of America acted in three films directed by his friend Jim Jarmusch: Daunabailò of 1986, in the series of shorts Coffe and Cigarettes of 1987. In 1988 began a fruitful collaboration with author and screenwriter Vincenzo in four films he produced for his Cinematic Melampus, founded together with Nicoletta Braschi in 1991, which gets an extraordinary success, in the little devil, starred by Walter Matthau in the role of a demon sent to Earth to discover the world, in the second, Johnny Toothpick, splits into two characters. In 1997 reaches international fame with the movie life is beautiful, the film elicits criticism for the strokes at times ironic, at odds with the subject matter, (Luigi Benigni, son of a former deported during the war in a Nazi labor, and the movie is based on his experiences), defended the choice of treating this subject with different approach, the script with strokes of drama and comedy, in fact aims to accentuate the drama and emotion of some scenes, thanks to this contrast. Movie exorcises the tragedy with an emphasis on the effect it can have on a child. In the film is the father portrayed by actor will, to save the destiny and the soul of the son. Filming began in November 1996 and was completed in April of the following year, and cost around 15 billion Lire. The film was shot mainly in Arezzo hometown with the same benign. In Italy, the film had a great success with the public, such as to win nine David di Donatello in 1998 in the evening ceremony, as well as many other international awards. 

In 2001 starts the processing of Pinocchio, announced in autumn 2000 and released in theaters on October 11 2002, Italian is the most expensive Italian history (45 million euros). Roberto Benigni is also a businessman in various industries from film production Film Melampo, to real estate, to distributing powdered milk for infants ( Safe srl di Cesena ) .

Published works 

1984/ We can do is cry, with Massimo Troisi, Mondadori, Milano

Johnny Stecchino, with Vincenzo Cerami, Rome – Naples, Theoria

1992/ Tuttobenigni – Berlinguer I love you – Cioni Mario di Gaspare fu Giulia, with Giuseppe Bertolucci, Rome – Naples, Theoria

1992/ When Benigni broke the video: the first tv lyrics by Roberto Benigni, Torino, Nuova Eri

1994/ The monster, with Vincenzo Cerami, Milan, Longanesi

1996/ And the big toe was. Monologues & gags, Torino, Einaudi 

1998/ Life is beautiful, with Vincenzo Cerami, Torino, Einaudi

 2008/ I'm a little Pinocchio-Roberto Benigni tells his film through the pages of the novel of Collodi, Firenze, Giunti, 2002 My Dante, Turin, Einaudi

Past productions

1971/ The naked King, directed by Paolo Magelli

1972/ The Barosaurus, by Silvano Abd directed by David Sannini

1972/ The tales of Basile of Vilda Ciurlo

1973/ The judge Bcacay, directed by David Sannini

1973/ The Countess and the cauliflower, by Mario Moretti and Lucia Poli, directed by Donao Sannini

1973/ Bai blue written and directed by Marco Messeri

1974/ Metamorphoses, Ovid's Metamorphoses, directed by Lucia Poli

1974/ The Court Stables, Franz Kroetz directed by David Sannini

1974/ The party, written and directed by Lucia Poli

1974/ I want to ruin by Marco Messeri

1975/ The myth of the cave by Plato directed by David Sannini

1977/ Crazy Freud, Darko Sannini

1981/ Tuttobenigni

1983/ Tuttobenigni ' 83

1989/ Tuttobenigni ' 89

1990/ Peter and the Wolf together with Claudio Abbado

1996/ Tuttobenigni 95/96 by Roberto Benigni

2006/ All, Dante, piazza Santa Croce, Florence

2007/ Tutto Dante, Italian Tour

2008/ Peter and the Wolf   together with Claudio Abbado

2008 – 2009/ Tutto Dante world tour

Filmography

1977/ Berlinguer I love you, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci

1979/ Wild beds -episode a Mommy, directed by Luigi Zampa

1979/ The days Sung, directed by Paolo Pietrangeli

1979/ The Moon, Bernardo Bertolucci

1979/ Clear woman, directed by Costa-Gavras

1979/ Seeking asylum, directed by Marco Ferreri

1980/ Il pap'occhio, directed by Renzo Arbore

1981/ The minestrone, directed by Sergio Citi

1981/ Even thieves have a Saint, directed by Giampiero Tartagni

1983/ Tu mi turbi, directed by Roberto Benigni

1983/ "FF.SS." – I.e. "... What did you bring me to do over a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più well?" Directed by Renzo Arbore

1984/ We can do is cry, directed by Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi

1986/ Tuttobenigni, directed by Giuseppe Bertolucci

1986/ "Coffee and Cigarettes" – episode Strange dating, directed by Jim Jarmusch

1986/ By law, directed by Jim Jarmusch

1988/ The little devil, directed by Roberto Benigni

1990/ The voice of the moon, directed by Roberto Benigni

1991/ Taxi drivers at night, episode Rome directed by Jim Jarmusch

1991/ Johnny Stecchino, directed by Roberto Benigni

1993/ Il fIbrahim of the Pink Panther, directed by Blake Edwards

1994/ The monster, directed by Roberto Benigni

1997/ Life is beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni

1999/ Asterix and Obelix against Caesar, directed by Claude Zidi

2002/ Pinocchio, directed by Roberto Benigni

2003/ Caterina in the big city, directed by Paolo Virzì

2005/ The Tiger and the snow, directed by Roberto Benigni

2012/ To Rome With Love, directed by Woody Allen

TV movies

1972/ Sisters Mattresses, directed by Mario Ferrero, Miniseries

1976/ Free wave, directed by Beppe Recchia, Miniseries

1979/ But what is this love?, directed by Ugo Gregoretti, Miniseries

Documentary film

2002/ Fellini, I'm a big liar., directed by Damian Pettigrew

2008/ Memories, but not only, by Paolo Brunatto

Roberto Benigni, actor

1972/ Sisters mattresses

1976/ Life from Ceres

1976/ Free Wave – Televacca

1977/ Moreover, it was a wonderful summer, directed by Luciano Michetti Ricci

1978/ The other Sunday, with Renzo Arbore

1978/ The rally, directed by Paolo Brunatto

1978/ The Windbag, directed by Marco Melani

1978/ Thief of dreams, directed by Fiorella Infascelli

1979/ But what is this love?

1982/ Morto Troisi, Viva Troisi

1982/ The egg World, di Paola Pajaziti

2001/ Dante: Inferno e Paradiso, Roberto Benigni, recites the Divine Comedy

2002/ The last of paradise

2007/ The fifth of hell

2012/ The most beautiful in the world

2014/ The ten commandments