[Deathwatch] Nino Manfredi, actor, 83

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Thanks to a few readers for this one as well - Ed.

Italian Actor Nino Manfredi Dies at 83

Fri Jun 4

ROME - Nino Manfredi, an Italian film star who appeared in some of the
finest Italian comedies of the 1960s and 1970s, died Friday. He was 83.


Manfredi suffered a stroke months ago and was hospitalized in Rome ever
since.

Manfredi worked with some of the greatest Italian directors, including
Dino Risi and Ettore Scola, appearing in more than 100 productions
during a 54-year screen career that began in 1949.

He was "perhaps the last of the great actors of an unrepeatable period
of our cinema," Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni said.

In 1968, he starred in "Straziami, Ma di Baci Saziami" ("Torture Me But
Kill Me with Kisses") by Risi; and a year later in "Nell'Anno del
Signore" ("The Conspirators") by Luigi Magni, a period piece about
political intrigue in Rome in the 1800s, which also starred Alberto
Sordi and Claudia Cardinale.

In the 1973 film "Pane e Cioccolata" ("Bread and Chocolate") by Franco
Brusati, Manfredi played an Italian immigrant seeking to be accepted in
Switzerland.

One of his greatest successes came a year later with "C'eravamo Tanto
Amati" ("We All Loved Each Other So Much") by Scola, also starring
Stefania Sandrelli and Vittorio Gassman.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi praised Manfredi for "portraying
the evolution of Italian society with irony and working-class wisdom."

Born Saturnino Manfredi in Castro dei Volsci, about 50 miles south of
Rome, he graduated in law, but soon moved to acting.

He started his career as a stage actor, working with Italian theatrical
legend Edoardo de Filippo, among others. Soon he shifted to the big
screen, where he became a mainstay in many "commedia all'italiana"
films.

In the early 1970s, Manfredi won a place in the heart of many Italians
with a TV performance as Geppetto, the puppetmaker who creates
Pinocchio, in one of the most successful adaptations of Carlo Collodi's
novel.

Manfredi also tried his hand at directing. His 1971 film "Per Grazia
Ricevuta" ("Between Miracles") was acclaimed by critics and won the
award for best first work at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2003, the
Venice Film Festival gave him a lifetime achievement award, but
Manfredi ? already ailing ? could not go to the Lido.

Manfredi is survived by his wife, Erminia Ferrari, and three children,
Roberta, Luca and Giovanna, the Apcom news agency said.

A funeral was to be held Monday in Rome, the ANSA news agency said.