Roberto Benigni
Encyclopedia
Roberto Remigio Benigni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI
(roˈbɛrto beˈniɲɲi; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director of film, theatre and television.
of Castiglion Fiorentino
), Italy, the son of Isolina Papini, a fabric inspector, and Remigio Benigni, a bricklayer, carpenter, and farmer. He was raised Catholic and served as an altar boy. His first experiences as a theatre actor took place in 1971, in Prato
. During that autumn he moved to Rome where he took part in some experimental theatre shows, some of which he also directed. In 1975, Benigni had his first theatrical success with Cioni Mario di Gaspare fu Giulia, written by Giuseppe Bertolucci.
Benigni became famous in Italy in the 1970s for a shocking TV series called Onda Libera, on RAI2, by Renzo Arbore
, in which he interpreted the satirical piece "anthem of the melted body" (L'inno del corpo sciolto, a hymn to defecation
). A great scandal for the time, the series was suspended due to censorship
. His first film was 1977's Berlinguer ti voglio bene, also by Bertolucci.
Afterwards, he appeared during a public political demonstration by the Italian Communist Party
, with which he was a sympathiser, and on this occasion he lifted and cradled the national leader Enrico Berlinguer
, a very serious figure. It was an unprecedented act, given that until that moment Italian politicians were proverbially serious and formal. It represented a breaking point, after which politicians experimented with newer habits and "public manners", attended fewer formal events and, generally speaking, modified their lifestyle in order to exhibit a more popular behaviour. Benigni was censored again in the 1980s for calling the Pope John Paul II
something impolite during an important live TV show ("Wojtylaccio", meaning "Bad Wojtyla" in Italian).
His popularity increased with L'altra domenica (1976/9), another TV show by Arbore in which Benigni portrays a lazy film critic who never watches the films he's asked to review. Then Bernardo Bertolucci
cast him in a small speechless role as a window upholsterer in the film La Luna
which evaded American distribution due to its subject matter.
te actress Nicoletta Braschi
, who was to become his wife and who has starred in most of the films he directed.
Benigni's first film as director was Tu mi turbi (You upset me, 1983
). This film was also his first collaboration with Nicoletta Braschi
.
In 1984, he played in Non ci resta che piangere
("Nothing left to do but cry") with the very popular comic actor Massimo Troisi
. The story was a fable in which the protagonists are suddenly thrown back in time to the 15th century, just a little before 1492. They start looking for Columbus
in order to stop him from discovering the Americas (although for very personal love reasons), but are not able to reach him.
. In Down By Law
(1986
) (which in Italy had its title spelled "Daunbailò", in Italian phonetics) he played Bob, the innocent abroad, convicted for manslaughter, whose irrepressible good humour and optimism help him escape and find love (also starring Braschi as his beloved.) In Night on Earth, (1991
) he plays a cabbie in Rome, causing his passenger, a priest, great discomfort and a heart attack by confessing his bizarre sexual experiences. Later, he also starred in the first of Jarmusch's series of short films, Coffee and Cigarettes
(2003).
In 1990, he was a member of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival
.
In 1993, he starred in Son of the Pink Panther
, directed by veteran Blake Edwards
. There, he played Peter Sellers
' Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son who is assigned to save the Princess of Lugash. The film bombed in the US, but was a hit in Italy, his home country.
A serious role was in Federico Fellini
's last film, La voce della luna
(1989). In earlier years Benigni had started a long-lasting collaboration with screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami, for a series of films which scored great success in Italy: Il piccolo diavolo ("The little devil", with Walter Matthau
), Johnny Stecchino
("Johnny Toothpick"), and Il mostro
("The Monster").
tragicomedy
Life Is Beautiful
(La vita è bella), filmed in Arezzo
, also written by Cerami. The film is about an Italian Jewish man who tries to protect his son's innocence during his internment at a Nazi
concentration camp, by telling him that the Holocaust
is an elaborate game and he must adhere very carefully to the rules to win. Benigni's father had spent three years in a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen
, and La vita è bella is based in part on his father's experiences. Although the story and presentation of the film had been discussed during production with different Jewish groups to limit the offense it might cause, the film was attacked by many critics who accused it of presenting the Holocaust without much suffering, and some who considered that "laughing at everything" was not remotely appropriate, let alone credible. More favorable critics praised Benigni's artistic daring and skill to create a sensitive comedy involving the tragedy, a challenge that Charles Chaplin confessed he would not have done with The Great Dictator
had he been aware of the horrors of the Holocaust.
In 1998, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards. At the 1999 ceremony
Benigni received the award for Best Actor
(the first for a male performer in a non-English-speaking role, and only the third overall acting Oscar for non-English-speaking roles), the score by Nicola Piovani
won Best Original Dramatic Score, and the film was awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
, which Benigni accepted as the film's director.
Famously, in the midst of being so giddy with delight after Life Is Beautiful was announced as the Best Foreign Film, Benigni climbed over and then stood on the backs of the seats in front of him and applauded the audience before proceeding to the stage. And after winning his Best Actor Oscar later in the evening, he said in his acceptance speech, "There must be some terrible mistake, I used up all my English!" At the following year's ceremony
, when he read the nominees for Best Actress
(won by Hilary Swank
for Boys Don't Cry
), host Billy Crystal
playfully appeared behind him with a large net to restrain Benigni if he got excessive with his antics again.
Benigni played one of the main characters in Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar
as Detritus, a corrupted Roman tax collector who wants to kill Julius Caesar, thereby seizing control of the Roman Republic
.
As a director, his 2002
film Pinocchio
, one of the costliest films in Italian cinema, performed well in Italy, but it bombed in North America, with a 0% critics' score at Rotten Tomatoes
.
That same year, he gave a typically energetic and revealing interview to Canadian filmmaker Damian Pettigrew
for Fellini: I'm a Born Liar
(2002), a cinematic portrait of the maestro that was nominated for Best Documentary at the European Film Awards, Europe's equivalent of the Oscars. The film went on to win the prestigious Rockie Award for Best Arts Documentary at the Banff World Television Festival (2002) and the Coup de Coeur at the International Sunnyside of the Doc Marseille (2002).
In 2003, Benigni was honored by the National Italian American Foundation
(NIAF), receiving the Foundation's NIAF Special Achievement Award in Entertainment.
Benigni's latest film is La tigre e la neve (The Tiger and the Snow
, 2005), a love story set during the initial stage of the Iraq War.
On 15 October 2005, he performed an impromptu strip tease on Italy's most watched evening news program, removing his shirt and draping it over the newscaster's shoulders. Prior to removing his shirt, Benigni had already hijacked the opening credits of the news program, jumping behind the newscaster and announcing: "Berlusconi has resigned!" (Benigni is an outspoken critic of media tycoon and then former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
.) The previous day, he had led a crowd of thousands in Rome on Friday in protest at the center-right government's decision to cut state arts funding by 35 percent.
On 2 February 2007, he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa
by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
, Belgium. On 22 April 2008, the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa
was conferred on him by the University of Malta
, celebrated by a Settimana Dantesca including Benigni's first stage appearance at a university and the premiere of his performing with Dante scholar Robert Hollander.
Benigni has reportedly received offers to bring his Dante show to Broadway, all of which he has turned down.
), appreciated for his explanation and recitations of Dante
's Divina Commedia
by memory. He has reached over 45% Italian households with his lectures on the Divine Comedy.
During 2006 and 2007, Benigni had a lot of success touring Italy with his 90-minute "one man show" show TuttoDante ("Everything About Dante
"). Combining current events and memories of his past narrated with an ironic tone, Benigni then begins a journey of poetry and passion through the world of the Divine Comedy.
TuttoDante has been performed in numerous Italian piazzas, arenas, and stadiums for a total of 130 shows, with an estimated audience of about one million spectators. Over 10 million more spectators watched the TV show, Il V° dell’Inferno ("The 5th of Hell"), broadcast by Rai Uno
on 29 November 2007, with re-runs on Rai International.
Benigni began North American presentations of TuttoDante with an announcement that he learned English to bring the gift of Dante's work to English speakers. The English performance incorporates dialectic discussion of language and verse and is a celebration of modernity and the concept of human consciousness as created by language.
In 2009, Benigni brought "TuttoDante" to the United States with performances in San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. Following his U.S. premiere in San Francsico on May 26, 2009, Benigni was feted at a special reception held by the National Italian American Foundation
(NIAF) in his honor.
's songs.
Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic was founded as the senior order of knighthood by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi in 1951...
(roˈbɛrto beˈniɲɲi; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter and director of film, theatre and television.
Early years
Benigni was born in Manciano La Misericordia (a frazioneFrazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of Castiglion Fiorentino
Castiglion Fiorentino
Castiglion Fiorentino is a small, walled city in eastern Tuscany, Italy, in the province of Arezzo, between the cities of Arezzo and Cortona. It is well known for its annual festivals and Etruscan archeological site.-Geography:...
), Italy, the son of Isolina Papini, a fabric inspector, and Remigio Benigni, a bricklayer, carpenter, and farmer. He was raised Catholic and served as an altar boy. His first experiences as a theatre actor took place in 1971, in Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...
. During that autumn he moved to Rome where he took part in some experimental theatre shows, some of which he also directed. In 1975, Benigni had his first theatrical success with Cioni Mario di Gaspare fu Giulia, written by Giuseppe Bertolucci.
Benigni became famous in Italy in the 1970s for a shocking TV series called Onda Libera, on RAI2, by Renzo Arbore
Renzo Arbore
Lorenzo Giovanni Arbore is an Italian TV host, showman, singer, musician, film actor and film director.-Career:...
, in which he interpreted the satirical piece "anthem of the melted body" (L'inno del corpo sciolto, a hymn to defecation
Defecation
Defecation is the final act of digestion by which organisms eliminate solid, semisolid or liquid waste material from the digestive tract via the anus. Waves of muscular contraction known as peristalsis in the walls of the colon move fecal matter through the digestive tract towards the rectum...
). A great scandal for the time, the series was suspended due to censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
. His first film was 1977's Berlinguer ti voglio bene, also by Bertolucci.
Afterwards, he appeared during a public political demonstration by the Italian Communist Party
Italian Communist Party
The Italian Communist Party was a communist political party in Italy.The PCI was founded as Communist Party of Italy on 21 January 1921 in Livorno, by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party . Amadeo Bordiga and Antonio Gramsci led the split. Outlawed during the Fascist regime, the party played...
, with which he was a sympathiser, and on this occasion he lifted and cradled the national leader Enrico Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer
Enrico Berlinguer was an Italian politician; he was national secretary of the Italian Communist Party from 1972 until his death.-Early career:...
, a very serious figure. It was an unprecedented act, given that until that moment Italian politicians were proverbially serious and formal. It represented a breaking point, after which politicians experimented with newer habits and "public manners", attended fewer formal events and, generally speaking, modified their lifestyle in order to exhibit a more popular behaviour. Benigni was censored again in the 1980s for calling the Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
something impolite during an important live TV show ("Wojtylaccio", meaning "Bad Wojtyla" in Italian).
His popularity increased with L'altra domenica (1976/9), another TV show by Arbore in which Benigni portrays a lazy film critic who never watches the films he's asked to review. Then Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor and The Dreamers...
cast him in a small speechless role as a window upholsterer in the film La Luna
La Luna (film)
La Luna, also known as Luna, is a 1979 Italian film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci and starring Jill Clayburgh. The film concerns the troubled life of a teenage boy and his relationship with his parents, including an incestuous relationship with his mother.-Plot:Joe is the son of famous opera...
which evaded American distribution due to its subject matter.
1980s
In 1980 he met CesenaCesena
Cesena is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, south of Ravenna and west of Rimini, on the Savio River, co-chief of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. It is at the foot of the Apennines, and about 15 km from the Adriatic Sea.-History:Cesena was originally an Umbrian...
te actress Nicoletta Braschi
Nicoletta Braschi
Nicoletta Braschi is an Italian actress and producer, best known for her work with her husband, actor and director Roberto Benigni....
, who was to become his wife and who has starred in most of the films he directed.
Benigni's first film as director was Tu mi turbi (You upset me, 1983
1983 in film
-Events:*February 11 - The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together opens in New York*May 25 - Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is released. Like the previous films, it goes on to become the top grossing picture of...
). This film was also his first collaboration with Nicoletta Braschi
Nicoletta Braschi
Nicoletta Braschi is an Italian actress and producer, best known for her work with her husband, actor and director Roberto Benigni....
.
In 1984, he played in Non ci resta che piangere
Non ci resta che piangere
Non ci resta che piangere is a 1984 Italian comedy film, starring Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi, who are also directors and writers of the movie.-Plot:...
("Nothing left to do but cry") with the very popular comic actor Massimo Troisi
Massimo Troisi
Massimo Troisi was an Italian actor, film director, and poet. He is best known for his role as Mario Ruoppolo in the 1994 film Il Postino.- Early years and TV star :...
. The story was a fable in which the protagonists are suddenly thrown back in time to the 15th century, just a little before 1492. They start looking for Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
in order to stop him from discovering the Americas (although for very personal love reasons), but are not able to reach him.
Benigni in America and his collaboration with Cerami
Beginning in 1986, Benigni starred in three films by American director Jim JarmuschJim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
. In Down By Law
Down by Law (film)
Down by Law is a 1986 black-and-white independent film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni....
(1986
1986 in film
-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
) (which in Italy had its title spelled "Daunbailò", in Italian phonetics) he played Bob, the innocent abroad, convicted for manslaughter, whose irrepressible good humour and optimism help him escape and find love (also starring Braschi as his beloved.) In Night on Earth, (1991
1991 in film
The year 1991 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*April 28 - Bonnie Raitt marries actor Michael O'Keefe in New York* Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became one of the landmarks for science fiction action films with its groundbreaking visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic.*November...
) he plays a cabbie in Rome, causing his passenger, a priest, great discomfort and a heart attack by confessing his bizarre sexual experiences. Later, he also starred in the first of Jarmusch's series of short films, Coffee and Cigarettes
Coffee and Cigarettes
Coffee and Cigarettes is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature film by independent director Jim Jarmusch. The 2003 film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread, and includes the earlier three films....
(2003).
In 1990, he was a member of the Jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival
40th Berlin International Film Festival
The 40th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from February 9 to 20, 1990.-Jury:* Michael Ballhaus * Margaret Ménégoz * Vadim Abdrashitov* Suzana Amaral* Steven Bach* Roberto Benigni* Lívia Gyarmathy...
.
In 1993, he starred in Son of the Pink Panther
Son of the Pink Panther
Son of the Pink Panther is the ninth entry in the 30-year-old The Pink Panther film series. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son. Also in this film are Panther regulars Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk and Graham Stark and a star of the original 1963...
, directed by veteran Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
. There, he played Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
' Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son who is assigned to save the Princess of Lugash. The film bombed in the US, but was a hit in Italy, his home country.
A serious role was in Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini
Federico Fellini, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI , was an Italian film director and scriptwriter. Known for a distinct style that blends fantasy and baroque images, he is considered one of the most influential and widely revered filmmakers of the 20th century...
's last film, La voce della luna
La voce della luna
The Voice of the Moon is a 1990 film by Italian director Federico Fellini, featuring actors Paolo Villaggio and Roberto Benigni. Returning to themes he first explored in La strada , Fellini crafts a parable on the whisperings of the soul that only madmen and vagabonds are capable of hearing...
(1989). In earlier years Benigni had started a long-lasting collaboration with screenwriter Vincenzo Cerami, for a series of films which scored great success in Italy: Il piccolo diavolo ("The little devil", with Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau was an American actor best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears...
), Johnny Stecchino
Johnny Stecchino
Johnny Stecchino is a 1991 Italian comedy film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni.It tells the story of Dante, a not-so-bright school bus driver whose Sicilian vacation traps him in the middle of a Mafia plot involving a notorious mob informant, the titular Johnny Stecchino.The film also...
("Johnny Toothpick"), and Il mostro
The Monster (1994 film)
Il Mostro is a 1994 Italian comedy film. It starred Roberto Benigni as a man who is mistaken by police profilers for a serial killer due to a misunderstanding of the man's strange behavior...
("The Monster").
Life Is Beautiful and beyond
Benigni is probably best known outside Italy for his 19971999 in film
The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
tragicomedy
Tragicomedy
Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...
Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian film which tells the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice , who must employ his fertile imagination to help his family during their internment in a Nazi concentration camp.At the 71st Academy Awards in 1999, Benigni won the Academy Award for Best Actor and...
(La vita è bella), filmed in Arezzo
Arezzo
Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000....
, also written by Cerami. The film is about an Italian Jewish man who tries to protect his son's innocence during his internment at a Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
concentration camp, by telling him that the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
is an elaborate game and he must adhere very carefully to the rules to win. Benigni's father had spent three years in a concentration camp in Bergen-Belsen
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp
Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...
, and La vita è bella is based in part on his father's experiences. Although the story and presentation of the film had been discussed during production with different Jewish groups to limit the offense it might cause, the film was attacked by many critics who accused it of presenting the Holocaust without much suffering, and some who considered that "laughing at everything" was not remotely appropriate, let alone credible. More favorable critics praised Benigni's artistic daring and skill to create a sensitive comedy involving the tragedy, a challenge that Charles Chaplin confessed he would not have done with The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator
The Great Dictator is a comedy film by Charlie Chaplin released in October 1940. Like most Chaplin films, he wrote, produced, and directed, in addition to starring as the lead. Having been the only Hollywood film maker to continue to make silent films well into the period of sound films, this was...
had he been aware of the horrors of the Holocaust.
In 1998, the film was nominated for seven Academy Awards. At the 1999 ceremony
71st Academy Awards
The 71st Academy Awards ceremony, Sunday, March 21, 1999, was the last to take place at Los Angeles County Music Center, and was Whoopi Goldberg's third time hosting the Awards. It was the first time the ceremony took place on a Sunday....
Benigni received the award for Best Actor
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(the first for a male performer in a non-English-speaking role, and only the third overall acting Oscar for non-English-speaking roles), the score by Nicola Piovani
Nicola Piovani
Nicola Piovani is a light-classical musician, theater and film score composer, and winner of the 1998 Best Original Dramatic Score Oscar for the score of the Roberto Benigni film La Vita è bella, better known to English-speaking audiences as Life Is Beautiful.After high school, Piovani enrolled at...
won Best Original Dramatic Score, and the film was awarded the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
, which Benigni accepted as the film's director.
Famously, in the midst of being so giddy with delight after Life Is Beautiful was announced as the Best Foreign Film, Benigni climbed over and then stood on the backs of the seats in front of him and applauded the audience before proceeding to the stage. And after winning his Best Actor Oscar later in the evening, he said in his acceptance speech, "There must be some terrible mistake, I used up all my English!" At the following year's ceremony
72nd Academy Awards
The 72nd Academy Awards ceremony took place at Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium, and was Billy Crystal's seventh time hosting the Awards. The ceremony attracted 46.53 million viewers, an audience 3.7% bigger than the previous ceremony.The Academy Awards ceremony was dominated by two films...
, when he read the nominees for Best Actress
Academy Award for Best Actress
Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actress who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
(won by Hilary Swank
Hilary Swank
Hilary Ann Swank is an American actress. Swank's film career began with a small part in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and then a major part in The Next Karate Kid , as Julie Pierce, the first female protégé of sensei Mr. Miyagi...
for Boys Don't Cry
Boys Don't Cry (film)
Boys Don't Cry is a 1999 American independent romantic drama film directed by Kimberly Peirce and co-written by Andy Bienen. The film is a dramatization of the real-life story of Brandon Teena, a transgender man played by Hilary Swank, who pursues a relationship with a young woman, played by Chloë...
), host Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal
William Edward "Billy" Crystal is an American actor, writer, producer, comedian and film director. He gained prominence in the 1970s for playing Jodie Dallas on the ABC sitcom Soap and became a Hollywood film star during the late 1980s and 1990s, appearing in the critical and box office successes...
playfully appeared behind him with a large net to restrain Benigni if he got excessive with his antics again.
Benigni played one of the main characters in Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar
Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar
Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar is a 1999 feature film directed by Claude Zidi, the first of what went on to become a series of live-action films based on Goscinny and Uderzo's Astérix comics...
as Detritus, a corrupted Roman tax collector who wants to kill Julius Caesar, thereby seizing control of the Roman Republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
.
As a director, his 2002
2002 in film
The year 2002 in film involved some significant events. The first significant releases of sequels took place between The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Men in Black II, Analyze That, Spy Kids 2: The Island of...
film Pinocchio
Pinocchio (2002 film)
Pinocchio is a 2002 Italian live-action family film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni. The film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi with Benigni portraying Pinocchio. It was shot in Italy and Kalkara, Malta...
, one of the costliest films in Italian cinema, performed well in Italy, but it bombed in North America, with a 0% critics' score at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
.
That same year, he gave a typically energetic and revealing interview to Canadian filmmaker Damian Pettigrew
Damian Pettigrew
Damian Pettigrew is a Canadian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, author, and multimedia artist, best known for his cinematic portraits of Balthus and Federico Fellini...
for Fellini: I'm a Born Liar
Fellini: I'm a Born Liar
Fellini: I'm a Born Liar is a 2002 French documentary film written and directed by Damian Pettigrew.Based on Federico Fellini's last confessions filmed by Pettigrew in Rome in 1991 and 1992 , the film eschews straightforward biography to highlight the Italian director's unorthodox working...
(2002), a cinematic portrait of the maestro that was nominated for Best Documentary at the European Film Awards, Europe's equivalent of the Oscars. The film went on to win the prestigious Rockie Award for Best Arts Documentary at the Banff World Television Festival (2002) and the Coup de Coeur at the International Sunnyside of the Doc Marseille (2002).
In 2003, Benigni was honored by the National Italian American Foundation
National Italian American Foundation
The National Italian American Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage...
(NIAF), receiving the Foundation's NIAF Special Achievement Award in Entertainment.
Benigni's latest film is La tigre e la neve (The Tiger and the Snow
The Tiger and the Snow
La tigre e la neve is a 2005 Italian movie starring and directed by Roberto Benigni.The film is a romantic comedy set in contemporary Rome and in occupied Baghdad during the Iraq War. The story, inspired by the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty," features singer-songwriter Tom Waits as himself in...
, 2005), a love story set during the initial stage of the Iraq War.
On 15 October 2005, he performed an impromptu strip tease on Italy's most watched evening news program, removing his shirt and draping it over the newscaster's shoulders. Prior to removing his shirt, Benigni had already hijacked the opening credits of the news program, jumping behind the newscaster and announcing: "Berlusconi has resigned!" (Benigni is an outspoken critic of media tycoon and then former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi
Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...
.) The previous day, he had led a crowd of thousands in Rome on Friday in protest at the center-right government's decision to cut state arts funding by 35 percent.
On 2 February 2007, he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
by the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
The Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
, Belgium. On 22 April 2008, the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
was conferred on him by the University of Malta
University of Malta
The University of Malta is the highest educational institution in Malta Europe and is one of the most respected universities in Europe. The University offers undergraduate Bachelor's Degrees, postgraduate Master's Degrees and postgraduate Doctorates .-History:The University of Malta was founded in...
, celebrated by a Settimana Dantesca including Benigni's first stage appearance at a university and the premiere of his performing with Dante scholar Robert Hollander.
Benigni has reportedly received offers to bring his Dante show to Broadway, all of which he has turned down.
TuttoDante
Benigni is an improvisatory poet (poesia estemporanea is a form of art popularly followed and practiced in TuscanyTuscany
Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
), appreciated for his explanation and recitations of Dante
Dante Alighieri
Durante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
's Divina Commedia
The Divine Comedy
The Divine Comedy is an epic poem written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work of Italian literature, and is seen as one of the greatest works of world literature...
by memory. He has reached over 45% Italian households with his lectures on the Divine Comedy.
During 2006 and 2007, Benigni had a lot of success touring Italy with his 90-minute "one man show" show TuttoDante ("Everything About Dante
DANTE
Delivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
"). Combining current events and memories of his past narrated with an ironic tone, Benigni then begins a journey of poetry and passion through the world of the Divine Comedy.
TuttoDante has been performed in numerous Italian piazzas, arenas, and stadiums for a total of 130 shows, with an estimated audience of about one million spectators. Over 10 million more spectators watched the TV show, Il V° dell’Inferno ("The 5th of Hell"), broadcast by Rai Uno
Rai Uno
Rai 1 is the primary television station of RAI, the national public service broadcaster, and the most watched television channel in Italy. It was born as Rai Tv from 1954 to 1961, called Programma Nazionale from 1961 to 1979, after called Rete 1 from 1979 to 1982, then called Rai Uno from 1982 to...
on 29 November 2007, with re-runs on Rai International.
Benigni began North American presentations of TuttoDante with an announcement that he learned English to bring the gift of Dante's work to English speakers. The English performance incorporates dialectic discussion of language and verse and is a celebration of modernity and the concept of human consciousness as created by language.
In 2009, Benigni brought "TuttoDante" to the United States with performances in San Francisco, Boston and Chicago. Following his U.S. premiere in San Francsico on May 26, 2009, Benigni was feted at a special reception held by the National Italian American Foundation
National Italian American Foundation
The National Italian American Foundation is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational foundation that promotes Italian American culture and heritage...
(NIAF) in his honor.
Other media
Roberto Benigni is also a singer-songwriter. Among his recorded performances are versions of Paolo ContePaolo Conte
Paolo Conte is an Italian singer, pianist, composer, and lawyer notable for his grainy, resonant voice, his colourful and dreamy compositions and his wistful, sometimes melancholic...
's songs.
Honorary degrees
Besides receiving many film awards, Benigni has received many honorary degrees from many universities around the world.- 1999 - Honorary Doctorate in Philosophy from the Ben-Gurion University of the NegevBen-Gurion University of the NegevBen-Gurion University of the Negev is a university in Beersheba, Israel, established in 1969. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has a current enrollment of 17,400 students, and is one of Israel's fastest growing universities....
, BeershebaBeershebaBeersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. - 2002 - Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of BolognaUniversity of BolognaThe Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna is the oldest continually operating university in the world, the word 'universitas' being first used by this institution at its foundation. The true date of its founding is uncertain, but believed by most accounts to have been 1088...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. - 2003 - Honorary Degree in Psychology from the Vita-Salute San Raffaele UniversityVita-Salute San Raffaele UniversityThe Vita-Salute San Raffaele University is a university located in Milan, Italy. It was founded in 1996 and is organized in three departments.-History and Profile:...
, MilanMilanMilan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. - 2007 - Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the Katholieke Universiteit LeuvenKatholieke Universiteit LeuvenThe Katholieke Universiteit Leuven is a Dutch-speaking university in Flanders, Belgium.It is located at the centre of the historic town of Leuven, and is a prominent part of the city, home to the university since 1425...
, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. - 2007 - Honorary Degree in Modern Philology from the University of FlorenceUniversity of FlorenceThe University of Florence is a higher study institute in Florence, central Italy. One of the largest and oldest universities in the country, it consists of 12 faculties...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... - 2008 - Honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of MaltaUniversity of MaltaThe University of Malta is the highest educational institution in Malta Europe and is one of the most respected universities in Europe. The University offers undergraduate Bachelor's Degrees, postgraduate Master's Degrees and postgraduate Doctorates .-History:The University of Malta was founded in...
. - 2008 - Honorary Degree in Communication Arts from the Touro University RomeTouro University RomeTouro University Rome is a Jewish sponsored undergraduate University located in Zagarolo , Italy. It's a branch of Touro College located in New York City, which Dr...
, ZagaroloZagaroloZagarolo is a town and comune in the province of Rome, in the region of Lazio of central Italy. It has 14,620 inhabitants, a total area of 28 km2....
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Filmography (director)
| Year | Film | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1983 | You Upset Me (Tu mi turbi) | also starred |
| 1984 | L'addio a Enrico Berlinguer | |
| 1985 | Nothing Left To Do But Cry (Non ci resta che piangere) | also starred |
| 1988 | The Little Devil The Little Devil The Little Devil is a 1988 Italian film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, also starring Walter Matthau, Stefania Sandrelli, Nicoletta Braschi and John Lurie. In some European countries, English versions of the film, with local subtitles, have been screened and circulated in VHS... (Il piccolo diavolo) |
also starred |
| 1991 | Johnny Toothpick Johnny Stecchino Johnny Stecchino is a 1991 Italian comedy film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni.It tells the story of Dante, a not-so-bright school bus driver whose Sicilian vacation traps him in the middle of a Mafia plot involving a notorious mob informant, the titular Johnny Stecchino.The film also... (Johnny Stecchino) |
also starred |
| 1994 | The Monster The Monster (1994 film) Il Mostro is a 1994 Italian comedy film. It starred Roberto Benigni as a man who is mistaken by police profilers for a serial killer due to a misunderstanding of the man's strange behavior... (Il mostro) |
also starred |
| 1997 | Life Is Beautiful Life Is Beautiful Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian film which tells the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice , who must employ his fertile imagination to help his family during their internment in a Nazi concentration camp.At the 71st Academy Awards in 1999, Benigni won the Academy Award for Best Actor and... (La vita è bella) |
also starred |
| 2002 | Pinocchio Pinocchio (2002 film) Pinocchio is a 2002 Italian live-action family film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni. The film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi with Benigni portraying Pinocchio. It was shot in Italy and Kalkara, Malta... |
also starred |
| 2005 | The Tiger and the Snow The Tiger and the Snow La tigre e la neve is a 2005 Italian movie starring and directed by Roberto Benigni.The film is a romantic comedy set in contemporary Rome and in occupied Baghdad during the Iraq War. The story, inspired by the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty," features singer-songwriter Tom Waits as himself in... (La tigre e la neve) |
also starred |
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Onda Libera | Mario Cioni | Television show |
| 1977 | Berlinguer Ti Voglio Bene | Mario Cioni | |
| 1979 | I giorni cantati | ||
| Clair de Femme | Barman | ||
| Seeking Asylum Seeking Asylum (film) Seeking Asylum is a 1979 Italian comedy film directed by Marco Ferreri. It was entered into the 30th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear - Special Jury Prize.-Cast:* Roberto Benigni - Roberto* Francesca De Sapio - Chiara... |
Roberti | ||
| Upholsterer | |||
| Tigers in Lipstick Tigers in Lipstick Tigers in Lipstick is a 1979 comedy film directed by Luigi Zampa and starring Ursula Andress. It was Zampa's final film.-Cast:* Ursula Andress - The Stroller / The Widow* Laura Antonelli - The Businesswoman... |
Principal | ||
| 1980 | Benigni | ||
| 1981 | Grolla d'Oro for Best Actor | ||
| Anche i ladri hanno un santo | |||
| 1983 | Effetti personali | ||
| Tu mi Turbi | Benigno | ||
| Tutto Benigni | Himself | ||
| 1984 | Non ci resta che piangere Non ci resta che piangere Non ci resta che piangere is a 1984 Italian comedy film, starring Roberto Benigni and Massimo Troisi, who are also directors and writers of the movie.-Plot:... |
Saverio | Also Director |
| Cinématon | Himself | ||
| 1986 | Down by Law Down by Law (film) Down by Law is a 1986 black-and-white independent film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Tom Waits, John Lurie, and Roberto Benigni.... |
Roberto | |
| 1988 | The Little Devil The Little Devil The Little Devil is a 1988 Italian film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni, also starring Walter Matthau, Stefania Sandrelli, Nicoletta Braschi and John Lurie. In some European countries, English versions of the film, with local subtitles, have been screened and circulated in VHS... |
Giuditta | |
| 1990 | Ivo Salvini | ||
| 1991 | Night on Earth | Driver (Rome) | |
| Johnny Stecchino Johnny Stecchino Johnny Stecchino is a 1991 Italian comedy film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni.It tells the story of Dante, a not-so-bright school bus driver whose Sicilian vacation traps him in the middle of a Mafia plot involving a notorious mob informant, the titular Johnny Stecchino.The film also... |
Dante, Johnny Stecchino | ||
| 1993 | Son of the Pink Panther Son of the Pink Panther Son of the Pink Panther is the ninth entry in the 30-year-old The Pink Panther film series. Directed by Blake Edwards, it stars Roberto Benigni as Inspector Clouseau's illegitimate son. Also in this film are Panther regulars Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk and Graham Stark and a star of the original 1963... |
Jacques Gambrelli | |
| 1994 | Loris | ||
| 1997 | Life Is Beautiful Life Is Beautiful Life Is Beautiful is a 1997 Italian film which tells the story of a Jewish Italian, Guido Orefice , who must employ his fertile imagination to help his family during their internment in a Nazi concentration camp.At the 71st Academy Awards in 1999, Benigni won the Academy Award for Best Actor and... |
Guido Orefice | |
| 1999 | Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar Asterix and Obelix vs Caesar Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar is a 1999 feature film directed by Claude Zidi, the first of what went on to become a series of live-action films based on Goscinny and Uderzo's Astérix comics... |
Lucius Detritus | |
| 2002 | Roberto Benigni - Chaos With Method | ||
| Pinocchio Pinocchio (2002 film) Pinocchio is a 2002 Italian live-action family film directed by and starring Roberto Benigni. The film is based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi with Benigni portraying Pinocchio. It was shot in Italy and Kalkara, Malta... |
Pinocchio | ||
| 2003 | Coffee and Cigarettes Coffee and Cigarettes Coffee and Cigarettes is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature film by independent director Jim Jarmusch. The 2003 film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread, and includes the earlier three films.... |
Roberto | segment "Strange to Meet You" |
| 2005 | The Tiger and the Snow The Tiger and the Snow La tigre e la neve is a 2005 Italian movie starring and directed by Roberto Benigni.The film is a romantic comedy set in contemporary Rome and in occupied Baghdad during the Iraq War. The story, inspired by the fairy tale "Sleeping Beauty," features singer-songwriter Tom Waits as himself in... |
Attilio de Giovanni | |
| 2012 | Nero Fiddled | Leopoldo Pisanello | Post-production |