RIP Elio Pandolfi

Elio Pandolfi died, a life between radio and stage

 

la Repubblica

by Rodolfo di Giammarco

October 11, 2021

Actor, singer and voice actor, he was one of the greatest eclectic artists of the second half of the twentieth century. He was 95 years old

He was a smiling monument to the programs of television variety shows, the theatrical comedy, the pink cinema, the singing versatility, the parodies and genre metamorphosis, the art of operetta, the rattle of mimicry and dubbing (including the birignao of the neighbor, and animal sounds), and it can be said that he was one of the greatest eclectics of the second half of the twentieth century, the very amiable and always very cordial Elio Pandolfi who has now left us at the age of 95.

Romano, born in 1926, he lived in a school for 28 years because his father was the custodian of a technical commercial institute in the capital, from an early age he excelled in singing and dancing, and in reciting his own texts, then he developed by his own means the Academy of Dramatic Arts, and debuted as a mime-dancer in Les malheurs d'Orphée of Milhaud . He was a human radar, capable of reproducing the tones of lyrical expressions, of remaking a tip tap with the lips, of moving with articulated and immoderate dynamics, and due to its multidisciplinary nature it immediately joined radio companies such as La Bisarca di Garinei and Giovannini , while on the platform he was soon alongside Wanda Osiris, in 1954, at the Festival , under the supervision of none other than Luchino Visconti , who invited him to his home to entertain friends with chamber fantasies, eventually hiring him for Goldoni's Impresario delle Smirne with Morelli-Stoppa. 

To give him strenuous trust were G & G with Carlo not doing it next to Dapporto-Masiero , wanting him again in Alleluja Good People with Rascel and Proietti . To Dino Verde he was baptized in the satire of politics and customs of Scanzonatissimo with Noschese and Antonella Steni , who, then, became his irreplaceable theatrical partner for eleven years, sharing, the two of them, Steni-Pandolfi, a dense path also on television. Yes, because Elio Pandolfi, so intelligent, so intellectual, also managed to be an extremely popular artist, communicating with many audiences of all cultures, of all ages. His name was also circulated and made recognizable by the cinema, with films by Alessandro Blasetti, Camillo Mastrocinque, Mario Mattoli, Bruno Corbucci, Pasquale Festa Campanile, Lina Wertmuller. And in parallel with the films there are also various works of authorship spread by the small screen, comedies by Aldo De Benedetti or Eugène Labiche , a Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen or a Taming of the Shrew, a Gentleman Borghese, a Furfantello of the West, or an important Pirandellian Henry IV directed by Marco Bellocchio, up to Elisa di Rivombrosa directed by Cinzia TH Torrini.

But the story of Elio Pandolfi, for its practitioners, has been much written on the tables of stages, and there are, among other titles, L and females punctilious of Goldoni 's directorial Patroni Griffi, the vice direction of Salce until from the Eighties onwards his musical vocation led him to prefer the repertoires of Offenbach, Prokof'ev, Poulenc, Satie, Stravinskij. Often giving delicious and acute concerts, for example with the pianist Marco Scolastr.

He said that when they mocked that he was sexually confused, he replied that he embraced the world. However, in the seventies he had an affair with an actress sixteen years older than him, something he called "wonderful", and which lasted four years, until she died, due to a serious illness. He never spoke of other decisive relationships, not to involve well-known names, sometimes with family. Then, years ago, he adopted an heir, the seventy-year-old son of two dear collaborators. But all, all of us are heirs of his fair play, of his transforming temper, of his agility of voice (a voice that dubbed 408 actors), of his divertissement as a cheerful widow, of his refinement as a man and as an artist. As shy in life, as generous on every type of limelight.

 

PANDOLFI, Elio

Born: 6/27/1926, Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died: 10/11/2021, Rome, Lazio, Italy

 

Elio Pandolfi’s westerns – actor, voice dubber:

Zane Grey Theater (TV) – 1956 – 1961 [Italian voice of Dick Powell]

For a Few Dollars Less – 1966 - Miguel

Ace High – 1968 [Italian voice of Armando Bandini]

Trinity and Sartana are Coming – 1972 [Italian voice of Enzo Andronico]

Tex and the Lord of the Deep – 1985 [Italian voice of Peter Berling]

The Three Amigos – 1986 [Italian voice of Steve Martin]