Renato Rascel

Renato Rascel

Born

April 27, 1912

Died

January 2, 1991 (78 years old)

Known For

Acting

Place of Birth

Turin, Piedmont, Italy

Renato Rascel (stage name of Renato Ranucci; 27 April 1912 – 2 January 1991), was an Italian film actor and singer. He appeared in 50 films between 1942 and 1972. He represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1960 with the song "Romantica" which was placed equal eighth out of thirteen entries.

He was born to Cesare and Paola Ranucci in Turin. It was in Turin where his parents, who were opera singers, were performing a show at the time Renato could really say that he was born in the back stage of the theater and that's where he spent all of his life. His father tried to make it up to him by having him baptized at Saint Peter's in Rome and apparently it worked because growing up in that neighborhood he ended up singing for the "white voices choir" of Saint Peter with the leadership of composer-conductor Lorenzo Perosi.

At the age of 14 Renato started to play drums in ballrooms around Rome. Soon after, he joined the Di Fiorenza Sisters as an actor, dancer and clown and in 1934 he was hired for his first big role by the Schwarts Brothers in the operetta "Al Cavallino bianco". In 1935, he joined Elena Gray for his first foreign tour in Africa.

In 1941 he created his own theater company and he began to develop his distinctive kind of humor that in the following years will crown him as the inventor of the "non-sense" with phrases like "two friends that didn't know each other". He decided to make his small size work for him, being only 5'2" tall, one of his major assets becoming known as the "Tiny Italian" (il piccoletto nazionale) and in his show he accentuated his stature by wearing huge extravagant coats, his most famous one had a large pocket on the back.

In this time he created some of his most famous characters such as "Napoleon" and "Il Corazziere" (a parody on his size since the Corazziere is a military division that employs only soldiers over 6 feet tall) that brought him to an extraordinary popularity in Italy. In 1942 he shot the first of a long series of films, Pazzo d'amore (Crazy For Love) developing and establishing his very peculiar kind of humor. Among the sixty plus films he worked in, one of the most relevant was Il Cappotto (The Overcoat) by Gogol, winner of the Golden Palm in Cannes.

He also had a leading role in The Secret of Santa Vittoria with Anthony Quinn and Anna Magnani, Seven Hills of Rome with Mario Lanza, Questi fantasmi with Eduardo De Filippo and Figaro qua Figaro là with Totò. In 1977, he appeared in the Zeffirelli film Jesus of Nazareth as the blind man.

His post second World War success is due mainly to his leading roles in the musicals by Pietro Garinei and Sandro Giovannini. The artistic trio is responsible for the existence of the "musical" in Italy with Attanasio cavallo vanesio in 1952 (featuring the American trio Peters Sisters, Alvaro piuttosto corsaro (1953), Tobia la candida spia (1955), Un paio d'ali (1957), Rascelinaria (1958), Enrico '61 (1961), and also performed for an entire year in London at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1962, along with Il giorno della tartaruga (1965) and Alleluja, brava gente (1970). ...

Source: Article "Renato Rascel" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth

The Blind Man · (4 episodes)

7.8

1977

Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca

Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca

(archive footage)

4.8

1975

Pinocchio

Pinocchio

Narratore (voce)

6.8

1972

I racconti di padre Brown

I racconti di padre Brown

Padre Brown · (6 episodes)

0.0

1971

I racconti di Padre Brown

I racconti di Padre Brown

Padre Brown

0.0

1970

Transplant

Transplant

Dario Barbieri

5.5

1970

The Secret of Santa Vittoria

The Secret of Santa Vittoria

Babbaluche

6.9

1970

Delirio a due

Lui

5.0

1967

Follie d'estate

Follie d'estate

il sognatore

0.0

1963

Questi fantasmi

Questi fantasmi

8.1

1962

The Orderly

The Orderly

Remigio De Acutis

6.0

1961

The Last Judgment

The Last Judgment

Coppola

6.4

1961

Destination Fury

Destination Fury

Renato Micacci

0.0

1961

Enrico '61

0.0

1961

Il corazziere

Il corazziere

Urbano Marangoni

0.0

1960

The Bear

The Bear

Medard

6.0

1960

Little Girls and High Finance

Little Girls and High Finance

6.5

1960

A Soldier and a Half

A Soldier and a Half

Nicola Carletti

7.0

1960

Ferdinand I King of Naples

Ferdinand I King of Naples

Mimì

6.4

1959

Uncle Was a Vampire

Uncle Was a Vampire

Baron Osvaldo Lambertenghi

5.2

1959

Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura

Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura

Policarpo De Tappetti

7.3

1959

Rascel Marine

Rascel Marine

Caporale Ronny Rascel

0.0

1958

Move and I'll Shoot

Move and I'll Shoot

Renato Tuzzi - il professore

7.0

1958

Seven Hills of Rome

Seven Hills of Rome

Pepe Bonelli

5.9

1957

Rascel-Fifì

Rascel-Fifì

Renato / Renatino - il suo figlio

0.0

1957

Oh! Sabella

Oh! Sabella

Don Gregorio (uncredited)

7.1

1957

The Monte Carlo Story

The Monte Carlo Story

Duval

5.6

1956

I pinguini ci guardano

I pinguini ci guardano

6.5

1956

Cinépanorama

Cinépanorama

Self · (1 episode)

8.0

1956

Variety carousel

Variety carousel

6.0

1955

Io sono la Primula Rossa

Io sono la Primula Rossa

Sir Archibald

0.0

1954

These Phantoms

These Phantoms

Pasquale Lojacono

0.0

1954

Rosso e nero

Rosso e nero

Himself

0.0

1954

Gran varietà

Gran varietà

Il comico

6.1

1954

Alvaro piuttosto corsaro

Alvaro piuttosto corsaro

Alvaro

0.0

1954

Il matrimonio

Il matrimonio

Dmitry Marinin, il 'generale'

6.5

1954

Attanasio cavallo vanesio

Attanasio cavallo vanesio

6.0

1953

Piovuto dal cielo

Piovuto dal cielo

Renato

0.0

1953

Ho scelto l'amore

Ho scelto l'amore

Boris Popovic

7.5

1953

La passeggiata

La passeggiata

Paolo Barbato

0.0

1953

Il bandolero stanco

Il bandolero stanco

Pepito

5.5

1952

The Overcoat

The Overcoat

Carmine De Carmine

6.8

1952

L'eroe sono io

L'eroe sono io

Righetto

0.0

1952

Half a Century of Song

Half a Century of Song

0.0

1952

Love I Haven't... But... But

Love I Haven't... But... But

Teodoro

6.2

1951

Napoleone

Napoleone

Napoleone

0.0

1951

Io sono il capataz

Io sono il capataz

Uguccione / Rascelito Villa

7.0

1951

Beauties on bicycles

Beauties on bicycles

Il figlio del meccanico

6.0

1951

Figaro qua... Figaro là

Figaro qua... Figaro là

Don Alonzo

5.9

1950

I'm in the Revue

I'm in the Revue

Self

4.8

1950

Maracatumba... ma non è una rumba!

Maracatumba... ma non è una rumba!

rag. Filippo De Bellis

0.0

1949

Pazzo d'amore

0.0

1942