Comic TV and film actor, Paolo Villaggio, 84, dies in Rome

“He was a pitiless child, revolutionary and liberating” and the “greatest clown of his generation,” Benigni said of Villaggio’s most celebrated roles.

Fantozzi interpreted Italians’ worst fears about making fools of themselves in the workplace. The character also allowed them to laugh at themselves as Italians entertaining fantasies about obtaining a job for life, said to be every parent’s dream for their child, at least during the economic boom years of the 1960s and 1970s.

Another popular character he invented was timid office worker Giandomenico Fracchia.

Villaggio, a cabaret, TV and film actor, appeared along with Benigni in Federico Fellini’s last movie, “La Voce della Luna” in 1990. Villaggio acted in films by some of Italy’s top directors, including Lina Wertmuller, Mario Monicelli and Ermanno Olmi.

In 1992, he became the first comic to win the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion career award.

The Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, reporting his death, said Villaggio “knew how to marry, like no other in Italy, Italian comedy’s social analysis to the perfect rhythms of slapstick, also known as physical comedy.”

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Comic TV and film actor, Paolo Villaggio, 84, dies in Rome

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