Italian postcard by Ed. SAGIT. Photo: Teatro Nuovo, Milano.
Italian postcard by Ed. B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze). Production SAPF. Elsa Merlini and Nino Besozzi in Una notte con te/One Night with You (Ferruccio Biancini, E.W. Emo, 1932).
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit, no. 2412. Photo: Vaselli.
A casual and brilliant young man
Nino Besozzi was born as Giuseppe Besozzi in Milan, Italy, in 1901. He was the son of an industrialist. Nino studied to become an accountant, but he was attracted to the theatre.
Besozzi made his stage debut in Siena in 1919 with the Calò Company. He then joined various companies alongside artists such as Irma Gramatica, Luigi Cimara, Andreina Pagnani, Ruggero Ruggeri, Vera Vergani, Virgilio Talli, and Vittorio De Sica. He revealed particular talents in the comic genre.
From 1931 to the second post-war period he alternated theatre with the film. In the cinema, he specialised in parts of a casual and brilliant young man in the 'Telefoni Bianchi', romantic comedies in a luxurious setting, symbolised by white telephones.
He often paired with Elsa Merlini in films such as Goffredo Alessandrini's La segretaria privata/The Private Secretary (1931), Besozzi's film debut, and T'amerò sempre/I Will Love You Always (Mario Camerini, 1933).
The first was the Italian-language version of the German musical film Die Privatsekretärin/The Private Secretary (Wilhelm Thiele, 1931) starring Renate Müller and Hermann Thimig. He played a banker who treats a new typist (Elsa Merlini) as a flirt, so he is taught a lesson.
In T'amerò sempre/I Will Love You Always, he is a shop accountant who defends a hairdresser (Elsa de Giorgi) with an illegitimate child against the aristocratic scoundrel (Mino Doro) who wants to keep her his mistress despite an upcoming marriage.
In the same years, Besozzi made his first fleeting appearances before the radio microphone, as in Carlo Goldoni's Le gelosie di Lindoro (The jealousy of Lindoro, 1932), with Dina Galli. As for the theatre, in this period he founded the famous Besozzi-Falconi Company, together with Armando Falconi.
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 42. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga. Elsa Merlini and Nino Besozzi in La segretaria privata/The Private Secretary (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1931).
Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 56. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga. Elsa Merlini and Nino Besozzi in La segretaria privata/The Private Secretary (Goffredo Alessandrini, 1931).
Italian postcard. Photo: Moderna, Genova. Sent by mail in 1942.
A flexible voice and nasal effects
Nino Besozzi was also distinguished in dramatic roles. From 1946, he imposed himself on stage, especially in the brilliant repertoire, including 'Siamo tutti Milanesi' by Arnaldo Fraccaroli and 'I morti non pagano' by Nicola Manzari.
He continued to act in several films, such as in the delicious comedy La fortuna di essere donna/Lucky to Be a Woman (Alessandro Blasetti, 1956) starring Sophia Loren, Charles Boyer, and Marcello Mastroianni. Another hit was the French-Italian comedy La loi, c'est la loi/La legge è legge/The Law Is the Law (Christian-Jaque, 1958), in which he appeared with Fernandel and Totò.
Besozzi was gifted with a flexible voice, with which he also played through nasal effects. Especially in the 1950s, he took part in various radio broadcasts. On the radio, he appeared in such magazines as Zig Zag (1950) and Fermo posta (1956).
Besozzi also appeared on the radio in comedies such as Edmond Gondinet's Viaggio di piacere (Pleasure Trip, 1956, directed by Convalli), and Bettina by Alfred de Musset (1958, directed by Nino Meloni).
Besozzi made his debut on television in 1956 in the variety show Lui, lei e gli altri, a sort of sitcom ante litteram. Later he engaged in television plays, but also in variety shows such as Un due tre and Con loro(One two three and with them, 1956). He was also among the cast of the TV series Mont Oriol (1958) and Il Conte di Montecristo/The Count of Monte Cristo (1966).
Besozzi was also an outstanding caricaturist, draftsman, and painter. Among his latest radio appearances were Ipotesi strutturale by Plebe and Di Martino (1969, directed by Giuseppe Di Martino) and Bowen's Il vestito di pizzo (1970, directed by Michele Bandini). His final film was the Czechoslovak-Italian mystery Arrivederci all'inferno, amici!/Dovidenia v pekle, priatelia/See You in Hell, Friends (Juraj Jacubisko,1970).
Nino Besozzi passed away in Milan in 1971. He was 69. Besozzi was married twice.
Italian postcard by Ed. B.F.F. (Ballerini & Fratini, Florence), no. 2596. Photo: Produzione S.A.P.F.
Italian postcard by B.F.F. Edit., no. 2563. Photo: Cines-Pittaluga.
Italian postcard in the 'Hobby' series.
Sources: Wikipedia (Italian, German, and English), and IMDb.
No comments:
Post a Comment