41 Facts About Alberto Sordi

Alberto Sordi was an Italian actor, comedian, voice dubber, director, singer, composer and screenwriter.

Alberto Sordi established himself as an icon from a career that spanned seven decades of Italian cinema with his skills in comedy and light drama.

Alberto Sordi started as a voice actor and a theater actor, but eventually grew to fame as a comedian.

Alberto Sordi won five Nastro d'argento, ten David di Donatello, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and many other awards and accolades.

Alberto Sordi was born in Rome, in via San Cosimato, 7, on the 15th of June, 1920.

Alberto Sordi's father Pietro Sordi was a music professor, he played tuba contrabbasso in the orchestra of the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma.

Alberto Sordi's mother Maria Righetti was an elementary school teacher.

Alberto Sordi was the fifth of their children, his elder siblings were Savina, Giuseppe, and Aurelia.

Alberto Sordi received his name after Alberto, the couple's third son, who died in 1916 being only several days old.

The Sordi family was coming from Valmontone where Alberto spent a part of his childhood.

Already in elementary school Alberto Sordi started staging small puppet plays.

Alberto Sordi sang in the Sistine Chapel Choir headed by Lorenzo Perosi.

Only the maternal grandfather Primo Righetti encouraged Alberto Sordi to try himself as a performer and even presented him with a tuxedo with some money inside the pocket.

In 1936, he recorded a disc of children's fairy tales for the Fonit record company and left for Milan with the proceeds There Alberto Sordi enrolled to Accademia dei Filodrammatici, for which he abandoned his studies at the Istituto di Avviamento Commerciale "Giulio Romano" in Rome.

Alberto Sordi formed a comic duo with his childhood friend, they debuted at Cinema Teatro Pace in Milan but had little success and had to go back to Rome.

Alberto Sordi was assigned to the 82nd Infantry Regiment "Torino" and served in the regimental orchestra, they played accompanying the soldiers' departures for the brief French campaign.

For I vitelloni Alberto Sordi was praised by critics and for the first time appreciated highly as a dramatic actor and honoured with Nastro d'Argento for Best Supporting Actor In 1954 he played in as many as in 13 films, including An American in Rome, Il seduttore, etc.

Late in 1953, Alberto Sordi went to New York with Goffredo Lombardo who intended to shoot there Un romano a New York.

Alberto Sordi was presented with the symbolic key to the city and the title of honorary citizen.

In 1959, Alberto Sordi appeared in Monicelli's Great War, considered by many critics and film historians to be one of the best Italian comedies.

The Great War marks a turning point in his career, when Alberto Sordi moved on from playing meager 'average Italians' to interpreting complex dramatic characters.

Alberto Sordi won his second David di Donatello for it, as well as the Grolla d'oro.

Alberto Sordi acted alongside Britain's David Niven in the World War II comedy The Best of Enemies.

Alberto Sordi appeared in more than 150 films in his film career.

In 1966, Alberto Sordi made his directorial debut with the comedy Fumo di Londra, acting as both writer and performer in the lead role.

From that moment Alberto Sordi decided to concentrate on creating his own films, where he would be both director and screenwriter.

Alberto Sordi made two more movies with Vitti in the main lead: Polvere di stelle and I Know That You Know That I Know.

In 1985, Alberto Sordi was a member of the jury at the 35th Berlin International Film Festival.

Alberto Sordi died of pneumonia and bronchitis at his villa in Rome on the night between 24 and 25 February 2003.

Alberto Sordi was very discreet about his private life and never spoke to journalists about it.

The niece of Alberto Sordi recalled that he remained forever grateful to grandfather Primo Righetti for his constant support at the early stages of career.

Alberto Sordi was enormously famous in Italy, and was nicknamed ' l'Albertone ': lit.

Except for the brief period in his youth, when he tried to study in Milan, Alberto Sordi always lived in Rome.

Alberto Sordi was a big supporter of the AS Roma football team.

Alberto Sordi won ten David di Donatello, Italy's most prestigious film award, holding the record of David di Donatello as best actor, and four awards for his works from the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists.

Alberto Sordi received a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 1995, and The Golden Globe Award for his performance as an Italian labourer stranded in Sweden in To Bed or Not to Bed.

Alberto Sordi carefully maintained the myth, but as claimed and witnessed by relatives and friends, donated money to numerous charity projects and supported his family, friends, and colleagues, by paying for their healthcare and other needs.

Alberto Sordi bought for the Foundation a land plot where in 2002 were opened two Healthcare and Rehabilitation centres for the senior Italians.

Alberto Sordi left all his fortune to his sister Aurelia.

Aurelia, who died at 97, bequeathed the entire fortune to three foundations named after her brother, but only two of them were really supported by Sordi: Fondazione Alberto Sordi, established in 1992, and Fondazione Alberto Sordi per i giovani, founded in 2001.

The third foundation, titled Fondazione Museo Alberto Sordi, was registered in 2011, when Aurelia had already displayed symptoms of dementia.