CineScope
Renato Rascel picture

Renato Rascel

Acting
Known For

78 Years Old

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.

Born

Turin, Piedmont, Italy on 27th April 1912

Died

2nd January 1991

All Credits

Jesus of Nazareth Image
Jesus of Nazareth
The Blind Man
Cinépanorama Image
Cinépanorama
Self
I racconti di padre Brown Image
I racconti di padre Brown
Padre Brown
The Secret of Santa Vittoria Image
The Secret of Santa Vittoria
Babbaluche
The Last Judgment Image
The Last Judgment
Coppola
Ferdinand I King of Naples Image
Ferdinand I King of Naples
Mimì
Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura Image
Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura
Policarpo De Tappetti
Seven Hills of Rome Image
Seven Hills of Rome
Pepe Bonelli
Figaro qua... Figaro là Image
Figaro qua... Figaro là
Don Alonzo
Oh! Sabella Image
Oh! Sabella
Don Gregorio (uncredited)
The Monte Carlo Story Image
The Monte Carlo Story
Duval
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca Image
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
(archive footage)
Il matrimonio Image
Il matrimonio
Dmitry Marinin, il 'generale'
The Overcoat Image
The Overcoat
Carmine De Carmine
Napoleone Image
Napoleone
Napoleone
A Soldier and a Half Image
A Soldier and a Half
Nicola Carletti
Il corazziere Image
Il corazziere
Urbano Marangoni
I'm in the Revue Image
I'm in the Revue
Self
Uncle Was a Vampire Image
Uncle Was a Vampire
Baron Osvaldo Lambertenghi
Destination Fury Image
Destination Fury
Renato Micacci
Love I Haven't... But... But Image
Love I Haven't... But... But
Teodoro
Pinocchio Image
Pinocchio
Narratore (voce)
Half a Century of Song Image
Half a Century of Song
The Orderly Image
The Orderly
Remigio De Acutis
Beauties on bicycles Image
Beauties on bicycles
Il figlio del meccanico
L'eroe sono io Image
L'eroe sono io
Righetto
Follie d'estate Image
Follie d'estate
il sognatore
Questi fantasmi Image
Questi fantasmi
Gran varietà Image
Gran varietà
Il comico
Attanasio cavallo vanesio Image
Attanasio cavallo vanesio
Transplant Image
Transplant
Dario Barbieri
These Phantoms Image
These Phantoms
Pasquale Lojacono
Ho scelto l'amore Image
Ho scelto l'amore
Boris Popovic
I pinguini ci guardano Image
I pinguini ci guardano
La passeggiata Image
La passeggiata
Paolo Barbato
Rascel Marine Image
Rascel Marine
Caporale Ronny Rascel
Rosso e nero Image
Rosso e nero
Himself
Io sono la Primula Rossa Image
Io sono la Primula Rossa
Sir Archibald
Il bandolero stanco Image
Il bandolero stanco
Pepito
Io sono il capataz Image
Io sono il capataz
Uguccione / Rascelito Villa
The Bear Image
The Bear
Medard
No Image
Pazzo d'amore
Rascel-Fifì Image
Rascel-Fifì
Renato / Renatino - il suo figlio
Alvaro piuttosto corsaro Image
Alvaro piuttosto corsaro
Alvaro
Little Girls and High Finance Image
Little Girls and High Finance
I racconti di Padre Brown Image
I racconti di Padre Brown
Padre Brown
Piovuto dal cielo Image
Piovuto dal cielo
Renato
Variety carousel Image
Variety carousel
Maracatumba... ma non è una rumba! Image
Maracatumba... ma non è una rumba!
rag. Filippo De Bellis
Move and I'll Shoot Image
Move and I'll Shoot
Renato Tuzzi - il professore
No Image
Enrico '61
No Image
Delirio a due
Lui