From Oedipus to Hamlet to Lieutenant Sheridan, farewell to Carlo Alighiero

Carlo Alighiero with his wife Elena Cotta

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12 September 2021 Carlo Alighiero died yesterday, 11 September, at the age of 94, after a short illness. Born in 1927 in Ostra, in the Marche region, he left his wife Elena Cotta - a love spanning 70 years - with whom he crossed the history of theater, television and cinema. Alighiero has trod the scenes until the last, before Covid stopped the world of entertainment. With energy, creativity, talent and fun, he has traveled an extraordinary period of time between the various arts. His story, and the one he lived with his wife, are a great story of love and passion for the show. The funeral will be held on Tuesday 14 September in Rome at 11 am in the Church of San Francesco a Ripa in Trastevere.

The debut in the theater with L'Agamennone directed by De Bosio

Carlo Alighiero made his debut in the theater with the Padua building in 1952 with a classic, "L'Agamennone" by Eschilo directed by Gianfranco De Bosio and immediately after in Vittorio Gassman's "Amleto". his great love for theater led him to attend Orazio Costa's directing course at the Academy of Dramatic Art.

The teachers were the greats of the twentieth century theater, Orazio Costa, Sergio Tofano, Wanda Capodaglio, Vittorio Gassman and Silvio D'Amico with his lucid, exciting lessons in the history of theater. The academy mates were Monica Vitti, Luca Ronconi, Glauco Mauri, Luigi Vannucchi, Ileana Ghione, Renato Mainardi of whom Alighiero produced and performed with Elena the comedy "For a young girl who no one cries" at the Eliseo Theater in Rome, directed by Arnoldo Foà .

On TV great series and dramas

On television he appeared in the series "Lieutenant Sheridan" (in the part of Sergeant Steve Howard), in two episodes of "The inquiries of Commissioner Maigret" (The old lady of Bayeux, 1966 and Maigret under investigation, 1968), in the series television of the seventies "Qui team mobile" (in the role of the Lancia prosecutor). He then starred in some screenplays, including "An American Tragedy" (1962), "Lawrence of Arabia" (1969), "And the stars are watching" (1971), "Napoleone a Sant'Elena" (1973) and fiction such as "Dark in the Valley" (1984) and "Double Secret" (1998).

Cinema: from Argento to Sergio Martino

Alighiero has starred in various genre films, spaghetti westerns and detective b-movies of Italian production. At his debut, in 1955 he played the role of Guildenstern alongside Memo Benassi and Vittorio Gassman in a film version of Hamlet, from Shakespeare. Among the films we remember: "The cat with nine tails" by Dario Argento (1971); "Girolimoni, the monster of Rome" by Damiano Damiani (1972); "Milan trembles: the police want justice"

by Sergio Martino (1973); "Roma a mano armata" directed by Umberto Lenzi (1976).

In 1970 he founded his own company.In

1970 he formed his own company (Elena Cotta-Carlo Alighiero company with Elsa Vazzoler then transformed three years later into ATA group cooperative (Actors-technicians-authors) with which he interpreted the major theater classics. in 1985, the cooperative took over the majority stake in its birth the Teatro Manzoni in Rome, opened in January 1986 with the performance of "Arlecchino, servant of two masters", under the direction of Alighiero same.

the long love with Elena Cotta

With the theater came Elena Cotta, they married and had two daughters, Barbara and Olivia, and then grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 70 years have passed since their first meeting in Milan in the autumn of 1949, and then they moved to Rome to attend the Silvio D'Amico Academy. Since then, together, they have trod the scenes of all the theaters in Italy and in 2012 they celebrated the Wedding of Diamond renewing the promise of marriage made on December 30, 1952.

"Like all couples, we too have had and have encounters-clashes, ups and downs, but the glue is the children you love, the family is important. The secret of our happiness? - said Alighiero during an interview - Respect and mutual affection. Initially there is passion, you can fall in love with two blue eyes, then something else takes over, romance, tenderness ". 

He was also a theatrical author

As a theatrical author he wrote "Puccini and the moon", dedicated to Giacomo Puccini and his "Turandot" of which he edited and performed the staging. Among his other works as author: "The city of the sun", text taken by Tommaso Campanella; "Ballad" by Tommaso Campanella, written with Mario Moretti; "The comedy of art and comic theater ", by Carlo Goldoni.

Dubbing

Carlo Alighiero also lent his intense and deep voice to the great Hollywood stars. Among these we remember Anthony Quinn (The cannons of San Sebastian, The man who came from the Kremlin, The mayor) and Laurence Olivier (The last days of Pompeii).