Daniele Formica (10 June 1949 – 1 February 2011) was an Irish-born Italian actor, voice actor, theatre director, playwright and television personality. Formica was best known for portraying comical characters in various Italian comedy films in the 1980s as well as his roles in the theatre. He also appeared in the 1980 variety comedy television show '' A tutto gag''.

Biography

Born in

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of Meath to the south, Monaghan to the west, Armagh to the north and Down to the ...

, in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the son of Wilson Formica, an Irish violinist of Italian origin and Eugenia Ravasio, an Italian maid, Formica studied at

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, then made his stage debut in the early seventies in ''Rabelais'' by

Jean-Louis Barrault Jean-Louis Bernard Barrault (; 8 September 1910 – 22 January 1994) was a French actor, director and mime artist who worked on both screen and stage. Biography Barrault was born in Le Vésinet in France in 1910. His father was 'a Burgundia ...

. In 1973, Formica moved to Italy where he joined the stage company of the Teatro Stabile dell'Aquila with whom he acted in ''Maschere'' by

Carlo Goldoni Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

; in those years he made his first appearances in films and TV dramas. He obtained his major successes in the 1980s, taking part to a number of important TV shows, then, from the 1990s, he focused on theatre. As a voice actor, Formica made several voice acting appearances in at least three

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

films. He typically dubbed the voices of villainous or minor characters. For example, he voiced

Randall Boggs This list includes all characters from the Pixar media franchise '' Monsters, Inc.'', including the 2001 film '' Monsters, Inc.'', the 2013 film '' Monsters University'', and the 2021 Disney+ series '' Monsters at Work''. Appearing in both fil ...

in the Italian dubbed version of ''

Monsters, Inc. ''Monsters, Inc.'' (also known as ''Monsters, Incorporated'') is a 2001 American computer-animated Monster movie, monster comedy film produced by Pixar, Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures. Featuring the voices of John Goodman, B ...

'' as well as Gilbert Huph in the Italian dubbed version of ''

The Incredibles ''The Incredibles'' is a 2004 American computer-animated superhero film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Written and directed by Brad Bird, it stars the voices of Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah V ...

''.

Death

On 1 February 2011 Formica died in

Bassano del Grappa Bassano del Grappa ( vec, Basan or ''Bassan'', ) is a city and ''comune'', in the Vicenza province, in the region of Veneto, in northern Italy. It bounds the communes of Cassola, Marostica, Solagna, Pove del Grappa, Romano d'Ezzelino, Campolongo ...

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

at age 61 of

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of t ...

Filmography

Cinema

*''Cerca di capirmi'' (1970) *''Bruciati da cocente passione'' (1976) *'' Sex Diary'' (1976) *''L'amore è un salto di qualità'' (1977) *''

A Dangerous Toy ''A Dangerous Toy'' (originally titled ''Il giocattolo'') is a 1979 Italian crime drama film written and directed by Giuliano Montaldo. It was co-produced by Sergio Leone. The toy of the title is a gun. The film chronicles how a frustrated and sh ...

'' (1979) *'' Prickly Pears'' (1980) *''

I'm Getting a Yacht ''I'm Getting a Yacht'' ( it, Mi faccio la barca) is a 1980 Italian comedy film directed by Sergio Corbucci. Plot Piero is a dentist who lives apart from his wife Roberta. To spend the traditional two weeks of vacation with his children Fi ...

'' (1980) *''

I carabbimatti ''I carabbimatti'' is a 1981 Italian comedy film directed by Giuliano Carnimeo and starring Andy Luotto. Plot Cast * Andy Luotto – matto paranoico * Giorgio Ariani – primario di Villa Verde * Daniele Formica – Carabiniere Ceci * Licin ...

'' (1981) *''

Camera d'albergo ''Camera d'albergo'' is a 1981 Italian comedy film written and directed by Mario Monicelli. Ida Di Benedetto won the David di Donatello for Best Supporting Actress and Ruggero Mastroianni won the David di Donatello for Best Editing. Cast * Vitto ...

'' (1981) *''

Don't Play with Tigers ''Don't Play with Tigers'' (Italian: ''Ricchi, ricchissimi... praticamente in mutande'') is a 1982 Italian comedy film directed by Sergio Martino. Plot Three segments. Cesare Domenichini is a poor man who, to bring the family to the sea, builds ...

'' (1982) *''Rosso veneziano'' (1989) *''Stelle di cartone'' (1993) *''Uno a me, uno a te e uno a Raffaele'' (1994) *''Carogne - Ciro and me'' (1995) *''Intolerance'' (1996) *''Ladri si nasce'' (1997) - Film TV *'' Dio c'è'' (1998) *''Il piazzista'' (2007) *''Pa-ra-da'' (2008) *''Ti stramo - Ho voglia di un'ultima notte da manuale prima di tre baci sopra il cielo'' (2008) *''L'ultima estate'' (2009) *''Tutta colpa della musica'' (2011)

Dubbing roles

Animation

in ''

'' * Gilbert Huph in ''

'' *Dusty Rust-eze in ''

Cars A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as t ...

'' *Wesley in ''

Home on the Range "Home on the Range" is a classic cowboy song, sometimes called the "unofficial anthem" of the American West. Dr. Brewster M. Higley (also spelled Highley) of Smith County, Kansas, wrote the lyrics as the poem "My Western Home" in 1872 or 1873 ...

'' *Mr. Willerstein in ''

Meet the Robinsons ''Meet the Robinsons'' is a 2007 American computer-animated science-fiction comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The List of Walt Disney Animation Studios films, 47th animated film produc ...

'' *Lofty Thaddeus Worthington in '' Valiant'' *Mr. Gasket in ''

Robots "\n\n\n\n\nThe robots exclusion standard, also known as the robots exclusion protocol or simply robots.txt, is a standard used by websites to indicate to visiting web crawlers and other web robots which portions of the site they are allowed to visi ...

'' *JP in ''

Pets A pet, or companion animal, is an animal kept primarily for a person's company or entertainment rather than as a working animal, livestock, or a laboratory animal. Popular pets are often considered to have attractive appearances, intelligence, ...

Live action

*Inspector Gadget in ''

Inspector Gadget 2 ''Inspector Gadget 2'' (sometimes called ''Inspector 2 Gadget'' and ''IG2'') is a 2003 American superhero comedy film released direct-to-video on VHS and DVD on March 11, 2003. The film is based on the 1983 cartoon series created by DIC Enterta ...

'' *Sheik Abdul ben Falafel in ''

The Cannonball Run ''The Cannonball Run'' is a 1981 action comedy film. It was directed by Hal Needham, produced by Hong Kong's Golden Harvest films, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. Filmed in Panavision, it features an all-star ensemble cast, including Burt ...

'' *Sheik Abdul ben Falafel in ''

Cannonball Run II ''Cannonball Run II'' is a 1984 action comedy film starring Burt Reynolds and an all-star cast, released by Warner Bros. and Golden Harvest. Like the original '' Cannonball Run'', it is set around an illegal cross-country race. This was the l ...

'' *Embry Wallis in ''

The Greatest Game Ever Played ''The Greatest Game Ever Played'' is a 2005 American biographical sports film based on the early life of amateur golf champion Francis Ouimet and his surprise winning of the 1913 U.S. Open. The film was directed by Bill Paxton, and was his last ...

'' *The Whale in ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (sometimes referred to as ''HG2G'', ''HHGTTG'', ''H2G2'', or ''tHGttG'') is a comic science fiction, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally The Hitchhiker's Guide to th ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Formica, Daniele 1949 births 2011 deaths Alumni of Trinity College Dublin People from Drogheda People from Bassano del Grappa 20th-century Italian male actors 21st-century Italian male actors 20th-century Italian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Italian dramatists and playwrights Italian male film actors Italian male stage actors Italian male television actors Italian male voice actors Italian theatre directors Italian male dramatists and playwrights Italian television personalities Italian people of Irish descent Irish emigrants to Italy Deaths from cancer in Veneto Deaths from pancreatic cancer 20th-century Italian male writers