Lorenzo Giovanni "Renzo" Arbore (; born 24 June 1937) is an Italian television host, singer, actor and film director.

Career

Arbore became nationally recognized as radio anchor man, together with

Gianni Boncompagni Giandomenico Boncompagni (13 May 1932 – 16 April 2017), best known as Gianni Boncompagni, was a television and radio presenter, director, writer and a lyricist. Life and career Born in Arezzo, at 18 years old Boncompagni moved to Sweden, whe ...

, in the late 1960s, with shows such as ''Bandiera gialla ''(1965), ''Per voi giovani ''(1967), ''Alto Gradimento ''(1970), increasingly marked by their ironical approach which later became one of their brands. He debuted in Italian television with ''Speciale per voi ''(1969–1970), which included debates about singers of that age. His first great TV success was the surreal '' L'altra domenica ''("The Other Sunday", 1976–1979), in which he launched numerous comedians including Mario Marenco, Isabella Rossellini and Roberto Benigni. Also very successful were ''

Quelli della notte ''Quelli della notte'' was an Italian late night variety show, broadcast on Rai 2 in 1985. Created and hosted by Renzo Arbore, it lasted 33 episodes.Aldo Grasso, Massimo Scaglioni. ''Enciclopedia della Televisione''. Garzanti, Milano, 1996–2003 ...

''(1985), with Nino Frassica,

Riccardo Pazzaglia Riccardo Pazzaglia (12 September 1926 – 4 October 2006) was an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter, songwriter (for Domenico Modugno), TV and radio personality. Born in Naples, Pazzaglia graduated in direction from the Centro Speri ...

Maurizio Ferrini Maurizio Ferrini (born 12 April 1953) is an Italian actor and television personality. Biography Ferrini was born in Cesena in 1953. He made his artistic debut in ''Quelli della Notte'', starring alongside Renzo Arbore and establishing himsel ...

, and Roberto D'Agostino, and ''Indietro tutta!''(1988), again with Frassica, which established Arbore as one of the most intelligent and cult figures of Italian televisions. In the meantime Arbore wrote and directed the movies ''

Il pap'occhio ''In the Pope's Eye'' ( it, Il pap'occhio) is a 1980 Italian comedy film written and directed by Renzo Arbore. It was released in September 1980, and it was heavily attacked by the Catholic press. Three weeks later it was confiscated "for insul ...

'' (1980) and '' "FF.SS." – Cioè: "...che mi hai portato a fare sopra a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più bene?"'' (1983), both surreal stories featuring numerous actors launched by him and others friends (including Luciano De Crescenzo, Benigni, Rossellini and many others), set in his adoptive city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adm ...

. Arbore also played and sang in numerous of his shows, notably in ''Quelli della Notte'' and ''Indietro tutta!'', whose music albums sold hundreds of thousand copies in Italy. An apt amateur

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitch ...

player, in 1991 Arbore founded the ''Orchestra Italiana'', a group of 15 artists with the aim to popularize Neapolitan music worldwide. The orchestra has toured in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He was also director of the

Umbria Jazz The Umbria Jazz Festival is one of the most important jazz festivals in the world and has been held annually since 1973, usually in July, in Perugia, and surrounding cities of the region of Umbria Italy. Furthermore, the Umbria Jazz Winter Festi ...

festival. His latest TV show is ''Speciale per me – Meno siamo, meglio stiamo!'' on Rai Uno. Mario Trevi-Renzo Arbore

Recently, he received the 2010 ''America Award'' from the Italy-USA Foundation. In July 2010, Arbore received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music. The award was presented at the 25th anniversary of the Umbria Jazz Clinics.

Honour

* : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (3 december 2021)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbore, Renzo 1937 births Living people People from Foggia Italian television presenters Italian people of Romanian descent Italian film directors Italian male actors Italian jazz clarinetists Italian jazz musicians Italian radio personalities 20th-century Italian male singers Male jazz musicians Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic