Gianni Boncompagni

Life and career

Born in Arezzo, at 18 years old Boncompagni moved to Sweden, where he lived for ten years doing various jobs, graduating at the Swedish Academy of graphics and photography and starting a radio career as a disc jockey. Married to a Swedish woman, after divorcing in the early 1960s he moved back to Italy with his three daughters, and together with Renzo Arbore he created the radio program Bandiera gialla, the first Italian musical program focused on rock music and other avangarde genres. In 1970 the duo Arbore-Boncompagni also created Alto Gradimento, an innovative and successful radio variety show which launched the career of several comedians, including the brothers Franco and Giorgio Bracardi.

Boncompagni made his television debut in 1977, as the presenter of the musical variety Discoring. In the mid-1980s, he got a personal success as the director and author of the television programs Pronto, Raffaella? and Pronto, chi gioca?, and between 1987 and 1990 he wrote and directed the Sunday afternoon show Domenica in. In 1991 he moved to Fininvest, where he created the show Non è la Rai, which launched the career of several future actresses including Ambra Angiolini (presenter from the third season), Nicole Grimaudo, Romina Mondello and Sabrina Impacciatore. In the second half of the 1990s he came back to RAI, where he got a further success with the late night variety show Macao.

Boncompagni is also well known as a lyricist, and his collaborations include songs by Raffaella Carrà, Patty Pravo, Johnny Dorelli, Renato Zero, Jimmy Fontana, and Carmen Villani.

Personal life

Boncompagni had a ten years-long relationship with the television presenter and singer Raffaella Carrà. He also had relationships with actresses Isabella Ferrari and Claudia Gerini.

His younger daughter Barbara (born in 1963) had a brief career in the 1980s as a singer and a showgirl.