Gigi Proietti

Early life

He was born in Rome to Romano Proietti, a man from Umbria, and Giovanna Ceci, a housewife. During his youth he was keen on singing and on playing guitar, piano, accordion and double bass in several Roman night clubs. He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the La Sapienza University, where he started to attend the mimicry courses of the University Theater Center held by Giancarlo Cobelli, who immediately noticed his qualities as a musician and booked him for an avantgarde play.

Acting career

After several stage works, in 1966 Proietti debuted both in cinema, in Pleasant Nights, and on television, in the TV-series I grandi camaleonti. His first personal success came in 1971, when he replaced Domenico Modugno in the stage musical Alleluja brava gente by Garinei & Giovannini, starring alongside Renato Rascel.

After playing in 1974 the role of Neri Chiaramantesi in the drama La cena delle beffe, alongside Carmelo Bene and Vittorio Gassman, in 1976 started a fruitful collaboration with playwright Roberto Lerici, with whom he wrote and directed his stage plays, starting from the one-man show A me gli occhi, please (Give me your eyes, please, 1976, reported on the scene in 1993, 1996 and 2000, in a memorable performance at the Olympic Stadium in his hometown). The show achieves a sensational success; initially planned to be rapresented 6 times, it exceeded 300 replicas, with an average of 2,000 spectators for every rapresentation.

He took part in some international movies, including The Appointment (1969), directed by Sidney Lumet, A Wedding (1978), directed by Robert Altman, and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), directed by Ted Kotcheff.

Dubbing

Proietti has dubbed several famous actors including Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando. His credits include the role of the genie in the Italian version of Aladdin and the dragon in Dragonheart.

Actor