Gigi Proietti greets everyone on his eightieth birthday. Italian actor, comedian, stand-up comedian, voice actor, TV presenter, director, singer, artistic director and teacher. In short it is a artist who is part of that circle of theater-trained artists. In his field he has achieved considerable success since the early sixties. But Gigi Proietti is also known for his skills as a quick-change artist. He interprets numerous theatrical performances up to "Eyes on me, please“; a watershed in the way of understanding the theater. Above all, he is a multifaceted man who conquers the public both as an actor and as a conductor.
Gigi Proietti: one man show, cinema and theater
Of Proietti we remember his famous "Horse fever", where he is the protagonist together with Enrico Montesano. Instead, it was in 1983 that Gigi Proietti made his debut as a TV presenter. Together with Heather Parisi he is in the TV program Fantastico 4, directed by Enzo Trapani. But he gets better luck as a one-man show in programs such as: Me in my own way, from 1986 and Di che vizio sei? of 1988. In the early nineties 1990 he successfully leads the successful Club '92.
As a television director he made his debut in 1990 with one of the first Italian sitcoms, Villa Arzilla. It is a sitcom based on the story of a group of retired elderly people in a retirement home. Also here Gigi appears in short cameos as the villa's gardener. It also brings together some great actors and actresses of the past such as Giustino Durano, Fiorenzo Fiorentini, Ernesto Calindri, Marisa Merlini and Caterina Boratto. Above all, 1992 is also the year of the turning point. Begin to achieve consistent success on TV thanks to shows such as: A half child, and from below Half a child - A year later (from 1994). Giorgio Capitani directs him in both works. Always Capitani directs him in the sitcom Italian Restaurant (1994) with Nancy Brilli in which he is the owner of an Italian restaurant in New York.
The big hit on TV
In 1996 comes the triumph for Gigi Proietti in the television series Marshal Rocca. Here the Roman actor plays the role of the marshal commander of the Carabinieri station of Viterbo, Giovanni Rocca. He is a widower and father of three children. Rocca falls in love with a delightful pharmacist, played by Stefania Sandrelli. The series wins the favor of the public to the point of seriously competing with widely tested broadcasts such as the Sanremo Festival. The last episode, that of March 12, 1996 records a record of almost 16 million spectators. A great success that allows Gigi Proietti to win the TV Award as male character of the year.
Towards the end of the 1990s Proietti plays the lawyer Porta. Also in this series in two seasons directed by Franco Giraldi for Canale 5, he gets a good response from the public. But it is for the great success of the Marshal Rocca that RAI entrusts Proietti with the conduct of the traditional New Year's show broadcast on Rai 1. This is a particular edition, that of 2000. It is up to Gigi Proietti to announce the advent of the new Millennium.
Gigi Proietti an Italian excellence
In 1991, on the proposal of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Gigi Proietti was awarded the honor of Commendatore Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. But it is on 10 April 2019 that the University of Rome “Tor Vergata” awarded Gigi Proietti the title of Distinguished Professor, Professor Emeritus Honoris Causa. Particularly beautiful is the parchment delivery ceremony, open to the entire university community. It is a ceremony held at the Auditorium "Ennio Morricone”Of the Macroarea of the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy. Also on this occasion Italy recognizes the value of a great man. Theater and cinema actor, theater director, voice actor and singer, one of the most loved and eclectic artists on the national scene of the last fifty years.
Above all, the Rector Giuseppe Novelli recalls how the awarding of honorary titles to professionals of our time, such as Proietti, is an expression of an openness of universities to society. Young people who meet great artists, writers, captains of industry, grow up. Listening to Gigi Proietti as he talks about his own journey has the great merit of motivating the adults of tomorrow.
