Luigi Visconti was born on February 26,
1913 in Rome, Italy. He was the son of the actress Mercedes Menolesi who was
called Diavolina, and not bound by kinship to the noble family of Visconti,
from the mid-1940s to the late 1950s he was known as Fanfulla and was a famous
comedian of the variety theaters, acclaimed for his brilliant style. Famous
were his costume changes from one scene to another, his clothes were always
bright, detailed and of different colors.
In the cinema, he appeared in only marginal
roles since 1951 in such films as “Toto and Marcellino” (1958) directed by
Antonio Musu, “The Showman” (1960) directed by Dino Risi, “The Thief of Bagdad”
(1961) directed by Arthur Lubin and Bruno Vailati, and “Che gioia vivere”
(1961) directed by René Clément. His only two Euro-westerns were: “The Sheriff”
(1959) and “The Magnificent Three” (1961) as Pedro.
In 1969 he was chosen to take part in
Federico Fellini's Fellini “Satyricon”, where Fanfulla plays the heavy
Vernacchio, a role that earned him a Silver Ribbon. The following year, again
with Fellini, he returned in the television film “The Clowns”.
He died of a heart attack on January 5,
1971 in Bologna, Italy at the age of fifty-seven.
Today we remember Fanfulla on what
would have been his 100th birthday.
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