Francesco “Franco” Fabrizzi was born in Cortemaggiore, Emilia-Romagna, Italy on February 15, 1916. Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, Franco started his career as a model and an actor in fotoromanzi magazines. Fabrizi also starred in several revues and stage works, then he debuted on the big screen with a supporting role in 1950’s “Cronaca di un amore” (Chronicle of a Love), Michelangelo Antonioni's feature film debut.
The role that made him known was as Fausto in Federico Fellini's “I vitelloni”; from then on he was inextricably linked to the character of a full-time seducer, a young wastrel, a young not-so-young man who refuses to grow up, a character that he reprised, with different facets, in a number of films. After the 1950s, Fabrizi was mainly relegated to character roles in Italian, French and Spanish minor productions; he still appeared in several major works of Italian cinema, and one of his last great roles was in Luchino Visconti's “Death in Venice”.
In 1993 he had a serious car accident. During his recovery, he was diagnosed with colon cancer, from which he died on October 18, 1995, at the age of 79.
Franco Fabrizi appeared in two Spaghetti western as a supporting actor: “ …e alla fine lo chiamarono Jerusalem l’implacabile” (Panhandle Cailber .38” as Chief Black Eagle and as Major Tom Custer in the 1973 film “Non toccare la donna bianca” (Don’t Touch the White Woman).
FABRIZI, Franco (aka Franco Fabrizi) (Francesco
Fabbrizi) [2/15/1916, Cortemaggiore, Emilia-Romagna, Italy – 10/18/1995,
Cortemaggiore, Emilia-Romagna, Italy (colon cancer)] – model, fotoromanzi, theater,
film, TV actor.
Panhandle Caliber .38 - 1971 (Chief Black Eagle)
Don’t Touch the White Woman! – 1973 (Major Tom Custer)
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