Luigi "Gigio" Morra (26 August 1945 – 10 March 2024) was an Italian actor, whose career spanned over 50 years.

Life and career

Born in Naples, Morra studied at the Accademia d’arte drammatica di Napoli, graduating in 1966. He started his career on stage with

Carlo Cecchi Carlo Cecchi (born 25 January 1939) is an Italian actor. Born in Florence, Cecchi studied under the Living Theatre and with the Workshop of Eduardo De Filippo. In 1968, he made his debut for cinema in '' La sua giornata di gloria''. In 1971, he ...

, who gave him the nickname Gigio, after then popular puppet Topo Gigio. Morra was mainly active on theatre, where among others he worked in the stage companies of

Eduardo De Filippo Eduardo De Filippo OMRI (; 26 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as ''Eduardo'', was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan language, Neapolitan works ''Filumena Marturano'' and ...

, Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, Maurizio Scaparro, Luca De Filippo, and Toni Servillo. He made his film debut in 1976, in

Marco Bellocchio Marco Bellocchio (; born 9 November 1939) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, and actor. Life and career Born in Bobbio, near Piacenza, Marco Bellocchio had a strict Catholic upbringing – his father was a lawyer, his mother a schooltea ...

's '' Victory March'', and worked with

Lina Wertmüller Arcangela Felice Assunta "Lina" Wertmüller (; 14 August 1928 – 9 December 2021) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. She is best known for her 1970s art film, art house films ''Seven Beauties'',' ''The Seduction of Mimi'', ''Lov ...

Matteo Garrone Matteo Garrone is an Italian filmmaker. Early life Matteo Garrone was born in Rome, Italy, the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone and a photographer, Donatella Rimoldi. Career In 1996 Garrone won the ''Sacher d'Oro'', an award sponsored b ...

Nanni Moretti Giovanni "Nanni" Moretti (; born 19 August 1953) is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His films have won accolades, including a at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for ''The Son's Room'', a Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize ...

Mario Martone Mario Martone (born 20 November 1959) is an Italian filmmaker. He has directed more than 30 films since 1985. His films have been shown in prestigious international film festivals over the world. His films '' Nasty Love'' (1995) and ''Nostalgia ...

Marco Risi Marco Risi (born 4 June 1951) is an Italian film director, screenwriter, film producer and cinematographer. Born in Milan, he is son of director Dino Risi. After graduating from Liceo Scientifico, Risi joined the faculty of philosophy, but aban ...

, Gianni Di Gregorio, Antonio Capuano, Edoardo Leo, and

Riccardo Milani Riccardo Milani (born 15 April 1958) is an Italian film and television director and screenwriter. Life and career Born in Rome, Milani began his career in 1985, as assistant director of Mario Monicelli in ''Let's Hope It's a Girl''. After bei ...

, among others. On television, he is best known for the role of Peppino Canfora he played between 2017 and 2019 in the

Rai 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rai Tre) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural a ...

TV-series '' Un posto al sole''. Morra died on 10 March 2024, at the age of 78.

Selected filmography

* '' Victory March'' (1976) * '' Sweet Dreams'' (1981) * ''

Ciao, Professore! ''Ciao, Professore!'' (; original title: "'", which is a grammatically erroneous phrase meaning "Let's hope that I scrape by (the Judgement Day)" taken from Raffaele's homework essay) is a 1992 Italian " fish out of water" comedy film about an ...

'' (1992) * '' The Dust of Naples'' (1998) * '' Gomorrah'' (2008) * '' Bets and Wedding Dresses'' (2009) * '' Fort Apache Napoli'' (2009) * '' Women vs. Men'' (2011) * '' Dormant Beauty'' (2012) * '' Welcome Mr. President'' (2013) * '' Best Enemies Forever'' (2016) * '' Pericle'' (2016) * '' Omicidio all'italiana'' (2017) * '' 5 Is the Perfect Number'' (2019) * ''

Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel, ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a poor man named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...

'' (2019) * ''

The King of Laughter ''The King of Laughter'' () is a 2021 Italian-Spanish biographical drama film directed by Mario Martone about actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta's legal battle against Gabriele D'Annunzio over his parody of the latter's '' The Daughter of I ...

'' (2021) * '' Breaking Up in Rome'' (2021) * '' Never Too Late for Love'' (2022) * '' A Brighter Tomorrow'' (2023)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morra, Gigio 1945 births 2024 deaths Male actors from Naples Italian male film actors Italian male stage actors Italian male television actors 20th-century Italian male actors 21st-century Italian male actors