Lorenzo Giovanni "Renzo" Arbore (; born 24 June 1937) is an Italian television host, singer, actor and film director.

Career

Arbore became nationally recognized as radio anchor man, together with

Gianni Boncompagni Giandomenico "Gianni" Boncompagni (13 May 1932 – 16 April 2017) was a television and radio presenter, director, writer and lyricist. Life and career Born in Arezzo, at 18 years old Boncompagni moved to Sweden, where he lived for ten years do ...

, in the late 1960s, with shows such as ''Bandiera gialla ''(1965), ''Per voi giovani ''(1967), ''Alto Gradimento ''(1970), increasingly marked by their ironical approach which later became one of their brands. He debuted in Italian television with ''Speciale per voi ''(1969–1970), which included debates about singers of that age. His first great TV success was the surreal ''

L'altra domenica ''L’altra domenica'' ("Another Side of Sunday") was an Italian Sunday afternoon variety show, broadcast on Rai 2 between 1976 and 1979. It is regarded as one of the most innovative shows in Italian television. This show saw Milly Carlucci make ...

''("The Other Sunday", 1976–1979), in which he launched numerous comedians including Mario Marenco,

Isabella Rossellini Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini (; born 18 June 1952) is an Italian actress and model. The daughter of Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, she is noted for her successful tenure as a Lancôme ...

and

Roberto Benigni Roberto Remigio Benigni ( , ; born 27 October 1952) is an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film director. He gained international recognition for writing, directing, and starring in the Holocaust comedy drama film ''Life Is Beautifu ...

. Also very successful were '' Quelli della notte ''(1985), with Nino Frassica,

Riccardo Pazzaglia Riccardo Pazzaglia (12 September 1926 – 4 October 2006) was an Italian actor, film director, screenwriter, songwriter (for Domenico Modugno), TV and radio personality. Born in Naples, Pazzaglia graduated in direction from the Centro Speri ...

, Maurizio Ferrini, and Roberto D'Agostino, and ''Indietro tutta!''(1988), again with Frassica, which established Arbore as one of the most intelligent and cult figures of Italian televisions. In the meantime Arbore wrote and directed the movies ''

Il pap'occhio ''In the Pope's Eye'' () is a 1980 Italian comedy film written and directed by Renzo Arbore. It was released in September 1980, and it was heavily attacked by the Catholic press. Three weeks later it was confiscated "for insulting the Catholic r ...

'' (1980) and '' "FF.SS." – Cioè: "...che mi hai portato a fare sopra a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più bene?"'' (1983), both surreal stories featuring numerous actors launched by him and others friends (including

Luciano De Crescenzo Luciano De Crescenzo (; 18 August 1928 – 18 July 2019) was an Italians, Italian writer, film actor, director and engineer. Biography Born in Naples, he grew up with actor Bud Spencer. De Crescenzo graduated in engineering and worked for IBM ...

, Benigni, Rossellini and many others), set in his adoptive city of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. Arbore also played and sang in numerous of his shows, notably in ''Quelli della Notte'' and ''Indietro tutta!'', whose music albums sold hundreds of thousand copies in Italy. An apt amateur

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

player, in 1991 Arbore founded the ''Orchestra Italiana'', a group of 15 artists with the aim to popularize Neapolitan music worldwide. The orchestra has toured in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. He was also director of the Umbria Jazz festival. His latest TV show is ''Speciale per me – Meno siamo, meglio stiamo!'' on

Rai Uno Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

Recently, he received the 2010 ''America Award'' from the Italy-USA Foundation. In July 2010, Arbore received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

. The award was presented at the 25th anniversary of the Umbria Jazz Clinics.

Honour

* : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (3 december 2021)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arbore, Renzo 1937 births Living people People from Foggia Male actors from Apulia Italian television presenters Italian people of Romanian descent Italian film directors Italian male actors Italian jazz clarinetists Italian jazz musicians Italian radio personalities 20th-century Italian male singers Italian male jazz musicians Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic