Ettore Petrolini

Ettore Petrolini (13 January 1884 - 29 June 1936) was an Italian stage and film actor, playwright, screenwriter and novelist. He is considered one of the most important figures of avanspettacolo, vaudeville and revue, noted for his numerous caricature sketches and described as the inventor of a revolutionary and anticonformist way of performing. He is remembered for creating the futurista character Fortunello, while his iconic character Gastone became a byword in Italian for a certain type of stagey snob.

Born in Rome, Petrolini was the fourth of six children of a blacksmith from Ronciglione. He attended theaters in Rome as a boy, improvising for fun, and gave his first performances in the sideshows on Piazza Guglielmo Pepe. In 1900 he participated in a show at the Pietro Cossa Theater on the Trastevere, and later performed in provincial theaters and cafes chantants under the stage name Ettore Loris. In 1903 he met Ines Colapietro, with whom he formed the comic duo Loris-Petrolini, performing together until the summer of 1911. In May 1907 the pair toured South America, appearing in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil, and returning for further tours in 1909 and 1911-1912 that also took in Mexico and Cuba.

Back in Italy, Petrolini was hired in 1910 by Giuseppe Jovinelli for his theater in Piazza Guglielmo Pepe. In 1915 he formed his own company and staged the revue Zero minus zero, which introduced Fortunello and drew the admiration of Futurists such as Filippo Tommaso Marinetti. In 1930, with the advent of sound films, he returned to cinema as the protagonist of Nerone by Alessandro Blasetti, a film featuring his famous interpretations of Gastone, Nerone and Pulcinella.