Pasquale Zagaria

Lino Banfi (born Pasquale Zagaria; 9 July 1936) is an Italian actor and screenwriter. Since 1960 he has appeared in more than 100 films. He was born in the Apulian city of Andria and at the age of three moved to Canosa di Puglia. He started his career as a local singer and as a fotoromanzi actor, and in 1954, determined to become an actor, he moved to Milan, before moving to Rome in 1957 where he eventually started his professional stage career. Initially performing as Lino Zaga, he was part of numerous avanspettacolo companies.

Banfi made his film debut playing a minor role in Lucio Fulci's Howlers in the Dock, and on the set of Fulci's Two Escape from Sing Sing he befriended the comedy duo Franco and Ciccio, becoming a regular character actor in their films for several years. In 1968, he embraced stand-up comedy, replacing Enrico Montesano at Lando Fiorini's cabaret club Puff. He became one of the most well-known actors in Italian "sexy comedies" in the 1970s, and in the 1980s reached the peak of his fame with films such as L'allenatore nel pallone, Vieni avanti cretino and Il commissario Lo Gatto.

Throughout his career, nearly all of Banfi's characters spoke with the distinctive pronunciation of the Bari dialect. He later portrayed Grandpa Libero in the Italian TV series Un medico in famiglia (1998-2016). Banfi and his wife Lucia Lagrasta were married from 1962 until her death in February 2023, and they have two children: Walter and Rosanna, who is also an actress. In 2000, he became a Goodwill ambassador for the Italian National Committee for UNICEF, and in 1998 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.