Ciao Mandrake

He was born in Rome from Romano Proietti, originally from Umbria, and Giovanna Ceci, a housewife. During his youth he was keen on singing and on playing guitar, piano, accordion and double bass in several Roman nightclubs.[3] He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the La Sapienza University, where he attended the mimicry courses of the University Theatre Centre held by Giancarlo Cobelli, who immediately noticed his talent as a musician and booked him for an avantgarde play.

After several stage works, in 1966 Proietti debuted both in cinema, in Pleasant Nights, and on television, in the TV-series I grandi camaleonti. His first personal success came in 1971, when he replaced Domenico Modugno on the stage musical Alleluja brava gente by Garinei & Giovannini, starring alongside Renato Rascel.

In 1974, after playing the role of Neri Chiaramantesi in the drama La cena delle beffe, alongside Carmelo Bene and Vittorio Gassman, in 1976 he started a fruitful collaboration with playwright Roberto Lerici, with whom he wrote and directed his stage plays, starting with the one-man show A me gli occhi, please (Give me your eyes, please, 1976, reported on the scene in 1993, 1996 and 2000, in a memorable performance at the Olympic Stadium in his hometown). The show achieves a sensational success; initially planned to be performed 6 times, it exceeded 300 performances, with an average audience of 2,000 per performance.

He took part in several international movies, including The Appointment (1969), directed by Sidney Lumet, A Wedding (1978), directed by Robert Altman, and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), directed by Ted Kotcheff. Proietti was also a voice dubber of films and television shows into the Italian language. He has dubbed the voices of several famous actors including Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman, Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando. His credits also include the role of the Genie in the Italian version of the Aladdin film series and Draco in Dragonheart. He also provided the Italian voice of Gandalf in The Hobbit film series, replacing the late Gianni Musy, who dubbed Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings, as well as Sylvester from Looney Tunes during the 1960s.

Proietti was interested in music from a young age.[5] During his time singing in nightclubs and outdoor bars, he was initially not interested in pursuing an acting career. Proietti starred in and performed the opening and closing theme song for Il Circolo Pickwick which aired on Rai 1 in 1968 and at that time, he met Lucio Battisti, who was signed with the record label Dischi Ricordi. In the mid-1990s, Proietti was a member of Trio Melody alongside Peppino di Capri and Stefano Palatresi. The group was only active from the Sanremo Music Festival 1995 until 1996 and they released only one album. Proi- etti also enjoyed a successful solo career and he released more than 11 albums and 15 singles.

We all thank you, just for having existed and, for having done so in Italy.

Because it is true that we are a disunited country, always polemical with the political class but, extremely nationalist when it comes to football or as they call it here “Soccer”.

But art also unites, and you have touched it in its vital points. By casually traversing all possible means of communication. We live in a world made of images, flashes of light that pass through us without saying anything but leaving deep impressions.

On 1 November 2020, Proietti suffered a heart attack whilst in the hospital, having been admitted fifteen days prior for heart-related problems. He was transferred to intensive care where his condition was described as critical.[6] Proietti died the following morning, in the early hours of 2 November 2020, the day of his 80th birthday.

At one time, the Gods lived inside the cinema, and in the television box, some hovered in the theaters, and you were one of those, together with Gasmann, Carmelo Bene and the myth of Petrolini that, sometimes you have represented jokingly. “Ciao Mandrake,” you were part of my being Italian.

Proietti had been in a relation-

Fabrizio Catalfamo

ship since 1962 with Swedish, former tour guide Sagitta Alter, with whom he had two daughters, Susanna and Carlotta. His nephew Raffaele has followed him into a voice dubbing career.