Maurizio Costanzo , journalist, TV host, author and screenwriter, died in Rome. He was 84 years old. The news was communicated by his press office.
Author of dozens of radio and television programs (Buona Domenica) and theatrical comedies, he achieved popularity in 1976 with the Rai talk-show Bontà loro .
He co-created the character of Fracchia ( Paolo Villaggio ), an actor he discovered in 1967 in a cabaret in Rome, but his name is inextricably linked to the Maurizio Costanzo show .
The life
Born on 28 August 1938, after graduating in accounting, at the age of 18 he began his career as a journalist as a reporter for the newspaper Paese Sera. At the age of 22 he became the editor-in-chief of the Roman editorial staff of the weekly Grazia.
In 1966 he co-authored with Ghigo De Chiara the text of the song Se telephoning sung by Mina , accompanied by the music of Ennio Morricone .
He collaborated on the first project of Salò or the 120 days of Sodom (1975) by Pier Paolo Pasolini , and in writing the screenplay for four films directed by Pupi Avati : Bordella (1976), the horror cult The house with laughing windows ( 1976), All Deceased… Except the Dead (1977) and Zeder (1983).
He contributed to the drafting of the screenplay of the film A special day by Ettore Scola , starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni . The following year he directed the parody Melodrammore interpreted by Amedeo Nazzari , the actor symbol of melodramas, here in his last film appearance.
Since the mid-1970s he has created and conducted numerous television shows, from Bontà loro (1976-1978), Acquario (1978-1979), Grand’Italia (1979-1980) and Fascination (1984). These experiences lead him to create the Maurizio Costanzo Show . The talk show aired from 1982 to 2022, albeit with some interruptions, becoming the longest-running talk show on Italian television.
The program becomes the place of debut for numerous personalities, from Vittorio Sgarbi to actors such as Nik Novecento, Valerio Mastandrea to Ricky Memphis , from Daniele Luttazzi to Alessandro Bergonzoni , to comedians such as Giobbe Covatta, Enzo Iacchetti, Dario Vergassola, Stefano Nosei and Gioele Dix .
He has been married four times: to Lori Sammartini (1963); with the journalist Flaminia Morandi (1973); with the TV presenter Marta Flavi (1989) and with his wife Maria De Filippi (1995).
The reactions
Bonolis
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