Actor. The son of an insurance company inspector, he moved from one city to another during his childhood because of his father's job. In 1936 he returned to Cremona with his family, at the age of fourteen he went to work as a worker in a charcuterie factory and in his spare time he devoted himself to acting in a company after-work amateur dramatics. Called up during World War II, after 8 September he returned to his hometown and found work as an archivist. However, the work did not last long because Tognazzi has theater in his blood (when he was only four years old he made his debut at the Donizetti theater in Bergamo and during his military service he organized variety shows) and so in 1945 he moved to Milan. He successfully participates in an evening for amateurs at the Puccini Theater and is chosen for the theater company of Wanda Osiris. In 1951 he met Raimondo Vianello and the two form a comic couple who from 1954 to 1960 worked in the newly born Rai TV. Together they are the strong point of the television variety of Garinei and Giovannini "Un due, tre" and become famous but will then be dismissed for having teased, even if very politely, with a scketch the President of the Italian Republic Giovanni Gronchi, who fell from chair during a show at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome. At the cinema Ugo made his debut in 1950 with Mario Mattoli's "I cadetti di Gascogna" alongside Walter Chiari and up to 1961 he played 38 films. In 1961, among other things, he successfully interpreted the film "Il federale" by Luciano Salce and made his debut behind the camera with the film "I Mantenuti" which he also interpreted. His career has a qualitative acceleration and the following year the artistic partnership with Raimondo Vianello is broken, but the two will always remain excellent friends. He works for directors such as Marco Ferreri ("L'ape regina" (1963), "La donna scimmia" (1964), "Marcia Nuziale" (1966), "La grande abbuffata" (1973), and Dino Risi ("I mostri" (1963) "Straziami ma di baci saziami"(1968) and gives life to the two successful series of "Amici Miei" (1975-1985) and "Il Vizietto" (1978 - 1985). His original and ambiguous comedy leads him to be one of the historical interpreters of the Italian comedy but he also gives excellent proofs when he engages in more serious and dramatic roles such as in "La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo" (1981) by Bernardo Bertolucci, which earned him the Palme d'Or for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival. His rich and tangled love life made the fortune of the tabloid magazines. From the relationship with the dancer Pat O'Hara, son Ricky is born (who affirms himself as an actor and director), after some flirts with beautiful foreigners (the French actresses Helène Chanel and Caprice Chantal) in 1963 he married the Norwegian actress Margaretha Robsham from to whom he has another son, Thomas (director) who, however, his mother takes with her when the relationship is broken and coming back to her hometown. The marriage in fact lasts a few months because in the meantime the actor meets Franca Bettoja, whom he marries in 1972. Two children are born from the union Maria Sole (director) and Gian Marco (actor). Amateur footballer, great Milan fan, loving to play tennis but his real great passion was cooking, for which he also published a recipe book, "L' Abbuffone" (published by Rizzoli) and was often a guest and gastronomic advisor of numerous women's magazines. He dies of a brain hemorrhage in a Roman clinic.