Italian Actor. Theatrical interpreter of intense expressiveness, he has added to this activity that of director and author of comedies, also dedicating himself to dubbing and becoming one of the most authoritative Italian actors present on the twentieth century art scene. He also happily practiced writing, painting and sculpture. Knight of the Grand Cross since 1998. Of Jewish origin, raised in Florence, he trained at the L. Rasi acting school, and at the Experimental Center of Cinematography in Rome, from which he was expelled in 1938 for the racial laws against Jews. He has interpreted on the theatrical scene, with modern acting and careful study of the characters, classical and contemporary authors, also directed by Visconti, Ronconi, Strehler. He is also a director, and author of comedies which he himself staged successfully (among others, 'Signori, buonasera'1975, 'La corda a tre capo', 1985, 'Oggi', 2005). He has taken part in more than one hundred films, with always incisive and often memorable interpretations, directed, among others, by A. Blasetti (Altri Tempi, 1952), O. Welles (Le procès, 1962), V. Cottafavi (I cento cavalieri, 1964) J. Deray (Borsalino, 1970), E. Scola (Gente di Roma, 2003, Silver Ribbon for Best Supporting Actor), A. D'Alatri (La febbre , 2005). Since 1950 he has been one of the protagonists of radio and television, cultural and entertainment broadcasts, radio and television prose, numerous screenplays ('Piccola donna', 1955, 'Capitan Fracassa', 1958, 'L'isola del tesoro', 1959, 'Il giornalino di Gian Burrasca', 1964-65, 'La freccia nera', 1968, 'I racconti di padre Brown', 1970, 'Il cugino americano', 1986, 'Casa famiglia', 2001). His activity as a voice actor is important: he has lent his voice, among others, to A. Quinn, J. Wayne, P. Ustinov and T. Mifune. Countless poetic dictions recorded on vinyl and CD, his readings of Dante's Comedy are famous and inimitable. He has published several books, most recently 'Joanna Luzmarina' (Corbo Editore 2008) and 'Autobiografia di un artista burbero' (Sellerio 2009).