Lando Buzzanca
Italian actor (1935–2022)
title: "Lando Buzzanca" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1935-births", "2022-deaths", "accidental-deaths-from-falls-in-italy", "male-actors-from-palermo", "italian-male-film-actors", "italian-male-television-actors", "20th-century-italian-male-actors", "21st-century-italian-male-actors", "italian-male-comedians", "comedians-from-palermo"] description: "Italian actor (1935–2022)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lando_Buzzanca" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Italian actor (1935–2022) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Lando Buzzanca |
| image | Lando Buzzanca cropped.jpg |
| caption | Buzzanca in 2009 |
| birth_name | Gerlando Buzzanca |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Palermo, Italy |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Rome, Italy |
| years_active | 1959–2021 |
| occupation | Actor, theatre director |
| education | Accademia d'arte drammatica Pietro Scharoff |
| spouse | |
| children | 2 |
| :: |
| name = Lando Buzzanca | image = Lando Buzzanca cropped.jpg | caption = Buzzanca in 2009 | imagesize = | birth_name = Gerlando Buzzanca | birth_date = | birth_place = Palermo, Italy | death_date = | death_place = Rome, Italy | years_active = 1959–2021 | occupation = Actor, theatre director | education = Accademia d'arte drammatica Pietro Scharoff | spouse =
| children = 2
Gerlando "Lando" Buzzanca (24 August 1935 – 18 December 2022) was an Italian stage, film, and television actor whose career spanned 65 years.
Life and career
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Lando_Buzzanca_and_Delia_Scala.jpg" caption="Lando Buzzanca and [[Delia Scala]] in the television show ''[[Signore e signora]]'' (1970)"] ::
Early years
Born in Palermo the son of a cinema projectionist, at 16 years old Buzzanca left the high school and moved to Rome to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. In order to survive, he took many jobs including waiter, furniture mover, and a brief appearance as a slave in the film Ben-Hur. He made his official debut in Pietro Germi's Divorce Italian Style, and soon specialized in the role of the average immigrant from southern Italy.
1970s–1980s: Huge success in the commedia sexy all'italiana
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Il_Merlo_maschio_di_Pasquale_Festa_Campanile.jpg" caption="Lando Buzzanca with [[Laura Antonelli]] in ''[[Secret Fantasy]]'' (1971), directed by [[Pasquale Festa Campanile"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Il_gatto_mammone_(1975)_-_Gloria_Guida_e_Lando_Buzzanca.jpg" caption="''[[Il gatto mammone]]'' (1975), with [[Gloria Guida]] and Lando Buzzanca."] ::
After two successful "James Tont" films in which he played a parody of James Bond in the 1960s, and having starred in 33 films already, he was "discovered" in 1970 in The Swinging Confessors (also known as The Married Priest). Buzzanca then had a large success in a series of satirical commedia sexy all'italiana films which satirized major institutions such as politics, religion, trade unions and financial world. Lando Buzzanca with Laura Antonelli in Il merlo maschio (1971) directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile, which was a huge success and made him a major star in the genre of commedia sexy all'italiana. In the following years he acted alongside famous actresses of the moment, such as Claudia Cardinale, Catherine Spaak, Barbara Bouchet, Gloria Guida, Senta Berger and Joan Collins. His 17 films since The Swinging Confessors grossed 20 billion lire ($32 million).
1990s–2000s: The theater, the last great film and the well received TV series.
With the decline of the genre, he slowed his film activities, focusing into theatre and television, in which he enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in the 2000s thanks to a series of well-received TV-series.
In 2007 he starred in the feature film I Viceré by Roberto Faenza, for which he was nominated for the David di Donatello for best leading actor and won the Globo d'oro for best actor.
2010s: Success of the TV series
From 2012 to 2014 Buzzanca played the lead actor in the successful TV series il restauratore, in 28 episodes. Buzzanca concluded the series despite the depression caused by the death of his wife, the suicide attempt and the onset of a mild cerebral ischemia.
Later years
In 2013, following the death of his wife Lucia and a heavy depression, Buzzanca attempted suicide by cutting his veins.
In 2014 he suffered from a mild cerebral ischemia which caused him aphasia, but by the following year he had fully recovered from his depressive period and started a relationship with a younger woman, Antonella.
In 2016 he participated as dancer in the television program Ballando con le Stelle and started a romance with a younger actress and journalist Francesca Della Valle.
2020s: physical decline
On 21 April 2021, he fell at home and suffered a head injury; he was rescued by the maid, who found him the day after the accident still unconscious on the ground and called an ambulance. He was admitted to the Santo Spirito hospital in Rome. On 15 August 2021, Buzzanca, after the treatment received at the hospital, seemed to have fully recovered, as confirmed also by his son Massimiliano. On 27 December 2021, Buzzanca was hospitalized at the health facility in Rome, due to the worsening of his health conditions. In his later years Buzzanca suffered from senile dementia.
Death
On 18 December 2022, Buzzanca died at the Agostino Gemelli University Policlinic in Rome, where he was recovered a few days prior because of a fall, at the age of 87.
On 21 December 2022, the funeral ceremony took place in the Church of the Artists in Rome, in which his partner Francesca Della Valle unexpectedly did not take part.
Awards
|-
| 2008
| I Vicerè
| |}
Globo d'oro, Italy
|-
| 2008
| I Vicerè
|
|}
Filmography
Film
::data[format=table]
Television
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Signore e signora | ||
| 1988 | Cinema | ||
| 1999 | Cornetti al miele | ||
| 2003 | Una famiglia per caso | ||
| 2005 | Il cielo può attendere | ||
| 2005 | Mio figlio | ||
| 2007 | Clare and Francis | ||
| 2007 | La baronessa di Carini | ||
| 2010 | Lo scandalo della Banca Romana | ||
| 2010 | Capri | season 3 | |
| 2010 | Io e mio figlio - Nuove storie per il commissario Vivaldi | Federico Vivaldi | |
| 2012–2014 | Il Restauratore | Basilio Corsi | season 1–2 (28 episodes) |
| 2012 | Terra ribelle – Il nuovo mondo | Alfredo Malagridas | season 2 |
| 2013 | Donne in gioco | ||
| 2016 | Ballando con le stelle | Ballando con le Stelle (series 11) | |
| 2017 | Meglio tardi che mai | ||
| 2019 | W Gli Sposi | Reverendo | |
| :: |
References
References
- (8 August 2010). "Lando Buzzanca". [[La Repubblica]].
- "Lando Buzzanca: Il cinema italiano mi fece sexy". [[Mymovies.it.
- (2003). "Gli Attori". Gremese Editore, 2003.
- Rizzo, Eugene. (7 May 1975). "Spencer, Hill Pace Talent Race At Italian Box Office".
- (8 August 2014). "Lando Buzzanca si confessa: "E' vero, ho tentato il suicidio"". [[Il Mattino]].
- (24 November 2016). "Lando Buzzanca, playboy senza età". [[Novella 2000]].
- (26 May 2021). "Il malore poi la caduta. Lando Buzzanca è in ospedale". ilgiornale.it.
- (19 May 2021). "Lando Buzzanca, lo sfogo della compagna Francesca Della Valle: "Lui è in ospedale e non mi permettono neanche di vederlo" – ESCLUSIVO". oggi.it.
- (26 May 2021). "Lando Buzzanca ricoverato da un mese, la compagna rivela: "Non so più nulla di lui"". tgcom24.mediaset.it.
- (18 December 2022). "Chi era Lando Buzzanca: i film, la malattia e la polemica tra la compagna e i figli". [[Il Riformista]].
- (18 December 2022). "Cinema, addio a Lando Buzzanca". [[Il Sole 24 Ore]].
- (19 December 2022). ""Papà Lando Buzzanca mi ha detto ʼti amoʼ "". tgcom24.mediaset.it.
- (18 December 2022). "Morto Lando Buzzanca". La Repubblica.
- (18 December 2022). "Lando Buzzanca, morto a Roma l'attore e cantante: aveva 87 anni". [[Il Messaggero]].
- (18 December 2022). "E' morto Lando Buzzanca". [[Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata.
- (21 December 2022). "Lando Buzzanca, commozione ai funerali ma la compagna diserta: "Potevano salvarlo"". tgcom24.mediaset.it.
- (21 December 2022). "Compagna di Buzzanca diserta il funerale, "lo potevano salvare"". ansa.it.
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