Paolo Bonacelli, an actor who starred in many popular cinema films, as well as on stage and television, has died. He was 88 years old and was hospitalized at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome. One of his best-known roles was in All we can do is cry by Massimo Troisi and Roberto Benigni, where he played Leonardo da Vinci.
Bonacelli was born on 28 February 1937 in Civita Castellana, Lazio, and after graduating from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome he made his debut in This evening we will recite the subjecta work by Luigi Pirandello, directed by Vittorio Gassman. Among the many films in which he took part there are Lady Barbara by Mario Amendola, Salò or the 120 days of Sodom by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Christ stopped at Eboli by Francesco Rosi, The Oberwald Mystery by Michelangelo Antonioni, Francesco by Liliana Cavani, Johnny Stecchino by Roberto Benigni (with whom he won the Nastro d’Argento), I hope I manage di Lina Wertmüller.
International success came in 1978 with Midnight escape by Alan Parker in which Bonacelli got the part of the prisoner Rifki. In 2008, thanks to the popular vote, he received the Gassman Lifetime Achievement Award.
