RIP FRANCESCO NUTI

Joined in grief, the family deeply thanks the healthcare staff and all those who cared for the actor during his long illness,” reads a note released by his daughter Ginevra along with the family.

Actor, director, singer, and amateur painter. Francesco Nuti, a comedic and bitter figure in Italian cinema, has passed away. He was 68 years old and had been ill for some time. His daughter Ginevra, along with family members, announced his death. United in sorrow, they “heartily thank the healthcare staff and all those who cared for the actor during his long illness, especially the staff at Villa Verde in Rome,” the note reads.

Depression came too early in the life of one of Italy’s most beloved figures in show business, causing him to fall and rise several times in a tough and devastating personal battle, amidst successes and defeats, in the complex search for a balance never found. Not even the birth of Ginevra, from former partner Annamaria Malipiero, led to a turning point.

The actor’s illness

In 2003, he phoned the ANSA news agency threatening suicide, seen as the only solution to the distrust and indifference of producers. Then a series of hospitalizations and treatments for his life-weariness. Various attempts to return to work, with many difficulties.
On September 2, 2006, the actor was found in a coma in his home in Parioli following a cranial hemorrhage and urgently admitted to the Umberto I Policlinic. Then a long and difficult neuro-motor rehabilitation, an uphill battle, faced with courage and determination. Up until today.

Box office champion in the 1980s

His filmography is a long road that began in 1981, when at the age of 26, he joined Alessandro Benvenuti and Athina Cenci’s Giancattivi. Success came with “Io Chiara e lo Scuro” directed by Maurizio Ponzi. From ’85 he was also a director. Among his major successes are “Tutta colpa del Paradiso,” “Caruso Pascoski di padre polacco,” “Willy Signori e vengo da lontano,” and “Donne con le gonne.” In ’94 he disappointed with his most ambitious work “Occhiopinocchio.” He made a comeback with “Il signor quindicipalle,” with Sabrina Ferilli, then another success, “Io amo Andrea,” starring Francesca Neri, where his few-month-old daughter also appeared. Here begins the real battle to reclaim his life, interrupted only by brief jobs.

Carlo Conti’s memory

“Francesco was a great man who needs no introduction: he made history in Italian comedy, for us who came after, with Benigni, Poli, and the Giancattivi he was a reference point.” With a voice broken with emotion, Carlo Conti remembers Francesco Nuti with ANSA. “With Pieraccioni and Panariello – Conti emphasizes – we always looked to him as a reference for entertainment, cinema, television, in the years of Non Stop, Smorfia, Verdone, Troisi, a generation of phenomena. Not to mention the cinematic adventure that represented important milestones for comedy. Then a great friendship was born, and we often saw each other. The very long ordeal he faced leaves us speechless; my embrace goes especially to Ginevra,” the daughter of the actor and director who was by his side until the end. After the domestic accident and cranial hematoma in 2006, which left him in a coma for several months, Nuti was then struck by a cerebral hemorrhage in 2016. On May 11, 2014, Conti, with Masini, Panariello, and Pieraccioni organized “Buon Compleanno Francesco Nuti,” a special show at the Mandela Forum, attended by the actor and director himself, who would have turned 59 a few days later: “I believe it was his last public appearance,” says the presenter today – with incredible strength he stood up, in front of seven thousand people, while Ginevra sang “Sarà per te” (the song Nuti brought to Sanremo in 1988, ed.). It was a crazy moment; we were all moved.” It is too early to talk about tributes: “At this moment,” Conti concludes, “we must close ourselves in silence and remember the greatness he left us. An embrace to Ginevra.”

RIP FRANCESCO NUTI