Veteran theater and film actor-director Giorgio Albertazzi passed away on Saturday at the age of 92. He died peacefully in his native Tuscany, Italy.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi mourned Albertazzi in Venice, acknowledging him as a great Italian and “an artist who was classical and progressive simultaneously.”
Italian President Sergio Mattarella also recognized the late actor and his accomplishments, adding: “With Giorgio Albertazzi we have lost one of the foremost artists of the theater and contemporary Italian cinema. His interpretations of the great classics remain a milestone in the history of entertainment.” He also referred to the late actor as “a maestro and a point of reference for generations of actors and directors.”
Albertazzi started his career in 1949 with Luchino Visconti, later working with prominent Italian directors such as Franco Zeffirelli, helping him reach national fame by the 1960s. His collaborations with Visconti continued while he narrated the classic Le Notti Bianchi, starring Marcello Mastroianni.
Albertazzi took great pride in working with numerous Shakespeare works. He became known for playing roles like Hamlet, Henry IV and Othello on stage.
Another recognizable role includes that of Roman emperor Hadrian, which he portrayed over 1,000 times in Marguerite Yourcenar’s Memories of Hadrian adaptation. This role lasted several decades, with the actor embracing it more as he aged.
“Doing it, I also speak of myself,” the late actor said at age 90. “After all, I feel — a lot — the end of beauty that is consumed, that runs through the text, that seizes the moment in which the harmony of body and mind breaks and enters in conflict.”
Albertazzi would later bring the stage role to the silver screen along with director Matteo Raffaelli.
“He was the greatest Italian actor. The public knew that very well, and perhaps he, too, was conscious of having the task of being the last of the greats,” Gigi Proietti spoke highly of the actor, who had previously worked with him as a director. “But always with the desire to experiment, never to be obvious. Directing Albertazzi? It was like playing a Stradivarius.”
Albertazzi leaves behind his wife, Pia de Tolomei.