De Filippo, Peppino

(1903-1980)

   Actor and playwright. Illegitimate son of renowned Neapolitan actor Eduardo Scarpetta, and younger brother of Eduardo and Titina, Peppino began acting at the age of six in the company of Vincenzo Scarpetta in Rome, playing the part of Peppeniello in Miseria e nobilta (Poverty and Nobility). For the next two decades he worked with many of the leading theatrical companies in both Rome and Naples. In 1931 he joined Eduardo and Titina in forming the Compagnia Teatro Umoristico i De Filippo (The De Filippo Comic Theater Company), which became one of the most successful dialect theater companies in Italy during the interwar period, performing a repertoire composed mostly of plays written by Peppino and Eduardo themselves. A falling-out between the brothers led to the dissolution of the family company in 1944, following which Peppino formed his own troupe with which he performed and toured widely throughout Europe and South America until the mid-1970s.

   Peppino made his debut in cinema together with brother Eduardo in Tre uomini in frac (I Sing for You Alone, 1932), directed by Mario Bonnard, soon followed by Mario Camerini's Il capello a trepunte (The Three-Cornered Hat, 1934), where he played the major role of Luca, the miller. He subsequently appeared, usually in strong supporting parts, in dozens of films, including Raffaele Matarazzoi's Il Marchese di Ruvolito (The Marquis of Ruvolito, 1938) and Mario Bonnard's Campo de'Fiori (1943). In the postwar period he continued to alternate between stage and screen. He played the male lead in Federico Fellini's first film (codirected with Alberto Lattuada), Luci del varieta (Variety Lights, 1950), and gave a brilliant performance as the repressed and moralistic bigot of Le tentazioni del dottor Antonio (The Temptations of Dr. Antonio, 1962), the episode Fellini contributed to Boccaccio '70 (1962). He is probably remembered most fondly, however, for consistently playing the foil to the great comic actor Toto, appearing in no fewer than 14 films, including Totb, Peppino e . . . la malafemmina (Totb, Peppino, and the Hussy, 1956), Totb, Peppino e la dolce vita (Totb, Peppino and La Dolce Vita, 1961), and Totb, Peppino e . . . i fuorilegge (Totb, Peppino and the Outlaws, 1956), for which he received a Nastro d'argento as best supporting actor.

   In the 1960s he was also frequently seen on television, appearing as "Peppino cuoco sopraffino" (Peppino the most refined cook) in a very popular advertisement shown on Carosello between 1959 and 1963, and as Gaetano Pappagone, a comic character in the variety show Scala Reale (Royal Straight), broadcast in 1966. His final appearance on the big screen was as Marcello Mastroianni's gambling-addicted father in Sergio Corbucci's comic murder mystery Giallo napoletano (Neapolitan Thriller, 1978).