Stoppa, Paolo

(1906-1988)

   Actor. After studying acting at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Stoppa made his professional stage debut in 1927 with the Capodaglio-Racca-Olivieri company. In the 1930s, while becoming better known for his work on stage, he also began to work as a film dubber and to take on small parts in films, his first appearance being in a tiny role in Enrico Guazzoni's Re burlone (The Joker King, 1935).

   In the postwar period he continued to pursue a career on both the stage and the screen. Beginning in 1945 he distinguished himself in a host of productions of both classic and contemporary plays, frequently under the direction of Luchino Visconti. At the same time, he took on minor roles in dozens of otherwise unremarkable films before playing one of his first significant parts as Rappi, the turncoat hobo, in Vittorio De Sica's Miracolo a Milano (Miracle in Milan, 1951). He subsequently appeared as Don Peppino, the hysterically distraught widower in the "Pizze a credito" episode of De Sica's L'oro di Napoli (The Gold of Naples, 1954); as Cecchi, the boxing impressario, in Visconti's Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960); and in Roberto Rossellini's Viva l'ltalia (Garibaldi, 1960), in which he played the role of Nino Bixio. Perhaps his most memorable role, however, was as the upstart mayor and father of Angelica in Visconti's Il gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963). Although generally cast in supporting roles, Stoppa appeared in over 150 films. One of his last interpretations, that of Pope Pius VIII in Mario Monicelli's Il Marchese del Grillo (Marquis Del Grillo, 1981), brought him the third Nastro d'argento of his career.