A s noted in the last issue, the city of Campobasso (population 49,230 in the 2017 census) in the province of the same name in the region of Molise, has produced several notable individuals who have made contributions in the areas of music and film. These are the second and third of three profiles of such artists. Alberto Bonucci was born in the city of Campobasso, Italy, on May 19, 1918. He was a good student who participated in school plays. After he graduated in 1936, he acted in various local theater companies and played roles on the local radio station until 1941 when he was drafted.

He flunked his physical exam for the Italian army, so he stayed home for the duration of World War II. After the war ended, he married his high school sweetheart. They had two children, Nicoletta and Emilio, who both became actors. In 1949, he moved to Paris to perform in the cabaret “Rose Rouge.” In 1950, he accepted an invitation to go to Florence to act in the Pergola Theater. Later that year, he formed with two other actors “Il teatro dei gobbi” (The Theater of the Hunchbacks) which became celebrated for launching a new style of satirical comedy in Italy. Before 1950 was over, he acted as a night club comedian in his first film role in the English-language movie “Variety Lights.” Bonucci would go on to appear in 52 more films, both in Italian and in English, between 1951 and 1967.

Among his notable English roles were as the Russian director in “Toto in Color” (1952), as the presenter of the beauty competition in “It Happened in the Park” (1953), as a lyricist in “Neapolitan Carousel” (1954), as Carlo in “Blood and Roses” (1960), as Cyrano de Bergerac in “The Four Musketeers” (1963), as the ham radio operator in “Seven Golden Men” (1965) and the sequel, ”Seven Golden Men Strike Again” (1966), and lastly as Nathaniel in “The Taming of the Shrew” (1967). After this last film was released, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, so he returned with his family to Campobasso. He succumbed in Rome on April 5, 1969, about seven weeks before his 51st birthday. He is buried in Campobasso

Sources, all accessed January 24, 2021

: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Bonucci it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Bonucci westernallitaliana.blogspot.com/2015/02 (link expired)

Alfredo Antonio Carlo Buongusto was born in the city of Campobasso on April 6, 1935. At the age of 20, he moved to Padua to study law and began to sing in a band with other university classmates. Alfredo decided to abandon his studies and to dedicate himself to a musical career. Initially, he joined a group called the 4 Loris which had a hit single “Stringimi e baciami” (Hold me tight and kiss me) in 1959. After another hit “Notte d’amore” (Night of Love) in 1961, he decided to adopt the stage name of Fred Bongusto and to become a soloist.

His first hit single “Bella Bellissima” (Beautiful, Very Beautiful) was released in 1962. He would go on to have 74 more hit singles on the Italian charts. He released his first album “Fred Bongusto” in 1963. He cut 37 more albums over the course of his career. In 1967 he composed the sound track for a film “Il tigre” (The Tiger). It was the first of 28 sound tracks that he would write. He twice won the Silver Ribbon for the best sound track of the year from the Italian movie industry. In 1967, he married the Italian actress, Gabriella Palazzoli. They had no children. Bongusto’s proclivity for exploring Latin American rhythms and American big band swing music made him very popular in South America, especially Brazil. His role models were the Americans, Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole, and especially Frank Sinatra. In 1979, while Bongusto was away from his home in Rome, two members of the Armed Revolutionary Nuclei, a terrorist neo-fascist militant group, broke into his house, beat his wife and housekeeper, and robbed his wife of her money and jewelry.

Four years later in a shootout with police in Rome, one robber was killed and the other was wounded, arrested, and jailed. In 1990, as a member of the Italian Socialist Party, Bongusto was elected a councilor in the city of Bari in the region of Puglia. He decided to serve only one two-year term. On March 18, 2005, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi presented Bongusto with a silver plate to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his musical debut. On National Day, June 2, 2005, President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi awarded Bongusto with the title of Commendatore in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. Bongusto made his last public appearance in a concert on April 22, 2013, at the age of 78. He retired to care for his wife who had been diagnosed with cancer. She died three years later. On November 7, 2019, he entered the King Umberto I Clinic in Rome, complaining of chest pains. He died the next morning from a heart attack at the age of 84. ❚

Sources, all accessed January 17, 2021:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campobasso

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Bongusto

it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Bongusto

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armed_ Revolutionary_Nuclei

Campobasso’s Contributions to Music and Film

ITALIAN-THEMED STAMPS

CITY VINCHIATURO