Mario Carotenuto, the “commendatore” who valorized the Commedia all’Italiana

There was more than one on stage The sort, Gassmann e Mastroianni but in half a century of cinema and 152 films made he has always preferred to leave the spotlight to others. It’s not a question of confidentiality, not even low self-esteem: it’s about awareness. Today many consider cinema a point of arrival, but there has always been someone who considered (and considers) the seventh art to be one possibility among many. A sounding board, an opportunity for redemption, but still in the middle of the deck of opportunities that life offers. This, ultimately, was also Mario Carotenuto.

An eclectic professional, competent and ready but above all tremendously fatalistic. He did things because he felt like them: it means that he was able to maintain that clarity that allowed him to understand when, perhaps, it was the right time to take a step back. In this way it always remained two steps ahead of the competition. Here’s why having it in 152 works was not a coincidence but the fruit of precise choices that led to exponential development. From soldier in the background in Giararub by Alessandrini a Novel of a poor young man by Ettore Scola, up to Italian hunchback shot e Fiorina the cow. Without forgetting Paulo Roberto Cotechino breakthrough center forward. Or The fan, the referee and the footballer. Arriving, with no holds barred, at Horse fever.

Mario Carotenuto and the Italian Comedy

Pieces of a mosaic that have led to him being defined as the Commander of the Italian comedy. That familiar face, with unmistakable gestures, capable of never appearing intrusive and at the same time indispensable. Arrived from the magazine, Carotenuto he arrived in the world of the seventh art during the “magical” decade of the Fifties. When Italian cinema was going through a real development and certain paradigms had become customary. Hence the nickname Commendatore: his were the roles of the industrialist, the enriched husband and all that it was a counterpoint to the average Italian who became the protagonist of the Italian cinematic epic during the post-World War II period.

Those were times when everyone had to know how to do everything. It was obviously not possible, but there were professionals capable of adapting. Today we experience the opposite phenomenon, around the world of cinema and comedy: anyone believes they can do anything, but is reluctant to abandon their comfort zone. Carotenuto’s comfort zone, however, was the camera. In any way, shape or form. Never back down, if ever step aside, at the right time. With him on stage, however, the moment of farewell was always postponed. However, capable of solving, fulfilling and confirming an unparalleled ability.

Multifaceted, versatile and ready

The film critic Marco Giusti said of him: “He was the small, very small bourgeois of the 1950s. Then instead a slightly richer bourgeois after the years of the economic boom. The lucky one, born with the shirt, easy-going, nice and incredibly talented. The essence of Italian comedy“. The term essence is not used randomly, not even for flattery. It’s pure truth because in the formative years of Italian cinema, someone was needed to support the healthy madness of the greats.

At the top of this escalation there was, certainly, the relationship with Dino Risi who wanted him in Bread love and…, Poor but beautiful e The showman: “Three different roles, covered by Mario without any kind of problem, to the point that I also thought of him for A difficult life and above all for Il sorpasso which are – by all accounts – my best films. Why is he not present? In both cases I called him and he politely declined: You know Dino while I make a film with you I shoot four or five other things with Simonelli, Girolami and I earn much more. I need money. I tried in every way to convince him, but there was no way. He was like that.”.

From costume films to musicals, up to tourist-seaside comedies

Multifaceted, versatile, but also extremely pragmatic. His was not greed, but the need to stand out. He understood that experiments were necessary, but everyone had to have clear ideas about how much and what they could give: Carotenuto knew what his limits were, on and off the stage, and always preferred to move within an interpretive outfit that he knew how to master. He also knew how to take risks when necessary. Always, however, in a calculated manner. In other words, he did not give in to the flattery of adults – who often tried to enchant him – since he knew well (already at the time) how cinema was a carousel. An attraction from which, if he could, he would never have gotten off.

A protagonist who, however, did not like to take the front pages. Rather, he wanted to test himself in different nuances of what, with the passage of time and recognition, had become a mask. Much more than just a character actor. Carotenuto made and outlined the history of a film genre as much as the great directors who directed it. His career, in fact, must be divided into blocks: the first films, then we move on to the arthouse comedy of the 50s and 60s and we arrive at the tourist-seaside comedy.

The relationship with Renzo Montagnani, Alvaro Vitali and Lino Banfi

Costume films, musicals, dramatic roles and foreign films. Then we have the artistic partnership with the director Steno (Stefano Vanzina) and – last but not least – the contemporary comic comedy of the 70s and 80s. A true artistic epic that also saw the frenetic tone of red light comedy. In fact, we also remember this in works such as The Teacher (1975) alongside personalities such as Renzo Montagnani, Lino Banfi e Alvaro Vitali.

Carotenuto was not simply a man for all seasons, he personally represented the advent of a new cinematic season: working with him meant raising the bar. It was created a real bond with the directors who could ask him anything, but beware of calling him a yes man: firstly because he wouldn’t have known what he meant and secondly because he decided what should (or should not) be done on stage. The pact was: study the script, but then talk to the director to soften the rendering and make it more credible and authentic in the eyes of the beholder.

The lawyer De Marchis in Horse Fever

The “historic” phone call in Horse feverwhen the lawyer De Marchis said: “You don’t go to jail for a bill”it’s his work. As well as many other expedients that we have, over time, learned to appreciate in the history of cinema. Multiple references in the qualification of character actor have alternated over time, from Franco Lechner a Guido Nichelino one like Carotenuto however, he was able to embody that need to describe and represent a very specific historical moment. Man, specifically, has succeeded more than once. The legacy of Carotenutoin fact, is precisely that of having left a mark from which – even today – many try to draw. You don’t become a commendator by chance, sometimes you need to (also) rewrite the history of cinema.