Ugo Tognazzi (23 March 1922 - 27 October 1990) was an Italian film, TV and theatre actor, director and screenwriter . In 1950 Tognazzi made his debut for cinema, in I cadetti di Guascogna directed by Mario Mattoli . In the following year he met Raimondo Vianello, with whom he formed a successful comical duo for the new-born RAI TV (1954-1960) . Their shows, sometimes containing satirical aspects, were also among the first ones to be censored in Italian television . After the successful role in The Fascist (Il Federale) (1961), directed by Luciano Salce, Tognazzi became one of the most renowned characters of the so-called Commedia all'Italiana (Italian comedy style) . He worked with all the main directors of Italian cinema, including Mario Monicelli (Amici miei), Marco Ferreri (La grande abbuffata), Nanni Loy, Dino Risi, Pier Paolo Pasolini (Porcile), Ettore Scola, Alberto Lattuada, Pupi Avati and others . Tognazzi also directed some of his films, including the 1967 film Il fischio al naso . The film was entered into the 17th Berlin International Film Festival. In 1981 he won the Best Male Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival for La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. While he worked primarily in Italian cinema, Tognazzi is perhaps best remembered for his role as Renato Baldi, the gay owner of a St. Tropez nightclub, in the 1978 French comedy La Cage aux Folles which became the highest grossing foreign film ever released in the U.S. Ugo Tognazzi died in Rome in 1990. His sons Ricky and Gianmarco Tognazzi (born in 1955 and 1967, respectively) are also cinema actors. He was also the father of the Norwegian film director and film producer Thomas Robsahm (born in 1964). His daughter Maria Sole Tognazzi (born in 1971) is, like Ricky, also a film director. .