Ferdinando "Fred" Buscaglione (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfrɛd buskaʎˈʎoːne]; 23 November 1921 – 3 February 1960) was an Italian singer and actor who became very popular in the late 1950s. His public persona – the character he played both in his songs and his movies – was of a humorous mobster with a penchant for whisky and women.
Guido Cantelli (Italian: [ˈɡwi.do kanˈtɛl.li]; 27 April 1920 – 24 November 1956) was an Italian orchestral conductor. Toscanini elected him his "spiritual heir" since the beginnings of his career. He was named Musical Director of La Scala, Milan in November 1956, but his promising career was cut short only one week later by his death at the age of 36 in the 1956 Paris DC-6 crash in France on route to the United States.
Giuseppe "Pippo" Barzizza (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈpippo barˈdziddza]; 15 May 1902 – 4 April 1994) was an Italian composer, arranger, conductor and music director.
Giuseppe Barzizza, called Pippo, was born in Genova on 15 May 1902, and died in Sanremo on 4 April 1994. He became famous in the 1930s and 1940s, at the beginning with Blue Star Orchestra and then with Orchestra Cetra. He composed songs and film soundtracks. His treatise, "Barzizza's method" was printed in 1952. His basics and exercises "are so clear that's it's enough to read this little book to overcome any doubts or hesitation!” Franco Franchi said, "Barzizza was among the first to be interested in jazz music and swing and he became for many years, together with his friend and rival Cinico Angelini, a great example for his fellows, both for his extraordinary compositions and his skills to find out new talents and songs, and for his attempt to give a modern mark to Italian music".
Eduardo De Filippo OMRI (Italian: [eduˈardo de fiˈlippo]; 26 May 1900 – 31 October 1984), also known simply as Eduardo, was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Neapolitan works Filumena Marturano and Napoli Milionaria. Considered one of the most important Italian artists of the 20th century, De Filippo was the author of many theatrical dramas staged and directed by himself first and later awarded and played outside Italy. For his artistic merits and contributions to Italian culture, he was named senatore a vita by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini.
Dolly Sinatra (Italian pronunciation: [siˈnaːtra]; born Natalina Maria Vittoria Garaventa; [nataˈliːna maˈriːa ɡaraˈvɛnta]; December 26, 1896 – January 6, 1977) was an Italian woman, mother of American singer Frank Sinatra. She was born in Lumarzo (Province of Genoa), in northern Italy; she immigrated to the United States as an infant.
Dolly married Antonino Martino "Marty" Sinatra in 1913, and in 1915 the couple's only child, Frank Sinatra, was born. Dolly was influential in the Sinatras' neighborhood in Hoboken, New Jersey, where they later operated a tavern during Prohibition. She became involved in politics and worked as a midwife. It is believed that she also provided an illegal abortion service in the area. She died in a plane crash in 1977.
Tito Schipa (Italian pronunciation: [ˈskiːpa]; born Raffaele Attilio Amedeo Schipa; 2 January 1889 in Lecce – 16 December 1965) was an Italian lyric tenor, considered the greatest tenore di grazia and one of the most popular tenors of the century.
Arturo Bocchini (Italian pronunciation: [arˈturo bokˈkini]; 12 February 1880 – 20 November 1940) was an Italian civil servant, who was appointed Chief of the Police under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. Bocchini held the office from September 1926 until his death in November 1940, becoming a key figure in the Italian regime.
He was the head both of the regular police (State Police) and the secret police (OVRA) which was a pervasive national security agency that operated at all levels of Italian society. Bocchini only reported directly to the Duce and operated autonomously without interference from the National Fascist Party and the state prefects. His power within the government led to him being called the "Vice Duce".
Eleonora Giulia Amalia Duse (Dusian, DEW-zay, Italian: [eleoˈnɔːra ˈduːze]; 3 October 1858 – 21 April 1924), often known simply as Duse, was an Italian actress, rated by many as the greatest of her time. She performed in many countries, notably in the plays of Gabriele D'Annunzio and Henrik Ibsen. Duse achieved a unique power of conviction and verity on the stage through intense absorption in the character, "eliminating the self" as she put it, and letting the qualities emerge from within, not imposed through artifice.
Michele Ferrero (Italian pronunciation: [miˈkɛːle ferˈrɛːro]; 26 April 1925 – 14 February 2015) was an Italian billionaire businessman. He owned the chocolate manufacturer Ferrero SpA, Europe's second-largest confectionery company (at the time of his death), which he developed from the small bakery and café of his father in Alba, Piedmont. His first big success was adding vegetable oil to the traditional gianduja paste to make the popular spread Nutella.
Rachele Guidi (Italian pronunciation: [raˈkɛːle ˈɡwiːdi]; 11 April 1890 – 30 October 1979), also known (particularly in Italy) as Donna Rachele (Italian for "Lady Rachel") and incorrectly as Rachele Mussolini in the English-speaking world, was the second wife of Italian dictator and fascist leader Benito Mussolini.