Vito Scotti
| Vito Scotti | |
|---|---|
Scotti and Carmen Zapata in Love, American Style in 1973
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| Born |
Vito Giusto Scozarri January 26, 1918 San Francisco, United States |
| Died | June 5, 1996 (aged 78) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, United States |
| Cause of death | Lung cancer |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1937–1995 |
| Spouse(s) | Irene A. Scozzari (1949–1979; her death); Beverly Scotti (?–1996; his death) |
| Children |
Carmen Scozzari |
Carmen Scozzari
Vito G. Scotti (January 26, 1918 – June 5, 1996) was a prominent American character actor of Italian descent, who played many roles, primarily from the late 1930s to the mid-1990s on Broadway, films and later television. He was known as a man of a thousand faces, for his ability to assume so many divergent roles in more than 200 screen appearances, in a career spanning 50 years. He was known for his resourceful portrayals of various ethnic types. Born of Italian heritage, he was seen playing everything from a Mexican bandit, to a Russian doctor, to a Japanese sailor, to an Indian travel agent.
Vito Giusto Scozzari was born in 1918 in San Francisco, California. His family spent the 1920s in Naples, Italy, where Scotti developed his gift for farce, modeled after the Commedia dell'arte, a symbolic style of the Italian theatre.
In 1925, after the Scozzari family had returned to the United States, his mother became a diva in New York City theatre circles. Scotti worked the night club circuit as a stand-up magician and pantomime. He made his debut on Broadway in Pinoccio, where he played a small role.
Scotti entered movies and television by the late 1940s. He made his film debut, playing an uncredited role as a Mexican youth in Illegal Entry (1949), with Howard Duff and George Brent.
By 1953, Scotti replaced J. Carrol Naish as Luigi Basco, an Italian immigrant who ran a Chicago antique store, on the television version of the radio show Life with Luigi. Five years later, he portrayed another ethnic character, Rama from India (among other characters) in the live-action segment "Gunga Ram" on the Andy Devine children's show, Andy's Gang, where he also played a foil to the trickster Froggy the Gremlin. He was cast as French Duclos in the 1959 episode "Deadly Tintype" of the NBC western series, The Californians.
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