Eduardo De Filippo

De Filippo was born in Naples on May 26, 1900. For many years his birth date was mistakenly thought to be May 24th, but recent research in anagraphic books proved 26 to be the right date. Eduardo was the second son of playwright and actor Eduardo Scarpetta, the king of Neapolitan theatre, and theatre seamstress and costumier Luisa De Filippo.[2] He and his siblings Annunziata "Titina" and Giuseppe "Peppino" were extramarital because Scarpetta was actually married since 1876 to Rosa De Filippo,[3] Luisa's paternal aunt. Scarpetta had six more illegitimate children from various affairs, including actors Ernesto Murolo and Eduardo Passarelli. Scarpetta never acknowledged Eduardo De Filippo and his siblings, that is why the son took his mother's name.[4][5]

Eduardo De Filippo first appeared on stage at the age of four. Being 14, he became a professional actor in Scarpetta's company[4] and played there until 1927.[6] In 1925, the company played in Milan's Teatro Fossati where Eduardo di Filippo was spotted and then praised in a review by Renato Simoni, then the most influential critic of Italy.[6]

In 1931, Eduardo formed a theater company with his brother playwright Peppino and sister Titina, called Compagnia del Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo.[7] They invented a new genre and a unique artistic approach, rooted in commedia dell’arte but not prone to its limitations. In 1931-32 the company toured Italy, then they returned to Naples and staged for Teatro Nuovo such plays as Farmacia di turno (The On-Duty Farmacy), Tutti insieme canteremo (We’ll All Sing Together), Miseria Bella (Splendid Poverty).[8] On December 24, 1931, they performed a one-act play Natale in casa Cupiello (Christmas at the Cupiello's) and it has such success that the engagement was extended for 6 month instead of one week. Soon they moved to Sannazzaro and staged there Chi è cchiu' felice 'e me (Who's Happier than Me?), Amore e balestre (Slings and Loves). Soon Pirandello give Eduardo rights to adapt Liolà, the play with Peppino in the title role had great success.[9] It was followed by several other plays, gradually Compagnia del Teatro Umoristico I De Filippo grew into one of the most influential theater companies in the country and was acknowledged as the one that made a revolution in Italian theater.[10] The protagonists of Eduardo's plays were usually misfortuned, traumatized, and scorned by the closest relatives and friends, but remained full of virtue and human dignity. The pain of the heroes was always taken from life itself and that is why Eduardo's plays resonated with the audience.[11][12]

In the late 1930s and early 1940s raising sympathies to Fascism in society made company’s work much harder: their performances were often interrupted and the brothers received multiple threats. In 1936, 1938, 1941 Eduardo's antifascist stance was officially condemned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1937, he refused to participate in Sabato teatrale (Theatre Saturday). In 1944, Eduardo and Peppino were included into the list of people to be exiled from Rome to North.[9]

Peppino left the troupe in 1944 due to artistic differences, so in 1945 Eduardo and Titina created Teatro di Eduardo. They debuted in Naples in Teatro San Carlo on March 25, 1945. However, Titina left the company in the early 1950s. After the war, in 1948 Eduardo bought the S. Ferdinando theatre in Naples, inaugurated in 1954.[13][14] However, in 1954 Titina was forced to leave the company and the theater due to health problems.[15]

In 1962, the company toured in Russia, Poland, Hungary, Austria and Belgium.[15]

In 1967, he presented Il Contratto at the 26th Theatre Festival in Venezia. Also in 1967 his son Luca started playing in father 's company, first under a pseudonym Luca della Porta.[15]

In the 1970s, De Filippo came to London: in 1972 he brought Naples Millionaire. In 1973, Franco Zeffirelli's production of De Filippo's 1959 play Sabato, domenica e lunedi (translated as Saturday, Sunday, Monday), starring Joan Plowright, Frank Finlay and Laurence Olivier, was presented at London's National Theatre and won the London drama critics' award.[16][17][18]

On December 18, 1972, he was honored with the Antonio Feltrinelli award for a lifelong contribution to theatrical arts. De Filippo was praised for his poetic approach and a unique way to show drama through comedy; for breaking the limits of a dialect and opening Neapolitan culture to the world.[15]

In January 1980, after several years of struggle, he finally opened in Florence his drama school.[19]

In 1981, for ‘highest achievements in the arts of theatre and literature’, he was named senatore a vita by the President of the Italian Republic Sandro Pertini. In the same year, he was appointed to lead the 1981-82 course of Literature at the L’Istituto di Teatro in Rome.[19]

De Filippo first role in cinema was in Mario Bonnard's Tre uomini in frak.[9]

In 1950, De Filippo filmed Napoli milionaria (Side Street Story), based on his 1945 play. He also starred in De Sica's L'oro di Napoli with Totò and Sophia Loren in 1954. In 1964, Vittorio De Sica made Matrimonio all’Italiana (Marriage Italian Style) based on De Filippo's play Filumena Marturano, where Filumena was portrayed by Sophia Loren.[20]

In 1979, Laurence Olivier filmed Filumena with Frank Finlay and Joan Plowright in the lead roles.[18]

De Filippo was the one to discover the talent of Marina Confalone, in his theatre company she thrived into one of the best Italian actresses of her time.[21][22]

He was married three times. His first wife was Dorothy Pennington, they married in 1928 and separated after a few months.[23] In 1954 he married the actress Thea Prandi, with whom De Filippo already had two children: Luisa "Luisella" and Luca. Luisella played in father's theatre and showed remarkable talent. The couple separated in 1959. In early 1960, on Christmas holidays Luisella, stayed with her mother and brother at Savoia-Belvedere hotel near Rome. On January 5, 1960, she suddenly lost consciousness while playing and died suddenly from a cerebral haemorrhage. De Filippo was at the rehearsal when he got the news, he never fully recovered. Luisella was buried at Verano cemetery. Thea Prandi died in 1961 from a tumor.[24][25] In 1963 he lost Titina, she died from a long illness.[15]

On February 4, 1977, he married writer and playwright Isabella Quarantotti.[19] The actress Angelica Ippolito is his step-daughter, born to Isabella Quarantotti and her first husband, the scientist Felice Ippolito.[26]

In 1979, Peppino died.[19] Eduardo De Filippo died of kidney failure on 31 October 1984, in Rome, at the age of 84. His artistic legacy was inherited by his son Luca.[12]