Franco Parenti (7 December 1921 – 28 April 1989) was an Italian actor and stage director.
Franco Parenti | |
|---|---|
 Milla Sannoner, Parenti, Giorgio Albertazzi and Gianna Giachetti on stage (1967) | |
| Born | 7 December 1921 Milan, Italy |
| Died | 28 April 1989 (aged 67) Milan, Italy |
Biography
editBorn in Milan, Parenti graduated from the Accademia dei Filodrammatici and made his professional debut in 1940, in the Merlini-Cialante stage company.[1] In 1941, he formed the avangarde stage company Palcoscenico with Paolo Grassi.[1][2] During the World War II he was drafted and interned in Germany, being freed in 1945.[2]
After the war, Parenti worked with the companies of Salvo Randone and Nuto Navarrini, before joining the first stage company of the Piccolo Teatro in Milan.[1] Starting from 1948, he focused on avanspettacolo, joining among others the companies of Erminio Macario, Giorgio De Rege, and Pina Renzi, and also working as author of sketches.[1][2] In the early 1950s, he got his first personal success on radio with the macchietta Anacleto il gasista, and formed a successful avanspettacolo company with Dario Fo and Giustino Durano.[1][2] After the company disbandment in 1954, Parenti returned to dramatic theater, working with Luigi Squarzina and Gianfranco De Bosio.[1][2]
In 1963, Parenti was named director of the Teatro Stabile in Palermo, and after working with Eduardo De Filippo and Giorgio Strehler, in 1972 he co-founded with Andrée Ruth Shammah the Teatro Pier Lombardo (also known as Cooperativa Teatro Franco Parenti), with which he staged a series of sophisticated and often provocative plays.[1][2] He died of lung cancer on 28 April 1989, at the age of 67.[2]