by Hal Erickson
biography
Popular Italian, music hall comedian Aldo Fabrizi made his first film appearance in 1942. He was elevated to international fame three years later for his decided noncomic performance as a defiant anti-fascist priest in Rossellini's Open City. Thereafter, he alternated between dramatic roles and comedy characterizations with a wistful touch. From the mid-'70s onward, he cut back his screen appearances to write a series of best-selling cookbooks. American religious youth groups are most familiar with Aldo Fabrizi's sensitive performance in the 1961 church basement perennial Teacher and the Miracle, one of several films which Fabrizi also directed.
