Arnoldo Foà (24 January 1916 – 11 January 2014) was an Italian actor, voice actor, theatre director, singer and writer. He appeared in more than 130 films between 1938 and 2014.
Biography
Foà was born in Ferrara, Italy, to a Jewish family, though Foà was an atheist in his adult life. Foà completed high school in Florence, where he moved with his family, and studied at the acting school of Rasi. He abandoned his studies in economics and at age 20 moved to Rome, where he attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia.
He was initiated to the Italian Scottish Rite Freemasonry in 1947 at the lodge "Alpi Giulie" n.150 (in Rome), taking later the highest degree.
Foà died on 11 January 2014 from respiratory failure, just 13 days short of his 98th birthday.
Theatre
1930s La serenata al vento by Carlo Veneziani, directed by Alberto Bracaloni, 1935 La dodicesima notte by William Shakespeare, directed by Pietro Sharoff, 1938 L’Alcalde di Zalamea by Calderón de la Barca, directed by Rappresentazione di Santo Ignazio (Anonimo del XV secolo), directed by G. Pacuvio, 1939 Frenesia by Charles de Peyret-Chappuis, directed by Edoardo Anton La vita è sogno by Calderon de la Barca, directed by Nino Meloni Le Allegre Comari di Windsor by William Shakespeare, directed by Pietro Scharoff
1940s I Masnadieri by Friedrich Schiller, directed by Guido Salvini, 1941 I Fratelli Castiglioni by Alberto Colantuoni, directed by , 1942 L’Arco di Ulisse by Gerhart Hauptmann La Nascita di Salomè, directed by La ragazza indiavolata by Ralph Benatzky, Teatro Quirino, 1943 La Parte di Marito by Vincenzo Tieri La Vedova Allegra, by Franz Lehár Il Marchese di Priolà by Henry Lavedan Non Rinuncio all’Amore by Giovanni Bokay Papà by Gaston Arman De Caillavet and Robert De Flers Piccoli Traguardi by La brava gente by Irwin Shaw, directed by Jean Giraudoux, Teatro Eliseo, 1945 La luna è tramontata by John Steinbeck, directed by Vito Pandolfi, (Teatro Quirino di Roma, 15 febbraio) Arsenico e vecchi merletti by Joseph Kesselring, directed by Ettore Giannini La bella avventura by Caillavet e De Flers, directed by Ettore Giannini Parenti Terribili by Jean Cocteau, directed by Luchino Visconti, Compagnia del Teatro Eliseo Enrico IV by Luigi Pirandello La quinta colonna by Ernest Hemingway, directed by Luchino Visconti, Compagnia del Teatro Eliseo di Roma La via del tabacco Jack Kirkland (from novel of Erskine Caldwell), directed by Luchino Visconti, Teatro Quirino of Roma 16 April 1946 Mia sorella Evelina by J. Fields e J. Chodorov, directed by Guido Salvini Susanna e i peccatori directed by Tullio Carminati Delitto e castigo by Gaston Baty (Fyodor Dostoyevsky), directed by Luchino Visconti La Madre degli emigranti by Turi Vasile and Alberto Perrini, directed by Nino Meloni, Basilica of Maxentius, 6 luglio Il Ritratto di Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, directed by Guido Salvini, Teatro Quirino Incantesimo by Philip Barry, directed by Gerardo Guerrieri, Teatro delle Arti, Rome, 7 febbraio Appuntamento a Senlis by Jean Anouilh, directed by Guido Salvini, 1947 Candida by George Bernard Shaw, directed by , (Compagnia Ferrati-Cortese-Scelso) La fine della Signora Cheiney by Frederick Lonsdale Fiera delle maschere (from Ruzante e Molière), version by and Luigi Squarzina, directed by Luigi Squarzina Sposateci, Signore...! by Jean de Létraz, directed by L’Uomo e il Fucile by Sergio Sollima, directed by Luigi Squarzina, Praga Anfitrione 38 by Jean Giradoux, directed by , Teatro Quirino, 23 dicembre Cristo ha ucciso by Gian Paolo Callegari, directed by Guido Salvini, Compagnia Straordinaria di G. Salvini, Teatro La Fenice di Venezia, 1948 Una bella domenica di settembre by Ugo Betti, directed by Turi Vasile, Teatro Quirino di Roma Edipo Re di Eschilo, directed by Guido Salvini, Comp. Straordinaria di G. Salvini, Teatro Olimpico di Vicenza La porta chiusa by Marco Praga, directed by , Teatro Quirino Scendete..vi chiamano by Jean De Letraz, directed by I due mondi by Rose Franken, directed by , compagnia Ferrati-Scelzo-Cortese-Marchiò Stefano by Jacques Déval, directed by Il regno animale by Philip Barry, directed by Luigi Squarzina La notte del 16 gennaio by Ayn Rand, directed by Guglielmo Cortese, , Teatro Quirino Ardelia o La Margherita by Jean Anouilh, directed by , Compagnia Cortese-Bagni-Cimara, Teatro Valle di Roma, 25 marzo 1949 Giulio Cesare by William Shakespeare, directed by Guido Salvini, Compagnia del Festival Drammatico, Medea di Euripides, directed by Guido Salvini, , Le Mani Sporche by Jean-Paul Sartre, directed by L’Avaro by Molière, directed by Luciano Salvi, Teatro Ateneo Vivere Così by Dino Falconi Proibito al Pubblico by Rogers Dornès and Jean Marsan, directed by I Masnadieri by Friedrich Schiller, directed by Guido Salvini
1950s I Persiani by Eschilo directed by Luigi Squarzina, , Greek Theatre of Syracuse, 12 maggio 1950 Le Baccanti by Euripides, directed by Luigi Squarzina, , Greek Theatre of Syracuse Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Vittorio Gassman, Compagnia del Teatro nazionale, Teatro Valle di Roma Sophonisba by Giangiorgio Trissino, directed by Giorgio Strehler, Antigone by Sophocles, directed by Guido Salvini, Commedia degli Straccioni by Annibal Caro, directed by Guido Salvini, Compagnia Teatro Nazionale Caterina da Siena by Cesare Vico Ludovici, directed by Fernando De Crucciati I Fratelli by Publius Terentius Afer, directed by Luigi Squarzina, Teatro Greco di Acrae La Cameriera Brillante by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Lucio Chiavarelli Anna per mille giorni by Maxwell Anderson, directed by Guido Salvini, Teatro Valle, 1951 Detective story, by Sidney Kingsley, directed by Luigi Squarzina, Compagnia del Teatro Nazionale Il libro di Cristoforo Colombo by Paul Claudel, directed by Guido Salvini Giulietta e Romeo by William Shakespeare, directed by Guido Salvini, Teatro Valle La Casa Nova by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Carlo Lodovici, Teatro di Palazzo Grassi (Venezia) Yo, el Rey by , directed by Guido Salvini Un mese in campagna by Ivan Turgenev, directed by Orazio Costa, Teatro Odeon di Milano, 1952 Le Nuvole by Sophocles, directed by , Pseudolus by Plautus, directed by , Lazzaro by Luigi Pirandello, directed by Claudio Fino, Compagnia Pagnani La Fiaccola sotto il moggio by Gabriele D'Annunzio, directed by Corrado Pavolini Capitan Carvallo by Denis Cannan, directed by , Compagnia Italiana di Prosa, Teatro Carignano Chéri by Léopold Marchand (of Colette), directed by André Barsacq, Compagnia Italiana di Prosa, Teatro Duse Giulio Cesare by William Shakespeare, directed by , Compagnia del Piccolo Teatro della Città di Milano, Piccolo Teatro di Milano, 1953 Amphitryon by Plautus, directed by Jean Giraudoux, comp. Teatro Eliseo of Roma, Palazzo dei Diamanti a Ferrara, 1955 Pseudolus by Plautus, directed by Giulio Pacuvio, Compagnia del Dramma Antico, Teatro Romano di Ostia Le Nuvole by Aristofanes, directed by Giulio Pacuvio, Compagnia del Dramma Antico, Teatro Romano di Ostia Veglia d’armi by D. Fabbri, directed by Orazio Costa, Istituto Dramma Popolare, Teatro Olimpia di Milano, 1956 Paura di me by V. Bompiani, directed by Daniele D’Anza, Comp. Teatrale Italiana Teatro delle Arti Noi due by Alessandro De Stefani, directed by Mario Landi, Compagnia Teatrale Italiana, Teatro delle Arti of Roma La professione della signora Warren by George Bernard Shaw, directed by Mario Ferrero, Compagnia Pagnani-Villi-Foà, Teatro Eliseo of Roma Adorabile Giulia of Marc Gilbert Sauvajon, directed by Daniele D'Anza, Compagnia Pagnani-Villi-Foà-Ferzetti, Teatro Eliseo of Roma Musica di foglie morte by Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo, directed by Alberto Gagliardelli Casa di Bambola by Henrik Ibsen, directed by Luciano Lucignani Ma non è una cosa seria by Luigi Pirandello, directed by Luigi Squarzina, comp. Pagnani-Villi-Foà-Ferzetti, 1957 Signori buonasera by A. Foà, directed by A. Foà, Compagnia Pagnani-Villi-Foà-Ferzetti, Teatro Odeon di Milano La figlia di Jorio by Gabriele D'Annunzio, directed by Luigi Squarzina La Commedia degli Equivoci by W. Shakespeare, directed by Mario Ferrero, 1958 Racconto d’Inverno by William Shakespeare, directed by Guido Salvini, 1959 Commedia degli Straccioni by Annibal Caro, directed by Guido Salvini by Plautus, directed by
1960s Due in altalena by William Gibson, directed by A. Foà, Teatro Eliseo di Roma, 1960 La terra è rotonda by Armand Salacrou, directed by Roberto Guicciardini Giulietta e Romeo by W. Shakespeare, directed by Franco Enriquez, Teatro Romano di Verona Rashomon di Fay e Kanin, (dal film di Akira Kurosawa), directed by Arnoldo Foà, 1961 I Turchi se la giocano a primiera by Alfio Beretta, directed by Arnoldo Foà, Teatro Nuovo di Milano Pene d’amor perdute by William Shakespeare, directed by Franco Enriquez, Compagnia Stabile della città di Napoli, Teatro Mercadante Un giorno nella vita di ... by Jack Popplewell, directed by Umberto Benedetto, Piccolo Teatro Stabile della città di Firenze Anfitrione by Plautus, directed by Silverio Blasi, Centro Teatrale Italiano, 1962 Ifigenia by Ildebrando Pizzetti e Alberto Perrini, directed by Aldo Vassallo Mirabella, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma Il Pipistrello by Johann Strauss Jr, directed by Herbert Graf, Direttore d’orchestra Samuel Krachmalnick, regia teatrale Arnoldo Foà, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma I Masteroidi by Marcel Aymè, directed by A. Foà, 1963 Notti a Milano by Carlo Terron, directed by A. Foà La Lanzichenecca by Vincenzo di Mattia, directed by Virginio Puecher, Compagnia del Piccolo Teatro di Milano, 1964 Eracle by Euripide, translated by Salvatore Quasimodo, directed by Giuseppe Di Martino, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, Teatro Greco di Siracusa Andromaca by Euripide, directed by Mario Ferrero, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, Teatro Greco di Siracusa Canti e poesie della libertà, directed by Raffaele Maiello, testi a cura di Arnoldo Foà e Gigi Lunari, Teatro Lirico di Milano, 1965 Re Cervo da Carlo Gozzi, directed by Andrea Camilleri Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, directed by Mario Ferrero, Teatro Duse di Bologna, 1966 Il testimone by A. Foà, directed by Arnoldo Foà, Teatro Duse di Bologna La stanza degli Ospiti by Brunello Rondi, directed by A. Foà, Teatro della Cometa I Menecmi by Plauto, translated by Ettore Paratore, directed by Accursio Di Leo, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico La Pace by Aristofane, directed by A. Foà, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, 1967 Zio Vania by Anton Checov, directed by Pietro Sharoff, Teatro Centrale di Roma, 1968 Golem by Alessandro Fersen, directed by A. Fersen, E.T.I. Teatro La Pergola di Firenze, 1969 Malatesta by Henry de Montherlant, translated by Mario Moretti, directed by José Quaglio
1970s Il Burbero Benefico by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Carlo Lodovici, ripresa televisiva 22 dicembre 1970 Diana e la Tuda by L. Pirandello, directed by Arnoldo Foà, Teatro Stabile di Palermo, 1971 Flavia e le sue Bambole by Salvato Cappelli, directed by Giorgio Prosperi, Fondazione Andrea Biondo Compagnia Stabile di Palermo The entertainer by John Osborne, directed by Arnoldo Foà, Compagnia Teatro San Babila di Milano, 1972 Per una giovinetta che nessuno piange by Renato Mainardi, directed by Arnoldo Foà Lisistrata by Aristofane, directed by Daniele D’Anza, Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, Teatro Greco di Siracusa Vecchi vuoti a rendere by Maurizio Costanzo, directed by Arnoldo Foà, Teatro Valle 1973 Miles Gloriosus by Plauto, trad. e ridu. di A. Foà, directed by A. Foà, Compagnia Attori Riuniti L’estro del Poeta by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Enrico Colosimo La folle Amanda by Pierre Barillet e Jean-Pierre Gredy, directed by Arnoldo Foà, Compagnia del Teatro Comico, Teatro Duse di Bologna, 1974 Maschere Nude by L. Pirandello, directed by Lambreto Puggelli, Compagnia del Teatro San Babila, 1975