Sandro Dori

Biography

Sandro Dori, born Alberto Schiappadori in 1938 and died in 2021, was an Italian actor who worked across film, television and voice work. Over several decades he became a familiar face in Italian popular cinema and a character actor whom audiences came to recognise.

He began his film career in the early 1960s, moving between films, the stage and voice acting. His breakthrough with the wider public came in comedy: as Dr. Zucconi in Be Sick... It's Free, one of the corrupt colleagues of Guido Tersilli, a role he reprised in the sequel, a satire of the Italian healthcare system. His credits range widely, from Fellini's Satyricon and Zurlini's The Desert of the Tartars to Monicelli's Brancaleone at the Crusades. He worked with directors including Mario Monicelli, Steno, Carlo Vanzina, Pupi Avati, Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Luigi Zampa, Luciano Salce, Dario Argento and Sidney Lumet.

In the 2000s he appeared in more internationally visible productions, among them Nine and Letters to Juliet. He died in Rome in February 2021. His legacy lies mainly in the Italian cinema of the second half of the twentieth century, where he was a dependable and frequently seen supporting actor.

Key films

• Satyricon (1969): a supporting role in Fellini's free-form vision of ancient Rome.
• The Desert of the Tartars (1976): a part in Zurlini's drama about waiting and military absurdity.
• The Divorce Is for Three (1972): a appearance in a comedy of the period.
• Brancaleone at the Crusades (1970): a role in Monicelli's medieval farce.
• Nine (2009): a part in Rob Marshall's musical set in the world of Italian cinema.