Italian Actor Gino Renni Dies At 78

After spending two months in the hospital, Gino Renni died. The news was communicated on social networks by his friends and artistic producers, Gustavo Yankelevich and Carlos Rottemberg. The actor was admitted to the Argentine Institute of Diagnosis and Treatment (IADT) for the consequences of Covid-19 since June 6.

Popular Italian- born actor who became one of the most beloved figures in the art scene. He was 78 years old, but he looked much younger. His ever-jovial spirit made him one of the most lovable characters in show business.

Multifaceted, he began singing and gained popularity as a comedian. His private life always kept him out of the public sphere and he was discreet when talking about his love affairs. The death of Gino Renni means the departure of a man who was an exponent of the golden age of white comedies and romantic naive soap operas.

Gino Renni was passionate about his work and praised popular genres (Gerardo Viercovich /)

Vientos de agua (Winds of water 2006)

Luigi Melieni Mollo was the name with which he was inscribed in his native Calabria. That June 7, 1943, his parents celebrated the birth of the baby, although concerns about the domestic economy overshadowed daily life, that constant struggle for survival.

Looking for a better future, the family moved to Buenos Aires when little Luigi was only three years old. They settled on Córdoba Avenue, an artery near the Mercado de Abasto where Francisco, his father, had a fruit and vegetable outlet. The man, at dawn, supported the family with the effort of a job that only had one day off per week. Thus, the couple was able to raise and educate their children Luigi and Ana María. Luigi had a devotion to that sibling sister who passed away a few years ago and whose grief he could never overcome. “We are tanos, we like the family together,” he told LA NACIÓN a few years ago, in an extensive interview conducted in his apartment on Coronel Díaz avenue in the Palermo neighborhood.

As a teenager, he felt his calling for singing. At 17, he appeared in a contest on radio El Mundo, after feeling driven by his admiration for Domenico Modugno. There were not a few who advised him that he should change his name to a rhythmic one that is easier to memorize. This is how he baptized himself Gino Renni, the name with which he would become very popular.

His debut took place with the program Italia sing with the voice of Gino Renni, on that station where he had participated in a singing contest. It was on April 8, 1961, and a career marked by great popular successes began. That program lasted two years and was the prologue to seasons on stations like Splendid, Libertad, and Belgrano.

Between singing and acting

In 1962, and at only 19 years old, he stepped onto a television studio to debut in one of the most famous programs of the time: Sábados Circulars de Mancera, which was broadcast by Channel 9. The following year he moved to Channel 13 to participate in La cantina de la joy , hosted by Héctor Coire, and El Club del Clan, that famous cycle where a group of young singers made the country delirious.

In 1964, the author and director Hugo Moser summoned him to debut as an actor in some sketches of the Disparate SA program, it was the kick for Renni to show that other facet that would bring him so much satisfaction. Los Campanelli , Los Niños de López and La Tuerca were some of the spaces where he was able to show off his facet as a comedian.

Gino Renni quickly became a famous figure and his charisma and Italian accent gave him a personality that stood out from the rest. “At that time I did up to four shows a night. I toured all of Latin America and the United States. In Mexico, I performed in one of the largest theaters in Mexico City with a full house. But I came, after three months, because they offered me to make La Nuerca. There, somehow, my career as a singer ended, “he said in his last interview with LA NACIÓN. In 1970, passing through the nut, he yielded a Martin Fierro Award .

However, despite his success as an actor, he never forgot his role as a singer and, in 1970, he conducted and sang in Voltops. A year later, a special milestone of his career would arrive Nino, that Argentine telenovela that was the first to gain international significance and go on the air for the entire continent with repeaters such as Channel 9 in New York.

The telenovela was a category in which he always excelled. Renni was one of those actors necessary to compose archetypal characters that swelled the cast. He was an actor summoned by Andrea del Boca, with whom he shared Perla Negra and Zíngara. With Natalia Oreiro he was part of Muñeca brava , Kachorra and Sos mi vida . And with Chayanne and Araceli González he was part of Provócame .

Between 1983 and 1986, summoned by Juan Carlos Mesa, he was part of one of the iconic programs of Argentine television: Mesa de Noticias, that crazy newsroom where Renni composed Foderone de la Salsiccia, a character who became very popular and who managed to install a catchphrase: “Assassino”. True to his style, his passion for singing also stood out, but was infused with humor in songs like “Assassino rock” or “Pasta Cuccinata”.

Gino Renni was not a modest man when it came to showing himself in front of cameras, so he did not hesitate to take part in the contests animated by Marcelo Tinelli: Dancing for a dream and Singing 2011. Gerardo Sofovich also had great respect for him and he was one of the actors I worked with the most on shows like Sunday night, Operation Ha ha and Don Mateo’s grandson.

With Susana Giménez he was united by an affectionate relationship, which is why the diva summoned him to be part of some episodes of the sketches of her program and to integrate a platform with characters that were part of the 2007 and 2008 seasons of the stellar show of the diva.

Serious and popular actor

In 1974 he made his theater debut alongside the great comedian Osvaldo Miranda in the play La soñadora and later joined Una rosa para el breakfast, alongside Nora Cárpena and Guillermo Bredeston. In 1984 it was his turn to put the body of a great author: Darío Fo, thanks to his role in Aqui no one pays, a piece in which he shared the cast with Beatriz Bonnet.

In 1991, Renni himself was surprised by the call of the director Alberto Ure, who called him to work on William Shakespeare’s Noche de Reyes, at the San Martín Theater. There he demonstrated his trade learned far from the Conservatory and pure intuition.

In cinema, family comedies were his strong suit. He participated in more than twenty titles, among which the sagas of Los bañeros and Brigada explosiva stand out, all with great box office success.

Privacy

When he was mature, he recognized that it was a mistake not to have started a family, although he recognized himself as being very aware of his sister and mother. On the affective level, little was said about their love affairs. “My great love did not belong to the artistic medium,” he confessed. He had a reputation as Don Juan, but his discretion led him to be sober and never be involved in a scandal.

He knew the night of Buenos Aires, in a time when the early mornings of the actors’ gatherings lasted until dawn. In that bohemian era, he cultivated his familiar and folksy style. He had no prejudices around the popular genre and he was proud to be part of that line of artists who could make a foothold in Shakespeare and Hugo Moser.