Departures of note

Peppino Mazzullo, born Giuseppe Mazzullo in Santo Stefano di Briga near Messina, began his artistic career as a young actor at the Teatro Auditorium San Gaetano under Placido Andriolo, who wrote monologues for him. Scholarships took him to the Accademia d'Arte Cinematografica in Rome and the Accademia d'Arte Drammatica in Milan between 1947 and 1950. From the 1950s he worked with theatre companies led by Guglielmo Della Seta and Enzo Ferrieri, becoming a leading actor at Milanese theatres such as the Angelicum, and performed in RAI prose radio productions of works by Chekhov, Bracco, Meano and Lopez. He achieved lasting fame as the voice of Topo Gigio, the puppet created by Maria Perego, from 1961 until 2006; his warm, distinctive voice became inseparable from the beloved character that charmed Italian and international audiences, including appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. He also played the comic schoolboy Richetto in Zecchino d'Oro shows of the 1960s. In 2004 he returned to Messina and founded the Piccolissimo Teatro di Messina, directing a school of comic and dramatic theatre. He received the Leggìo d'Oro Voce Cartoon award in 2008 and the Premio alla voce dei ricordi in 2011, and in 2016 produced an audiovisual project inspired by Dante and Beatrice.