Luigi "Gigi" Proietti (2 November 1940 – 2 November 2020) was an Italian actor, voice actor, comedian, director, musician, singer, and television presenter.

Biography

He was born in Rome to Romano Proietti, a man from Umbria, and Giovanna Ceci, a housewife. During his youth he was keen on singing and on playing guitar, piano, accordion and double bass in several Roman nightclubs. He enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the La Sapienza University, where he started to attend the mimicry courses of the University Theater Center held by Giancarlo Cobelli, who immediately noticed his qualities as a musician and booked him for an avantgarde play.

After several stage works, in 1966 Proietti debuted both in cinema, in Pleasant Nights, and on television, in the TV-series I grandi camaleonti. His first personal success came in 1971, when he replaced Domenico Modugno in the stage musical Alleluja brava gente by Garinei & Giovannini, starring alongside Renato Rascel.

After playing in 1974 the role of Neri Chiaramantesi in the drama La cena delle beffe, alongside Carmelo Bene and Vittorio Gassman, in 1976 started a fruitful collaboration with playwright Roberto Lerici, with whom he wrote and directed his stage plays, starting from the one-man show A me gli occhi, please (Give me your eyes, please, 1976, reported on the scene in 1993, 1996 and 2000, in a memorable performance at the Olympic Stadium in his hometown). The show achieves a sensational success; initially planned to be performed 6 times, it exceeded 300 performances, with an average audience of 2,000 per performance.

He took part in some international movies, including The Appointment (1969), directed by Sidney Lumet, A Wedding (1978), directed by Robert Altman, and Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe? (1978), directed by Ted Kotcheff.

Proietti is also a dubber of films and television shows into the Italian language. He has dubbed several famous actors including Robert De Niro, Sean Connery, Sylvester Stallone, Richard Burton, Richard Harris, Dustin Hoffman, Paul Newman, Charlton Heston and Marlon Brando. His credits include the role of the Genie in the Italian version of the Aladdin film series and Draco in Dragonheart. 

He also provided the Italian voice of Gandalf in The Hobbit film series, replacing the late Gianni Musy, who dubbed him in The Lord of the Rings, as well as Sylvester from Looney Tunes during the 1960s.

Proietti has been interested in music since a young age. During his time singing in nightclubs and outdoor bars, he was initially not interested in pursuing an acting career. Proietti starred in and performed the opening and closing theme song for Il circolo Pickwick which aired on Rai 1 in 1968 and at that time, he met Lucio Battisti, who was signed with the record label Dischi Ricordi.

In the mid-1990s, Proietti was a member of Trio Melody alongside Peppino di Capri and Stefano Palatresi. The group was active since Sanremo Music Festival 1995 until 1996 and they only released one album. Proietti has also ventured out on a solo career and he released over 11 albums and 15 singles.

Since 1962, Proietti had been in a relationship with former Swedish tour guide Sagitta Alter, with whom he had two daughters, Susanna and Carlotta. His nephew Raffaele also follows a dubbing career.

On 30 September 2013, Proietti received honorary citizenship from the city of Viterbo.

On November 1, 2020, Proietti suffered a heart attack while in the hospital, having been admitted fifteen days prior for heart-related problems. He was transferred into intensive care and his conditions were described as critical. He died the following day, in the early hours on November 2, 2020, the day of his 80th birthday.