Roberto Remigio Benigni, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI[LINK: http://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/DettaglioDecorato.asp?idprogressivo=158641&iddecorato=158134] quirinale.it (born October 27, 1952) is an Academy Award-winning Italian film and television actor, writer and director. Biography Early years His first experiences as a theatre actor took place in 1972, in Prato. During that autumn he moved to Rome where he took part in some experimental theatre shows, some of which he also directed. In 1975, Benigni had his first theatrical success with Cioni Mario di Gaspare fu Giulia, written by Giuseppe Bertolucci. Benigni became famous in Italy in the 1970s for a shocking TV series called Televacca, on RAI2, by Renzo Arbore, in which he interpreted the satirical piece "anthem of the melt body" (L'inno del corpo sciolto, a hymn to defecation).