"One day in the corridors of my school I found a poster from the University Theater Center: they were banning two months of courses for only twelve students. I didn't know what it was or what it was about, but I was curious, I noticed this row of university students much older than me . And I got in line".
Thus began the long career of Leo Gullotta, "without the sacred fire" or a prepared text ("they put a lectern in front of me with a passage from the Adelchi"), but "driven by curiosity".
A journey today along sixty years of characters and challenges, between theatre, cinema, TV, dubbing, which the actor retraces in the autobiography written together with Andrea Ciaffaroni "Leo Gullotta, the seriousness of the comedian" (Sagoma Editore).
An intense and sincere story, which starts from the Fortino, the popular district of Catania where he was born in '46, the last of six children, passes through his debut in the theater with Turi Ferro, Salvo Randone, Ave Ninchi and reaches Rome, where he will meet the great success of cinema and TV.
"Study and will are the two things that have always guided me. The 'grown-ups' taught me this, but so did life", Gullotta tells ANSA, who will start on tour with the new year as the protagonist of "Even in life, the rain must fall" by Fabio Grossi.
"Papà Carmelo was a pastry chef and then a worker. He made us live with great dignity and sent all of us children to school - he continues - When I found myself at the crossroads, whether to be a teacher or an actor, he answered me: when maybe you will have fifty years I would be sorry if you remembered me for directing you to a career choice that you didn't like. You choose, do what you want most. It was a great lesson".
Scroll through the pages of the volume and scroll through the titles of his works: Il camorrista, L'uomo delle stelle, La Scorta, A decent man, passing through the laughter of Bagaglino, directors such as Nanni Loy, Maurizio Zaccaro, Giuseppe Tornatore, the Vanzinas and then the theater of Pirandello, Shakespeare, Melville.
"I've never made a distinction between leading and non-protagonist roles. For me, the project counts - he says - Even in the years of the cinema of the 'doctors' I learned, for example, the relationship with the camera".
As for the awards (3 David di Donatello, 2 Nastri d'Argento, a Golden Globe, a Golden Ciak, 2 Flaiano Awards and a Golden Ephebe), "it's wonderful to receive them - he says - The next morning, however , you must have the courage to leave them on the shelf in the studio and start again, knowing that you will have to give even more. No - he reflects - I have never felt success upon me, nor have I pursued it".
A passage is then dedicated to when, in the mid-1990s, he spoke for the first time in an interview of his homosexuality (and for this reason skipped his name for the television Don Puglisi).
"They asked me and I calmly replied - he recalls - I've always been very serene, but Italy is made up of provinces, small towns, where people suffer more when they discover any note, let alone homosexuality. I think that with the everything can be talked about in the right tone. And I have always tried to tell those who had 'the problem' not to be afraid, as well as families who only had to give love. Steps forward have been made since then, but still they have to do with the desire to build", says Gullotta, who comments in the book on the law for civil unions: "Thirty years for a law of civilization.
It was born on people's skin, on tragedies, on your problems.
This is what the civil union is for: to be a civilized country".
But looking back and thinking about Father Carmelo's words, did he make the right decision?
"In my opinion - he concludes - If nothing else, I did everything by respecting the public in my work and trying to be a good person in life".
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