Giorgio Bracardi

Giorgio Bracardi was born in Rome on 3 May 1933. He grew up surrounded by the world of entertainment: his mother Edvige was a soprano and his father Glauco a tenor, and his father was one of the first managers of the Salone Margherita, a historic Roman variety theatre. All five Bracardi children were educated in music and learned to play an instrument. Giorgio became a pianist, while his younger brother Franco Bracardi went on to work as a pianist, composer and actor.

Before he became famous as a comedian, Bracardi worked for many years as a pianist and entertainer, accompanying performers such as Maurice Chevalier and José Feliciano. In the 1960s he was a composer for RCA Italiana and took part several times in the Sanremo Festival as a songwriter.

His fame came with Alto gradimento, the Rai radio show created in 1970 with Renzo Arbore, Gianni Boncompagni and Mario Marenco. There he gave voice to a gallery of absurd characters: Scarpantibus, the big bad bird of Nicaragua; the petulant journalist Max Vinella; the fascist official Ermanno Catenacci; the migraine-ridden Rai manager Dottor Marsala; the pharmacist Dottor Onorato Spadone; the Via Veneto nostalgic Maestro Benito Cerbottana; and the irascible Malik Maluk. In 1979 he added Professor Aurelio Marcellini, an ultra conservative monarchist, on Nanni Loy's Tutti insieme compatibilmente, coining the catchphrase "Chettefrega? Chettefrega?".

On television he appeared with Arbore in Quelli della notte (1985), took part in Pronto, chi gioca? (1987), hosted Chiappala chiappala on Rai 2 (1989), played Lucio Smentisco, a fictional spokesman for Silvio Berlusconi, on Striscia la notizia (1995) and featured in Stracult (2001). His films included Patroclooo!... e il soldato Camillone (1973), Vinella e Don Pezzotta (1975), La portiera nuda (1976), Avere vent'anni (1978), I carabbinieri (1981), Quando la coppia scoppia (1981), La gorilla (1982) and Banana Joe (1982) with Bud Spencer. In 2008 he voiced Cattivik in the Mediaset animated series.

Bracardi came from a musical Roman family and shared a career in entertainment with his brother Franco. Alongside his comedy he composed and sang novelty songs, among them Via Veneto, In galera!, Cacamucaz amore mio from the film La gorilla, Che felicità and Béccate questa.

After breaking his femur in the spring of 2026, Bracardi was cared for in a nursing home in Fiano Romano, north of Rome. He died there on 12 October 2026, aged 93. His family announced his death, which was reported the same day by ANSA, la Repubblica, Rai News, Sky TG24 and Adnkronos.

Bracardi is remembered as one of the creators of Alto gradimento's surreal humour, which changed Italian radio comedy in the 1970s. Scarpantibus, an animal that never existed, became a voice millions of Italians recognised, and characters such as Catenacci and Max Vinella were seen as sharp parodies of officialdom and the media. Obituaries described him as an irregular comic who turned nonsense into popular art.