Roberto Herlitzka, who passed away this morning at the age of 86, was not tall; in fact, with age he had physically shrunk, as if he were folding in on himself to gather all his strength in his gaze and voice. But as soon as he appeared on stage or on the screen he dominated the entire space and was a gentle giant. If you met him on the street he behaved like an ordinary person, always courteous and helpful, never a tone out of place as befits a gentleman from Turin of ancient lineage. Roberto Herlitzka always spoke in a low voice, but in the theater he could be heard clearly even in the back rows, the fruit of an interpretative education learned at the school of Horace Coast which made him debut in “Life is a dream” of Calderon de la Barca and wanted him with him nine more times between the 50s and 60s.
He was born in Turin on October 2, 1937, son of Bruno, of Jewish origin, who emigrated to Italy from Brno in Czechoslovakia, married briefly to Micaela Berruti and then took refuge with his family in Argentina, thus managing to escape the Racial Laws of 1938 and there remarrying the painter Giorgina Lattes. Returning to Piedmont at the end of the war, the young Roberto graduated from Massimo D’Azeglio Classical High Schoolhe enrolled in the Faculty of Letters, but soon joined his father in Rome and embarked on an artistic career, graduating fromAcademy of Dramatic Arts. Aquiline nose, iron will, mastery of all the means of the great actor, he always refused to change his surname: “I know it’s difficult to write – he loved to say – but it reminds me of where I come from and that K in the middle reminds me of Kafka every time.”
In the world of Italian theatre the figure of Roberto Herlitzka dominates the scene from 1960 to the new century and is marked by successes with the greatest directors: Luca Ronconi first and foremost, but also Anthony Calenda, Gabriel Lavia, Gianfranco DeBosio, Louis Squarzina, Mario Missiroli And Lina Wertmüller who would “adopt” him at the cinema. The entire repertoire of the immortals, from the Greek tragedians to Shakespeare, from Ibsen to Miller, was familiar to him and he proved it with an elegant and flexible transformation that made him credible in costume or in modern clothes, without differences. Five times the world of theatre would have recognized his merits among UBU Awards, Gassman Award, Flaiano Award.
To the cinema and in TV Instead, although almost always in supporting roles or as a character actor, he was a constant presence until two years ago when Paolo Taviani called him for his latest film, «Goodbye Leonora». He appeared on RAI at the time of the dramas already in 1960 with “Cinderella” by Stefano De Stefani, but became popular a decade later with «A certain Harry Brent» by Leonardo Cortese, in the role of the ambiguous Milton alongside Alberto Lupo. Among the greatest successes in his career: «The Charterhouse of Parma» directed by Mauro Bolognini, «The Octopus 7», “Whatever happens” Of Alberto Negrinthe recent «In the name of the rose» Of James Battiato and even some episodes of «Boris» in 2007. He took it to the cinema instead Lina Wertmüller in 1973 («Films of love and anarchy») and this ideal partnership led him to work several times with the Oscar-winning director and with an unforgettable generation of authors for more than 60 films. From Emidio Greco («The Invention of Morel» of which the Giornate degli Autori celebrates the 50th anniversary this year) «Pasqualino Seven Beauties» with Giancarlo Gianninifrom «Black Eyes» with Marcello Mastroianni to «The Gold-Tone Glasses» with Philippe Noiretfrom «Traces of Love Life» Of Peter Del Monte to “In the name of the sovereign people” Of Louis the GreatHerlitzka was able to immediately carve out a prominent place for himself until the 1980s.
But it was the meeting with Marco Bellocchio («The Butterfly’s Dream»1994) to project him into a dimension of “other” protagonist culminating in the painful and intense incarnation in Aldo Moro at the time of «Good morning night» of 2003. He shared the set with Bellocchio in almost all of the director’s latest works, such as in “Sleeping Beauty”, “Blood of my blood” (a memorable vampire with very human accents), “Make beautiful dreams”.
Meanwhile, Herlitzka entered the collective imagination thanks to Paul Sorrentino (the cardinal of “The great beauty” and Twilight in “They”), discovered a new youth with Roberto Andò («The hidden child» with Silvio Orlando), made himself available to young talents such as the debuting director Louis LoCascio, George Pasottibrothers From serious, Elizabeth Sgarbi. In his library there was a memory of it with the statuettes of the Davidi Silver ribbonsThe Pasinetti at the Venice Film Festival, the Gassman Award at Felice Laudadio’s Bif&st in Bari.
The expression “gentle giant” suited him and made him smile: his subdued and dazzling presence could not be ignored. Today that he is no longer with us we see him as “our” Aldo Moro at the end of «Good morning night»: the light step, almost suspended in the air, crossing an unknown threshold, a stage to tread with the happy curiosity of someone who goes to discover a new scene where he can perform for eternity.