Mike Bongiorno
Wiki, Biography, Age, Net Worth, Contact & Informations
Here you can learn about Mike Bongiorno’s career and private life facts, read the latest news, find all the awards he has won and watch photos and videos.
PERSONAL DATA OF MIKE BONGIORNO
Born in: NEW YORK CITY, New York (USA)
Born on: 26/05/1924
Dies at: MONTECARLO, Principality of Monaco
BIOGRAPHY OF MIKE BONGIORNO
Television and radio host. His father Philip is a famous lawyer and when his mother, Emilia Carello, decides to separate from him, he takes Mike with him from New York to Turin. Passionate about sports and with a passion for journalism, while still attending the classical high school “Massimo D’Azeglio” he found work as a “gallop” for the «Stampa». During the Second World War, following the Nazi invasion, he was forced to abandon his studies and take refuge in the Alps where he joined the partisan groups. Since he knows English perfectly, he is assigned the task of “relay race”: he has to cross the border with Switzerland and transmit communications to the Allied military. During one of the missions, discovered and captured by Gestapo agents, he escapes being shot because of his American documents. Transported to the San Vittore prison in Milan, he spent seven months there before being deported first to Mauthausen, then to Reichenau and finally to Spittal. At the end of the war he returned to the United States where he began his career to become a journalist, finding work on the radio. In 1948 he married the soprano Rosalia Maresca and in the meantime became the speaker of the broadcaster “The Voice of America”. In 1952 he returned to Italy and was chosen by Vittorio Veltroni to collaborate on the RAI Radiogiornale. In 1955 he made his big screen debut with three films: Antonio Musu’s “The Price of Glory”, Stefano Canzio’s “Motive in Mask” and Luigi Zampa’s “Girls of Today”, in which he starred alongside Marisa Allasio and Paolo Stoppa. Together with Corrado, Mike is the most popular radio presenter and is called to baptize the newborn television. In fact, it is he who is chosen to conduct “Arrivals and Departures”, a program conceived and directed by Antonello Falqui in which VIPs in transit in the Roman airport are interviewed and, at the end of 1955, he is still the one to launch the first television quiz, “Leave or double?”, which immediately turns into a phenomenon of costume and, in the wake of success, the following year the director Camillo Mastrocinque calls him to be part of the cast of “Totò, leave or double?” . During the 1960s, he lends his face to several commercials, participates in Vittorio De Sica’s “The Last Judgment”, and is chosen to host his first Sanremo Festival, an experience that he will repeat eleven times during the career. In 1968 he married the journalist Annarita Torsello in Paris, from whom he separated in 1970, the year in which he launched another great successful quiz, “Rischiatutto”, in which the use of special effects was inaugurated on television. In 1974, after years of absence, he returned to the big screen to play a small role in Ettore Scola’s “We were so loved”, alongside Vittorio Gassman, Nino Manfredi and Stefania Sandrelli. In 1979 Mike decides to leave the public broadcaster to join Silvio Berlusconi’s first private network, Telemilano, inaugurating a partnership that will last for almost thirty years. His innovative ideas in the field of television led him to be appointed vice president of Fininvest in 1987 and three years later vice president of Canale 5. In 1996 he founded together with his wife Daniela Zuccoli, married in 1972, his own production company, Bongiorno Production . In the first decade of 2000, he began working in tandem with Fiorello, driven by the skill of the Sicilian showman who perfectly imitated him on Radio Due. When in March 2009 he decides to host a new Sky show with Fiorello, he is overwhelmed by the criticism of those accusing him of betraying Mediaset. Not having had a contract renewal at the end of 2008, however, Mike feels free to work for anyone and signs a contract with Sky for a 12-episode show. Unfortunately, due to his death from heart attack at the age of 85, the program will never see the light of day.
MIKE BONGIORNO’S MOST RECENT FILMS
20 winds
Role: Actor
Year: 2000
We had loved each other so much
Role: Actor
Year: 1974
Life is very hard sometimes, isn’t it Providence?
Role: Actor
Year: 1972
The Last Judgment
Role: Actor
Year: 1961 Go to the Complete Filmography
MIKE BONGIORNO’S MOST RECURRING GENRES
Comedy: 50% Drama: 20% Comedy: 20% Western: 10%
RECENT ROLES PLAYED BY MIKE BONGIORNO
| Movie | Role |
|---|---|
We had loved each other so much | Himself |
Life is very hard sometimes, isn’t it Providence? | Mike Goodmorning |
The Last Judgment | Himself |
THE BILLIONAIRES | Marco painter |
Totò, leave or double? | Himself |
THE PRICE OF GLORY | Ruggero Grimaldi |
MOTIVE IN THE MASK | Mike, The Radio Reporter |
GIRLS OF TODAY … |
