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Among others of Ugo Tognazzi's superb, award-winning performances of his prolific career, this excellent Italian character star has been widely cherished for his classic comedy role of gay cabaret owner Renato Baldi, opposite Michel Serrault's hilariously mincing drag queen partner Alban, in La Cage aux Folles (1978) one of the biggest cross-over foreign hits to ever land on American soil.

Born Ottavio Tognazzi in Cremona, Italy, on March 23, 1922, by the time Ugo was a teen he was a bookkeeper for a salami factory and performed in local amateur theatricals on the sly. Appearing on the stage, he finally found an entry into films at age 28 in 1950 with a featured role in the war comedy I cadetti di Guascogna (1950). He built up a solid comedy resume in primarily Neapolitan 50's features including La paura fa 90 (1951) (his first co-starring role), Café chantant (1953), I milanesi a Napoli (1954), La moglie è uguale per tutti (1955), Domenica è sempre domenica (1958), Le confident de ces dames (1959) and Tipi da spiaggia (1959).

Ugo became a middle-aged European star the following decade. Turning in a number of powerhouse character studies, he excelled as bon vivants, adulterous husbands and other suave gents in primarily farcical comedy and saucy, sardonic romps, particularly those of director/writer Marco Ferreri. He also demonstrated a remarkable range when it came to portraying world-weary protagonists in political drama or grim satire. For Ferreri alone, he appeared in the award-winning The Conjugal Bed (1963), Countersex (1964), The Wedding March (1966), L'udienza (1972) and the masterful The Big Feast (1973), among others.

In 1978, Tognazzi decided to take a chance, and play a character unlike anything he had done, (and, also, rarely done, for fear of being 'stereotyped'), and co-starred with the wonderful Michel Serrault in an image-shattering part in 1978. What he did was experience the most popular role of his career as one-half of an aging gay couple who operate a drag club. La Cage aux Folles (1978) went on to spawn two sequels and an American remake (The Birdcage (1996) starring Robin Williams (in the Tognazzi role) and Nathan Lane (in the diva Serrault part).

Tognazzi won several acting honors over the course of his long career. He copped several European awards for his classic roles in The Monsters (1963) (The Monsters), I Knew Her Well (1965), The Climax (1967) (also a rare foreign Golden Globe nomination), La bambolona (1968), Il commissario Pepe (1969), Lady Caliph (1970) and Duck in Orange Sauce (1975). He capped it off with the Cannes Film Festival award for his trenchant performance in Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), the tale of a near-bankrupt factory owner who attempts to use the kidnapping of his son (played by his real-life eldest son Ricky Tognazzi) to his financial advantage. Tognazzi was also the father of actor Gianmarco Tognazzi and director Maria Sole Tognazzi, and had another son, producer/writer Thomas Robsahm, via a relationship with actress Margrete Robsahm.

In the eighties, Tognazzi focused strongly on the theater and starred in such plays as Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author" (1986, directed by Jean-Pierre Vincent in Paris, Théâtre de l' Europe) and Molière's "The Miser" (1989, where he sparked a controversy in Italian government circles when he improvised lines about corruption in high places during his performance). Although he directed himself in a handful of his own often sexually explicit films, including Il fischio al naso (1967) and Sissignore (1968), Ugo's true brilliance shines in front of the camera and in the works of other famed European directors, notably Ferrari, Bernardo Bertolucci, Pietro Germi, Dino Risi and Mario Monicelli. He worked up until the end with incisive starring performances in Arrivederci e grazie (1988), I giorni del commissario Ambrosio (1988), Tolérance (1989) and La batalla de los Tres Reyes (1990) (The Battle of the Three Kings). In 1972, at age 50, Tognazzi wed actress Franca Bettoia, who survives him. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1990, age 68.

Jacques Demy was born on 5 June 1931 in Pontchâteau, Loire-Atlantique, France. He was a director and writer, known for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), A Room in Town (1982) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967). He was married to Agnès Varda. He died on 27 October 1990 in Paris, France.

Born in Spain, Xavier Cugat's family moved to Havana, Cuba, when he was three. Always musically inclined, he packed up and moved to Los Angeles, where he worked as a cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times newspaper during the day and labored to put together a band at night. After a few years of playing smaller clubs in the L.A. area, Cugat finally got his break when he and his band secured a job at the prestigious Coconut Grove nightclub in 1928. His style of music caught on, and Cugat was instrumental in bringing Latin music to the attention of the US public. In the '30s and '40s he was nicknamed "The Rumba King" because of his popularization of that Latin dance. In Cugat's film appearances he usually played himself, even if the character had a name other than Xavier Cugat, and he and his band appeared in several memorable MGM musicals in the '40s. After suffering a stroke in 1971, Xavier Cugat retired.

Elliott Roosevelt was born on 23 September 1910 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for The Roosevelt Story (1947), Today with Mrs. Roosevelt (1950) and What's My Line? (1950). He was married to Patricia Peabody Whitehead, Minnewa Bell Gray Ross, Faye Emerson, Ruth Josephine Googins and Elizabeth Browning Donner. He died on 27 October 1990 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

Born in Cuba because his parents were on tour, fought against Franco in Spanish civil war, escaped to France when France was captured, escaped to Mexico where he became an actor. When MGM studios became interested in him he came to Los Angeles where he became married to Blanca de Castejon. They came back to Mexico where he divorced Blanca. Few years after he met Silvia Pinal they got married. They had daughter Silvia Pasquel and the divorced. Then he met Dina de Marco and they had 6 sons: Rocío Banquells, Mary Paz Banquells, Rafael Banquells hijo, Ariadne Banquells and Jose Manuel Banquells. Rocio Banquells is now a singer/actress.

Rafael Banquells died after his first born male grandson, Rodrigo Berlanga, son of Rocio was born. He died of a heart attack on October 27 1990.

Waclaw Kowalski was born on 2 May 1916 in Gzhatsk, Smolensk Governorate, Russian Empire [now Gagarin, Smolensk Oblast, Russia]. He was an actor, known for How I Unleashed World War II (1970), Prom (1970) and Adventure in Marienstadt (1954). He was married to Stanislawa Osikowska-Kowalska. He died on 27 October 1990 in Brwinów, Mazowieckie, Poland.

María Antonieta Murillo was born on 10 May 1920 in Jalapa, Veracruz, Mexico. She was an actress, known for El tres de copas (1986), Emboscada (1990) and A paso de cojo (1980). She was married to Cornelio Acevedo Casas. She died on 27 October 1990 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico.

Bob Calinescu was born on 16 May 1926 in Bucharest, Romania. He was a director and actor, known for Visul lui Boroboata (1961), Haiducii (1966) and The Dry Pants (1957). He died on 27 October 1990 in Bucharest, Romania.

Vladimír Klusák was born on 7 August 1947 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor and composer, known for Pasták (1990), Písen o stromu a ruzi (1979) and Uvolnete se, prosím (2004). He died on 27 October 1990 in Hostín u Vojkovic, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].