Gerlando Buzzanca was born on August 24, 1935, in Palermo, Italy. He left high school at the age of 16 to pursue his dream of becoming an actor in Rome. To survive, he took on various jobs, including working as a waiter, furniture mover, and even appearing as a slave in the film Ben-Hur.
Buzzanca's long career was marked by his ability to portray the average Italian immigrant from southern Italy, slowly achieving moderate success during the Italian economic miracle. His films showcased the freshness of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, focusing on everyday life in cities such as Rome, Verona, and Milan, balancing personal happiness and professional achievement.
He often played the role of a subordinate white-collar worker, characterized by a heavy vein of machismo, as a frustrated employee trying to redeem his dull existence with his virility. One of his most famous roles was in the film Il merlo maschio, where he vents his frustrations in a provincial environment, indulging in candaulism by encouraging his bride to expose her naked body on a bridge in Verona.
Some critics have jokingly referred to Buzzanca as a "Homo eroticus," a human being halfway between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens, who risked extinction in the 1970s due to the struggle with feminism activists. Although this type is less prevalent today, it is still found among Italian males.
Despite his fame being greater abroad than in his native Italy, Buzzanca is a renowned international stereotype of the Italian provincialotto, elegant, naive, and always causing mischief, yet not achieving anything from it.
