At'sa Scotti

You need an Italian with a stereotypical-ah accent-ah? Who do you hire?

Why, someone from California, of course.

In the case of one actor, it made sense. That actor was Vito Scotti, a native San Franciscan, home of the DiMaggios, whose family name was actually Scozzari, and who lived in Italy for a time.

Scotti was another one of those people who appeared everywhere in television in the 1960s and ‘70s. His career on the small screen goes back further, as fans of I Love Lucy will tell you. He was around so much that entertainment columnists wrote feature pieces about him.

This one is from the Monrovia Daily News-Post of April 18, 1953. This was after a re-casting of the TV series Life With Luigi. J. Carrol Naish (Luigi) and Alan Reed (Pasquale), who were on the radio series, were dumped because of pressure from Italian-America groups, and replaced with Scotti and Thomas Gomez.

VITO SCOTTI FINDS ‘LUIGI’ ROLE SYMPATHETIC
Vito Scotti’s Italian background provides him not only with an authentic characterization of the ebullient immigrant in “Life With Luigi,” Sundays at 8:30 p. m. on Channel 2, but also a desire to portray the earnest good will of America’s foreign-born citizens.
“I see Luigi as an individual,” declares Vito, “and not representative of Italians as a group.” Amiable and voluble himself, Vito expresses a consuming desire to make of Luigi a lovable, humorous, sincere patriot who thinks of his native Italy in a sentimental way and wishes fervently that America could be transplanted to his homeland or vice-versa.
San Francisco was Vito’s birthplace, and New York City’s Public School 21 takes credit for his early education. However, his practical schooling and comprehensive knowledge of all parts of the United States come from his tour of the theatrical circuits with his mother, a professional nightclub comedy singer known as Gine Santelia.
By the time he was 22, Vito had formed his own musical comedy company and toured with such shows as “Bloom Time,” “Vagabond King” and “Naughty Marietta.”
For a while his main source of income was small comedy roles in the movies, including “Kiss of Death,” “Illegal Entry” and “Disputed.”
Three years ago he married Irene Lopez, a Spanish classical dancer. They had met In New York City and moved to an apartment in Hollywood. They expect a “bambino” sometime in July.
Vito’s movie and video roles would seem to make him some kind of international histrionic potpourri. In the ABC-TV “Mama Rosa” series he created the role of a myopic French piano tuner with the improbable name of Nicolai. Lately he has been active as the portrayer of Rama, the Hindu pal of Gunga, in the CBS video series, “Smilin’ Ed’s Gang.” And one of his best professional breaks came when he landed the comedy lead, a Spanish Milquetoast, in the Republic film, “The Fabulous Senorita.” Actually, his only real claim to a cosmopolitan life is the brief period he spent in Italy as a child.
Like Luigi, Vito is earnest and a bit self-effacing, but innately intelligent and full of kindly humor.

Some things Scotti is generally not known for—being seriously mauled by a berserk six-ton elephant on the set of Andy Devine’s Gang (INS, Oct. 11, 1955; Devine was not on the set) and being the owner of 14 sets of teeth (Long Beach Independent, March 12, 1965).

He is known for regular roles on a number of comedies 55-plus years ago—McHale’s Navy, The Flying Nun and To Rome With Love are among them.

The Lincoln Star of Aug. 11, 1968 was one of a number of papers that interviewed him about his new job opposite Sally Field swooping through the air.

Veteran Actor Vito Scotti Lands ‘Flying Nun’ Role
By MARIE JOHNSON
A bumbling, frustrated, funny, stick-in-the-mud, devoutly Catholic Puerto Rican: these phrases sum up the new regular to be seen on “The Flying Nun” this Fall.
The character, played by veteran actor-comedian Vito Scotti, is Captain Gaspar Fomento, chief of police in San Juan, who is constantly getting into hot water and in the sisters’ hair.
In the first episode he arrests the nuns on suspicion of booking bets, and using the convent San Tanco as a front, and books Carlos Ramirez (Alejandro Rey), a friend of the nuns, as their outside accomplice.
Despite his blunders, disasters and misplaced accusations, the nuns are usually the ones who bail him out of trouble when his superiors take him to task.
Like many well-known character actors, Vito Scotti suffers from having most people remember his face but seldom his name. His ability to change his looks to fit the part has made many people believe that his roles have been played by more than one actor.
“I didn’t want to be tied to any one series before this,” he explained. “I was having too much fun playing different parts,” Vito continued, “but the part of Capt. Fomento was written expressly for me. It’s perfect for me and fits me like a glove. I have a free reign on the part and I can do as I like with it.”
The other members of the cast are very good to work with, according to Vito. “They welcomed me warmly to the show and made me feel that they appreciated what I could contribute to it.”
“It’s surprising to see the number of nuns that visit the set of ‘The Flying Nun,’” he said. When they ask him to explain how the nun flies, he answers “faith!”
Of violence on television, he said “trying to blame everything on television is like having a handful of thumbs. You need fingers so you can tell the difference between them and your thumbs. Television is the same way. Some violence is necessary so that youngsters will know good from bad, by comparison.”
“It can be overdone,” he continued. “Violence that is a part of the story is fine, but violence for the sake of violence is unnecessary.
“There are some things that should be left to the imagination of the individual. Do you remember the old “Inter Sanctum’ [sic] radio program? When that creaking door opened, you had to use your imagination to figure out what was behind it. This is the same quality neede[d] on television.”
Vito was born in San Francisco and shortly afterwards his family took him to Italy where he remained for six years.
“My folks were in show business and when I was seven they pushed me on the stage and now nobody can get me off,” he says.
On television Vito has been seen on several shows including “The Dick Powell Show,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Donna Reed Show,” “The Addams Family” and “The Wackiest Ship in the Army.”
Although basically a comedian, he has played dramatic television roles on “Playhouse 90” and “Climax.”
Among his feature film roles are a prisoner-of-war in “Captain Newman, M.D.,” the engineer in ‘Von Ryan’s Express” and the Mexican bandit in “Rio Conchos.”
Recently he played the Italian colonel in “The Secret War of Harry Frigg,” starring Paul Newman and Sylvia Kiscina, and had a cameo role in “How Sweet It Is,” a new comedy starring Debbie Reynolds and James Garner.

The Powell show mentioned above, which aired on Jan. 1, 1963, involved him playing a goat-herder on a goodwill tour of the U.S. from Bandoria. Scotti’s character only spoke Bandorian.

Of course, there is no Bandoria and Bandorian doesn’t exist. But, for Scotti, there was no problem. As a publicity handout for the episode read: “I throw in a few Italian sounds, some Japanese sounds, and then top them off with some Egyptian and German sounds. If this show is ever sent overseas, it’ll make people all over the world think their television set has gone on the blink.”

His career found him in front of the cameras in The Godfather and in front of the mike in The Aristocats. And many more you can find checking out those sites that keep track of these things.

Scotti died of cancer on June 5, 1996. He was 78.