First, a short item from ItalyNews.net
Then a New York Times article

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ALBERTO SORDI'S LAST CURTAIN CALL

ItalyNews.net

An explosion of applause greeted the coffin of Roman actor Alberto Sordi as it was carried by traffic police from its place of viewing in the Basilica of San Giovanni to the stage erected for the secular commemoration of the popular actor.

Authorities estimated that more than 250.000 people were present in Piazza San Giovanni for the event.

The first to speak was Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni, who said "Dear Alberto, we feel the need to smile. Your death was the only bad news you gave us in your whole life.

Rome has laughed and cried with you, and now it takes off its hat in your honor. "
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ALBERTO SORDI, A FILM STAR EXHUBERANT IN ITALIAN COMEDIES, AT 82

New York Times
February, 26, 2003

ROME, Feb. 25 (AP) — The actor Alberto Sordi, who depicted Italy's virtues and vices in more than 160 movies and contributed to making Italian comedy famous worldwide, died on Monday at his home in Rome. He was 82.

The cause was a heart attack, his publicist, Maria Rhule, said.

Mr. Sordi was born in Rome, and some of his most successful movies are set there, including the 1954 classic "An American in Rome," in which he poked fun at Italy's growing passion for things American.

His movies include Federico Fellini's "White Sheik" in 1952 and, a year later, "I Vitelloni," in which he played an immature loafer, the weak and effeminate Alberto.

"Sordi helped us understand post-World War II Italy while making us smile," Italy's culture minister, Giuliano Urbani, said.

Born to a schoolteacher and a musician, Mr. Sordi grew up in a working-class neighborhood. He studied drama in Milan, but was soon expelled from school because of the thick Roman accent that would become his trademark.

His movie career began in the late 1930's, but not on screen: Mr. Sordi's first break was as Oliver Hardy's dubbed voice. From there he went on to radio and theater, but it was cinema that sent him to stardom.

Throughout his half-century career, Mr. Sordi worked with Italian directors and actors like Vittorio De Sica, Mario Monicelli, Dino Risi, Vittorio Gassman and Monica Vitti.

He starred in the 1957 "Count Max," playing a newspaper vendor who pretends to be a Roman count, and two years later in Mr. Monicelli's "Great War," by some considered one of the best Italian comedies. In 1965 he had a role in another popular comedy, "Complexes."

In 1961 he starred with David Niven in the World War II comedy "The Best of Enemies."

Mr. Sordi also successfully tried his hand at dramatic roles. In "An Average Little Man" (1977) he portrayed a middle-age father who decides to take justice into his own hands when his son is killed.

His movies often addressed social problems and personal weaknesses like corruption, terrorism and drug addiction. "All my films are based on very serious and dramatic subjects, taken from real-life stories," he once said.

Mr. Sordi also directed a few movies, but acting earned him his greatest accolades. He received the David di Donatello, the most important movie award in Italy, and a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement at the Venice Film Festival in 1995.

As reserved in life as he was exuberant on the screen, the elegant Mr. Sordi enjoyed collecting antiques and had a passion for opera.

Alberto Sordi, a Film Star Exuberant in Italian Comedies, Dies at 82
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/26/obituaries/26SORD.html