Eduardo De Filippo was born in Naples, at 5 Via Vittoria Colonna, on May 26th 1900.

The illegitimate son of Luisa De Filippo and the well-known actor Eduardo Scarpetta, he was not recognized at birth.

The union of the two also gave birth to Titina and Peppino, and all three were introduced from an early age to Neapolitan stages, participating as extras or in minor roles in the company of their half-brother Vincenzo Scarpetta.

To this company, mainly engaged in the staging of his father’s comedies or in reinterpretations of tradition, Eduardo remained linked until the early 1920s, signing his first plays such as, for example, Ho fatto il guaio, riparerò…, which would later become famous under the title of Uomo e galantuomo, one of his most successful works.

Rigorous and strict, but endowed with comic sagacity and original inventiveness, De Filippo struggled not a little to obtain an independent space in Neapolitan theaters. With his siblings Titina and Peppino he founded his own company, through which he staged several of his plays, sometimes under pseudonyms and with alternating success. Until, on December 25, 1931, he debuted with Natale in casa Cupiello, marking the successful start of the “Humorous Theater Company I De Filippo.”

The following years were characterized by an intense and fruitful activity-between his own works and adaptations-that gradually led De Filippo to approach the world of cinema as a director and actor as well. Among his many works, in 1950, he directed and starred alongside Totò in Napoli milionaria! and collaborated with Vittorio De Sica, writing some screenplays for him, including L’oro di Napoli (1954) and supervising the adaptation of Matrimonio all’italiana (1964), a remake of Filumena Marturano.

In 1948, he dipped into all his savings and bought the half-destroyed San Ferdinando theater, which, opened in 1954, was the place where Neapolitan dialect was elevated to the status of an artistic language, thus contributing to the recognition of “dialect theater” as “art theater.” This was, perhaps more than any other, the stage of excellence where Eduardo staged his vision of society, creating a portrait of the Neapolitan petty bourgeoisie, always central to his works.

His writing and staging have profoundly influenced modern theater, dramaturgy and comedy, actualizing the legacy of Punchinello’s theater-thanks in part to his acting finesse-and taking it all over the world.

After receiving two honoris causa degrees from Birmingham (1977) and Rome (1980), he was appointed senator for life by President Sandro Pertini in September 1981.

Eduardo De Filippo died in Rome on October 31th, 1984.

You can consult the birth certificate on the Ancestors Portal: Archivio di Stato di Napoli, Stato civile italiano (quartieri di Napoli), Chiaia, Registro 33, suppl. 2

The original is kept at the State Archives of Naples

For more on the figure of Eduardo De Filippo, see the entry of the Biographical Dictionary of Italians edited by Stefano De Matteis.