Ernesto Rossi was an Italian actor and playwright.

He was born in Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

 to a middle class family and was intending to study at the university there, when he substituted for an actor in the Calloud theatre company who had become ill. After his successful performance, he continued performing with the company until it was dissolved in 1848. In 1852 he joined the Reale Sarda theatre company and became its leading actor. For a while, he toured Italy and Paris with Adelaide Ristori

Adelaide Ristori

Adelaide Ristori was a distinguished Italian tragedienne, who was often referred to as the Marquise.-Biography:...

, until personal differences led to the end of their theatrical partnership. Rossi went on to perform throughout Europe, including London, Vienna, Lisbon, and Moscow. He was particularly admired for his Shakespearean roles as Macbeth

Macbeth

The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

, King Lear

King Lear

King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...

, Romeo and Hamlet

Hamlet

The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...

. Rossi also wrote several plays, the first of which, Adele, premiered with Adelaide Ristori in the title role.

In May 1896 he was playing King Lear in Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

 when he fell ill and was brought back to Italy where he died a few weeks later in Pescara

Pescara

Pescara is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of January 1, 2007 it was the most populated city within Abruzzo at 123,059 residents, 400,000 with the surrounding metropolitan area...

.

Sources

• Biography of Rossi (in Italian) from the Museo Biblioteca dell'Attore, Genoa
  Genoa
  Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
  
  .

External links

• Portrait of Ernesto Rossi from the University of Frankfurt library.
• Zakharov N. V., Gaydin B. N. Rossi Ernesto // An Electronic Encyclopaedia “The World of Shakespeare”.