Farewell in 1999
Corrado Mantoni died in Rome on June 8, 1999. We know practically everything about his very long television career and the programs he hosted and made a success, but very little news has ever leaked out about his private life: the conductor has always been jealous of his privacy.
Beginnings on the radio
Born in Rome on August 2, 1924, Corrado landed in radio in the early 1940s after dropping out of university – he had enrolled in law school – because of his strong attraction to the world of entertainment (his older brother Riccardo was already one). actors and voice actors). He took his first steps with an American channel in Italy and then moved to EIAR – the future Rai – in Milan.
The meeting with Luciana Guerra
It was precisely in the Lombard capital, during World War II, that Corrado met his first wife, Luciana Guerra (originally from Bereguardo in the province of Pavia, who died in 2005). At that time, the conductor led the program “Radio Naja”, dedicated to the military, and after a few years of engagement, in 1949 the two decided to get married.
The birth of his son Roberto
The first years of marriage coincided with the beginning of Corrado’s great success: in the 1950s he was the sole presenter of Radio Rai and by the middle of the decade he was already hanging out on television. In 1953, the love between Corrado and Luciana Guerra was crowned with the birth of their only son, Roberto.
divorce
However, immediately after “Canzonissima” (1970-1971), the relationship between the two spouses began to falter and in 1972, after 23 years together, they divorced. A few years later, Corrado met Marina Donato, then 24, a former editorial secretary of a Catholic magazine. The two began working together in a company that organized touring shows and, despite the age difference (the conductor was 48), the spark between the two ignited day after day.
The work side by side
Throughout their relationship, Corrado and Marina Donato continued to work side by side. Their (fruitful) artistic partnership spawned some of television’s biggest hits, from Lunch is Served (1982-1992), which Donato served as executive producer, to Tira & Molla (1996-1998), a show conceived by the couple with Stefano Jürgens and Stefano Santucci, to “La Corrida” (on television since 1986).
The second marriage
On June 27, 1996, Corrado and Marina Donato married after 23 years of living together. The ceremony, which was kept top secret until the end, was led by the then mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli, on the Campidoglio. Among the 22 guests was Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, who snatched Rai Corrado from Rai in 1982 when he was still the owner of Fininvest.
The best memory
Corrado’s best memory? Marina once revealed it as a guest on the Maurizio Costanzo Show: “The alarm clock in the morning. For at least ten minutes I don’t speak, I don’t listen and I don’t do anything, and Corrado waits for me to get in tune with the rest of the world. At some point he would regularly say to me: “Se po’ parlà?”. And there our day began.