Italian actor and theatre director Fabio Grossi dies in Rome at age 68

Passing in Rome and partnership with Leo Gullotta

Fabio Grossi died in Rome on Monday, 24 August 2026, at the age of 68. His family confirmed the death following initial announcements shared across social media platforms. Born in Rome on 29 January 1958, Grossi was the longtime partner and artistic collaborator of actor Leo Gullotta. The two met in 1980 and maintained their private and professional relationship for 46 years before entering a civil union in 2019, when Italian legislation first permitted it. Reflecting on their union, Gullotta addressed the decades of waiting for statutory recognition.

It took thirty years for the law on civil unions.

Early theatrical training and stage debut

Grossi began his artistic training through private lessons during his youth before making his professional stage debut at age 19. In 1977, he appeared in Luigi Pirandello's play L'uomo, la bestia e la virtu under the direction of Edmo Fenoglio. He reunited with Fenoglio the following year for Le pillole di Ercole, and in 1979 he performed under director Luca Ronconi in Maurice Maeterlinck's L'uccellino azzurro. Across the subsequent decades, theatre remained central to his artistic identity, linking classical drama with modern stagecraft. Tributes followed from theatrical institutions, including Catania's Teatro L'Istrione, which remembered Grossi as a generous friend with a noble heart.

Film comedies and auteur cinema

Grossi transitioned to the big screen in 1981 with Giuliano Carnimeo's comedy Mia moglie torna a scuola. That same year, he appeared in popular Italian comedies such as Marino Girolami's Pierino contro tutti, Giorgio Capitani's Teste di quoio, and Carlo Vanzina's I fichissimi. He expanded his comedy filmography with Nando Cicero's W la foca and Mariano Laurenti's L'onorevole con l'amante sotto il letto, while also voicing the character Carluccio in Occhio malocchio, prezzemolo e finocchio. In 1988, he took on roles in drama films, beginning with Nanni Loy's Scugnizzi and continuing in Renzo Martinelli's Vajont, Fatti della banda della Magliana, and Paolo Sorrentino's L'amico di famiglia. He also featured in Sebastiano Riso's Più buio di mezzanotte, screened at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival in the Critics' Week section, and completed his final screen appearance in Mimmo Verdasca's 2024 film Per il mio bene.

Television work and theatrical directing

On television, Grossi debuted in 1980 on Black Out and worked on entertainment programmes alongside directors such as Renzo Arbore and Nanni Loy, including Signori si parte, Happy Circus, and Candid Camera Show. His television acting spanned series and dramas such as La dottoressa Giò with Barbara D'Urso, Le ragazze di Piazza di Spagna, Commesse 2, La squadra, and Un ciclone in famiglia, as well as the 2005 Spanish production I Borgia in the role of Cardinal Riario. Beginning in 2000 with a staging of Edipo at Rome's Piccolo Eliseo, Grossi increasingly focused on directing. Between 2005 and 2006, he directed a production of Pirandello's L'uomo, la bestia e la virtu at Teatro Eliseo, directing Gullotta in the piece that had served as his own acting debut. He directed Gullotta in further productions, including Le allegre comari di Windsor in 2010 and Sogno di una notte di mezza estate for the Teatro Stabile di Catania in 2012.