Rome hosts a series of events on Wednesday in memory of the much-loved Roman actor and comedian Alberto Sordi who was born on this day 102 years ago. Sordi played mainly comic roles, enlivened by his Roman accent which was a trademark throughout a career that spanned seven decades. Much of his cinematic success was thanks to his accent which, ironically, saw him expelled from a Milan acting academy in his youth.

Sordi often chose to portray the anti-hero, poking fun at the foibles of his fellow countrymen and succeeding in getting Italians to laugh at themselves. In addition to being an actor, Sordi was a singer, voice actor, director and screenwriter. He began his journey into comedy by providing the dubbed-over voice of American comedian Oliver Hardy in 1939, a role he played until 1951, in more than 40 Stanley e Ollio films in Italy.