Born on 22nd March 1921 in Castro dei Volsci (Frosinone), Nino Manfredi graduated in Law in Rome, and went on to enrol at the Academy of Dramatic Arts.
He made his theatre debut at the Piccolo Theatre in Rome, then worked with Eduardo De Filippo and Orazio Costa, whom he would always consider his mentor. In 1956 he appeared on television in the dramatization L'alfiere by Anton Giulio Majano. In 1958 he played alongside Delia Scala in Un trapezio per Lisistrata and the following year won great acclaim in Canzonissima (which he co-presented with Delia Scala and Paolo Panelli) with his famous sketch about a barman from Ceccano.
Alongside his enormous success in the theatre, he also began working in the cinema. After an uninspired start, it was with Puccini's L'impiegato (1959) that he really began to make a name for himself. In 1963, a special edition of Rugantino marked the first in a string of film successes, which continued with Not On Your Life (La ballata del boia) (1963) directed by L. G. Berlanga, Let's Talk About Men (Questa volta parliamo di uomini) (1964) by Lina Wertmuller, Made in Italy (1965) by Nanni Loy, Treasure of San Gennaro (Operazione San Gennaro) (1966) by Dino Risi, Head of the Family (Il padre di famiglia) (1967) by Nanni Loy, Kill Me With Kisses (Straziami ma di baci saziami (1968) by Dino Risi, Vedo nudo (1969) by Dino Risi, and The Conspirators (Nell'anno del Signore) (1969) directed by Luigi Magni.
In the meantime, he made his debut as director with L'avventura di un soldato, an episode in L'amore difficile (Sex Can Be Difficult) (1962), based on the eponymous short story by Italo Calvino, then Between Miracles (Per grazia ricevuta) (1971) and Portrait of a Nude Woman (Nudo di donna) (1981). His career as an actor brought him further acclaim in Girolimoni (1972) directed by Damiano Damiani, in the television version of The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) (1972) by Luigi Comencini, in Ugly, Dirty and Bad (Brutti, sporchi e cattivi) (1976) by Ettore Scola, in La mazzetta (1978) by Sergio Corbucci, in Il giocattolo (1979) by Giuliano Montaldo, and in Spaghetti house (1982) directed by Giulio Paradisi.
More recently, he has returned to the theatre as author, director and actor in Viva gli sposi! (1984) and Gente di facili costumi (1988). For the small screen, he recently played the lead role in the TV series Un commissario a Roma (1993) and in the popular Linda e il brigadiere (1997), now in its third series. He died 4th June 2004.