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The beloved humorist Osvaldo "Cava" Cavandoli (1920-2007) was born in Maderno sul Garda (now Toscolano-Maderno), Italy, but moved to Milan when he was two years old.
In 1938 he left high school to work as a technical designer for Alfa Romeo in Arese and Cemsa in Saronno.
In 1944, he started working with Nino Pagot (the creator of Calimero) getting involved, amongst other things, in the production of the first full length Italian animated feature, I fratelli Dinamite (The Dynamite Brothers, 1949).
In 1950, along with Ugo Moroni (aka A. Gelsi), he established his own company, Pupilandia, and started working independently as a director and a producer of stop motion films.
Cavandoli is best known for the genius of a character he created from a single line, aptly known as LA LINEA ("The Line").
Created in 1969, La Linea (voiced by actor Carlo Bonomi in Milanese gibberish) has been awarded in countless international festivals and broadcasted on televisions throughout the world.
"Sometime in 1969 I was tidying up my desk and I also started to declutter all the things in my mind that tied me to the past. With the experience and knowledge I had gained during my working years, I knew I had to leave the beaten track and mark my own path. There I was, staring at the blank paper, scribbling. The pen was permanently moving, drawing lines. As I looked down on the lines I suddenly realised that the best idea was to cut things down to one single line and say everything I wanted to express with this one line."
Originally created to advertise Lagostina products on the Italian TV, La Linea was featured in 35 2-minute commercials produced between 1969 and 1976.
In 1971, Cavandoli produces 8 3-minutes shorts, with music by Franco Godi, that are distributed and broadcasted in many countries around the world. In the same year, he's awarded the Critics' Prize at the Annecy Festival, and, the following year, at the Zagreb Film Festival.
In 1977, thanks to an international co-production, Cavandoli creates 25 2-1/2 minute shorts that are distributed in Germany, Switzerland, France, Poland, Hungary, Turkey, Sweden, Canada, South Africa and Israel.
In 1979 he starts the production of 30 more shorts.
In 1978 he creates La Sexylinea, a 4-minute short that is very well received in all the major film festivals around the world.
In 1982, Cavandoli directs 26 animated shorts of Pimpa, the character created by Francesco Tullio Altan.
In 1983, he produces a new 25-episode series of La Linea for Quipos.
In the meantime, La Linea becomes the testimonial for many companies around the world, including the Touring Club of Switzerland, a medical cream in Germany, an insurance company in South Africa, consolidating his international popularity.
In the United States, the cartoons were featured on the children's TV series The Great Space Coaster.
In 1992 Cavandoli produces Trazom, a 7-minute short featuring La Linea, to celebrate the bicentennial of the passing of the great Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
In 2003, a set of 3 DVDs with all La Linea episodes was released in Germany.
In 2005, the video for the Jamiroquai song (Don't) Give Hate a Chance paid homage to Cavandoli. The video features 3D representations of La Linea, as well as the animator's hand and pencil.
In June 2006 Cavandoli has been honored by the Annecy Museum and the Annecy International Animation Festival.

INTERVIEW TO CAVANDOLI (27 mins. Italian)
With Carlo Bonomi, Bruno Bozzetto, Guillermo Mordillo

OSVALDO CAVANDOLI LINKS

QUIPOS - Mr. Cavandoli's agents

La Linea on Wikipedia

An article about Cavandoli on Pagine70 (Italian)

La linea on DVD - Amazon.de