Italian actor Giuseppe “Peppino” Mazzullo, who voiced the mouse puppet Topo Gigio and gained fame for his humorous appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” died on Wednesday. He was 100.
Mazzullo died at his home in Santo Stefano di Briga, Italy, a village near his birthplace of Messina, the newspaper Il Messaggero reported.
Topo Gigio was 10 inches tall and created by Milan native Maria Perego, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The puppet and Mazzullo debuted on “The Ed Sullivan Show” on Dec. 9, 1962, and he made more than 50 appearances on the variety series, including on Sullivan’s final show on June 6, 1971.
The puppet would amuse Sullivan and the audience with his signature greeting, “Hello, Eddie,” to the host. And then the big-eared mouse closed each of his appearances with the line, “Eddie, kiss me goodnight.”
The puppet was the perfect tonic in contrast to Sullivan, the host known as “The Great Stone Face” because of his stiff demeanor.
“Topo was originally brought onto the show in an effort to make Ed more engaging to his audience – especially kids,” “The Ed Sullivan Show” website noted. “The producers thought that a more interactive host would allow The Ed Sullivan Show to better compete with ‘The Wonderful World of Disney,’ which had switched to Sunday nights in 1961.”
Joan Rivers created sketches for Topo Gigio in what was her first paying job as a writer, according to the Sullivan show website.
“Topo Gigio paid my car payments for six months,” Rivers once said. “God bless that little lousy mouse.”
While Mazzullo did the mouse’s voice, Perego controlled Topo Gigio’s legs with her fingers on one hand and opened and closed his mouth using rods with the other, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Two other puppeteers operated his arms.
Mazzullo was born on June 6, 1926, and began acting while growing up in Santo Stefano, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He attended the Academy of Cinematographic Art in Rome and the Academy of Dramatic Art in Milan.
The actor worked in radio as part of the RAI drama troupe and had several other jobs before finding his niche as the voice of Topo Gigio, the entertainment news website reported.
Before becoming a beloved performer on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” Mazzullo voiced the mouse in the 1961 film, “The Magic World of Topo Gigio.”
Mazzullo voiced Topo Gigio until 2006, according to The Hollywood Reporter. After retiring from performing, he founded the Piccolissimo Teatro di Messina and also taught acting.