Vittorio Gassman (above) in his memoirs 'A Great future behind me' tells the tale of when the Italian actor Gigi Proietti (below) went to Velletri to visit Wilcock in his nearly empty house, almost without furniture and "full of small mysteries". Wilcock was the translator of Shakespeare's Richard the Third which was being staged by Luca Ronconi. Proietti wanted to talk to Wilcock about a translation of Marlowe's Faust.
"Wilcock explained his ideas in a calm voice" - Gassman writes - "when a cat crossed the room and said in a clear voice I'm leaving because you lot are boring me shitless. Wilcock continued talking as though nothing had happened. After a minute Gigi could no longer contain himself and asked, astounded "But ... I've just seen a cat pass, right?" "Yes, yes it's my cat" "I thought so, yes, but does he speak?" And Wilcock answered dryly "Yes, but not always. As we were saying, Faust...
Vittorio Gassman was also to write a poet about Juan Rodolfo Wilcock and his cat entitled a "Meta-milonga for Rodolfo Wilcock and his cat" . Later it will appear in translation on this blog.
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