Italian Directors and Actors
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One of Italy's most captivating and talented cinematic comedy stars, Italian veteran Alberto Sordi was known for satirizing his country's social mores in pungent black comedies, farcical tales and grim drama. He, along with peers Vittorio Gassman, Ugo Tognazzi and Nino Manfredi, arguably represent the finest of post-war Italian cinema history. Born in Rome on June 15, 1920 in the Trastevere district, Sordi grew up in a musical family, his father being a tuba player for the Rome Opera House. A choir boy at the Sistine Chapel, he later trained for the theater in Milan but returned to Rome to work in radio and musical halls in comedy shows. In the late 30s he found his way into film as an extra. His first important role was in The Three Pilots (1942), a fascist war picture, but he wouldn't hit international stardom until a decade later when he starred in Federico Fellini's early films The White Sheik (1952) and I Vitelloni (1953). The titles of some of his most prolific characters were as simple as their titles: The Seducer, The Bachelor, The Husband, The Widower, The Traffic Cop, and The Moralist. Most of his protagonists amusingly, but not always pleasantly, stereotyped the worst attributes of Italian men and society, yet many of his films are unparalleled in quality and considered masterpieces. Sordi went on to star, direct and co-write more than 150 films. Never married and rather an introvert, he enjoyed a quiet, reclusive personal life. On his 80th birthday, he was made Mayor of Rome for the day. In 2002, after 190 films, he announced his retirement, and died of a heart attack the following year at age 82.- Actress
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Claudia Gerini was born in Rome, where she did classical studies and dance training. Her acting career began when an advertising agency cast her in several commercials.
Claudia Gerini has had a long movie career in Italy and abroad, working with actors and directors like Sergio Castellito, Giuseppe Tornatore, Mel Gibson, acting both in comedic and dramatic roles. Her first star-making role was in "Viaggi di nozze" with comedian Carlo Verdone, with whom she will still works from time to time.
In theater, Claudia Gerini appeared in the show "Angelo e Beatrice" by Francesco Apolloni. She recently returned to the stage with the one-woman show "Storie di Claudia," written and directed by Giampiero Solari, a musical which highlights all her skills: dance, singing and acting.
She has acted in some of the most interesting projects of contemporary Italian cinema, such as "La Sconosciuta" by Giuseppe Tornatore, "Non ti muovere" by Sergio Castellitto, "Una famiglia perfetta" by Paolo Genovese, "Diverso da chi" by Umberto Carteni and many others.
Claudia Gerini has two daughters (Rosa and Linda ) and never stops studying and training. In addition to Italian, she fluently speaks English, French and Spanish.- Actor
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Claudio Santamaria is born in Rome. His career begins on the big screen in 1998, but his big break arrives in 2001, when Gabriele Muccino casts him for "L'Ultimo Bacio". Throughout the years he appears in many movies and in 2005 he wins the Nastro D'Argento for Best Actor for "Romanzo Criminale" directed by Michele Placido. The Italian and international movies that highlighted his career include: "Il Cartaio" by Dario Argento, "Torneranno I Prati" by Ermanno Olmi, "Casino Royale" by Martin Campbell, "600 Kilos d'or pur" by Eric Besnard and "Pauline Dètective" directed by Marc Fitoussi. He voiced Christian Bale's Batman in Italian in "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight", "The Dark Knight Rises" and Batman in "The Lego Movie", "LEGO Batman - The Movie", The LEGO Movie 2 - The Second Part" and in the Spotify Podcast "Batman - Un'autopsia". He is beloved from the tv audience for his performance in the biopic of the famous Italian singer "Rino Gaetano - Il Cielo è Sempre Più Blu" and being himself a great musician he performed all the songs in this series. In 2015 he appears as the protagonist, Orlando Mieli, in the TV series "È Arrivata la Felicità", a romantic comedy acclaimed by the Italian public since the pilot episode, this is why the second season was confirmed in 2017. The past few years he works in theatre, acting in "Occidente Solitario" by Martin McDonagh directed by Juan Diego Puerta Lopez and "Gospodin" by Philipp Lohle directed by Giorgio Barberio Corsetti. In 2017 he acts as Enzo Ceccotti in "Lo Chiamavano Jeeg Robot", directed by Gabriele Mainetti: It was thanks to this role that he wins the David Di Donatello as Best Actor. In the meantime he debuts as a director with the short movie "The Millionairs"; his cinematic journey proceeds throughout the next few years with "Brutti e Cattivi", first movie by Cosimo Gomez, "Rimetti a Noi i Nostri Debiti" by Antonio Morabito, "Tutto il Mio Folle Amore" directed by Oscar Wininng director Gabriele Salvatores presented in the 76th Venice International Film Festival. He continues his creative journey with the director Gabriele Muccino working on "Gli Anni Più Belli" released in 2020. In 2021 he is presented in the 78th Venice International Film Festival with the Film "Freaks Out" directed by Gabriele Mainetti where he acts as "BeastMan" affected by hypertrichosis with super-human strength. In 2022 he is Matteo, Postulator of the Vatican, in the Sky series "Christian" directed by Stefano Lodovichi and Antonio Nicastro, manager of the daily newspaper "L'Ora - Inchiostro contro Piombo" directed by Piero Messina, Ciro D'Emilio and Stefano Lorenzi. He also voiced the brave monster hunter Jacob Holland in Italian in the animated Netflix show "Il Mostro Dei Mari". In 2023 he acts as Franco in the drama "Educazione Fisica" directed by Stefano Cipani and presented as preview in the National Film Festival in Rome, he returns in the second season of the series "Christian" as Matteo, and is the voice of Super Mario in the animated movie "Super Mario Bros - The Movie".- Actor
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Gabriele Lavia is one of the most important figures on the Italian stage scene. He devoted his work also to cinema, creating characters for some famous Italian horror movies like David Hemmings friend in "Profondo Rosso", the journalist of "Zeder". He also directed some movies like "Scandalosa Gilda" and "La Lupa" with longtime companion Monica Guerritore. He portrayed the gay stage director in "Ricordati Di Me" by Gabriele Muccino.
But his work is mainly on stage. As actor and director, he put on stage the works of Shakespeare, Strindberg and Pirandello. He started in 1975 with William Shakespeare's "Othello". His last work was "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Edward Albee in 2005.- Actor
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Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in film, he reached notoriety with the character of Ramón Rojo in Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (1964). This success was doubled in Leone's next film, For a Few Dollars More (1965). The following ten years would be the most intense of Volontè career. L'armata Brancaleone (1966) (directed by Mario Monicelli) was the most successful Italian movie of the year, We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) (directed by Elio Petri) won the Grand Prix du Scenario at the Cannes Film Festival, and Volontè won his first Nastro d'Argento (Silver Ribbon - the most prestigious acting award in Italy) in 1970 for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) (also directed by Petri), making him an international star. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film, the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and two Italian Golden Globes, including one for his performance. In 1972, he starred in two Italian movies as the protagonist: Petri's The Working Class Goes to Heaven (1971) and Francesco Rosi's The Mattei Affair (1972), both of which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, where he also won a Special Mention. In his life, Volontè won a huge number of other prizes and honours, becoming one of the most celebrated Italian actors of the seventies, and challenging Vittorio Gassman and Marcello Mastroianni as the most popular Italian actor. He died in Greece in 1994.- Actor
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Giancarlo Giannini is an Oscar-nominated Italian actor, director and multilingual dubber who made an international reputation for his leading roles in Italian films as well as for his mastery of a variety of languages and dialects.
He was born August 1, 1942, in La Spezia, Italy. For 10 years he lived and studied in Naples, earning a degree in electronics. At 18 he enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Art D'Amico in Rome and made his stage acting debut there. His credits included performances in contemporary Italian plays as well, as in Italian productions of William Shakespeare's plays "Romeo and Juliet" and "A Midsummer's Night Dream". In 1965 he made his television debut starring as David Copperfield in the TV miniseries made by RAI ,the Italian national TV company. He made his big-screen debut in Libido (1965), a Freudian psychological thriller. Since 1966 he has been in a successful collaboration with legendary Italian director Lina Wertmüller, who made several award-winning films with Giannini as a male lead. He appears as peasant Tonino who prepares to assassinate dictator Benito Mussolini in Love & Anarchy (1973), as a sailor in the irony-laden comedy Swept Away (1974), and as a concentration-camp survivor in the Oscar-nominated Seven Beauties (1975). He also starred as a Jewish musician arrested by the Nazis in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's masterpiece Lili Marleen (1981).
Giannini also made a reputation for dubbing international stars in films released on the Italian market, such as Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Michael Douglas, Dustin Hoffman, Gérard Depardieu, and Ian McKellen, among others. He received a compliment from Stanley Kubrick for his dubbing of Nicholson in The Shining (1980). Giannini's fluency in English and his mastery of dialects has brought him a number of supporting roles in Hollywood productions, such as A Walk in the Clouds (1995), Hannibal (2001), Darkness (2002), and Man on Fire (2004), among many others. He appears as Rene Mathis in the 21st James Bond film Casino Royale (2006), and reprises the role in the sequel, Quantum of Solace (2008).- Actor
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One of the most beloved Italian actors in Italy and in the world, he has worked with great directors in the theatre, where he debuted with Ronconi, and in cinema - Risi, the Taviani Brothers, Faenza, Luchetti, Avati, Giordana among others. In television, he gave life to Il Commissario Montalbano that earned him unprecedented international popularity, but also great personalities such as Borsellino and Olivetti. After directing the last 3 episodes of Montalbano, he is about to devote himself to directing his first film.- Actor
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Born in Palermo, Sicily on the 20th of October, 1967. Following the family tradition, enrolled into Medicine with the intention of becoming a psychiatrist. Began performing with a group of street actors in his native Palermo. In 1989 received a small part in a theatrical production ("Waiting for Godot"), and toured Italy with the company.
Ditched med school, and went to Rome to attend the "Silvio D'Amico" Academy of Dramatic Arts. After a series of increasingly important roles in theater, landed the lead role in One Hundred Steps (2000). He was referred for the role by his uncle Luigi Maria Burruano, a seasoned Sicilian actor who in the movie played the main charachter's father. The role won him the David di Donatello for best lead actor. After this he starred in several different roles, the most important of which was The Best of Youth (2003), a seven-hour long movie originally made for TV, but then released in theaters. In the movie he played a psychiatrist, which was his chosen specilization when still studying medicine.
Luigi Lo Cascio currently lives in Rome.- Actor
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His acting career started when he was 15 in a theatre (Centro Teatro Spazio). In 1969 he founded the group "I saraceni" (later renamed "La smorfia") with Enzo Decaro and Lello Arena. He became famous to the TV audience between 1976 and 1979 with two TV programs "Non Stop" and "Luna Park". First movie "Ricomincio da tre" in 1981.- Actor
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Kim Rossi Stuart was born on October 31th, 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He began acting at the age of 5 along with his father Giacomo Rossi Stuart in The Murri Affair (1974). Kim's mother, Klara Müller, is an ex-top model. Kim has 3 sisters, 2 of them actresses like him: Loretta Rossi Stuart and Valentina Rossi Stuart, the latter also stunt-woman. Ombretta is the third sister.
Kim left his parent's home at 14 (1983) and also left school to study theater and in 1986 began acting regularly, especially on TV productions, like Fantaghirò (1991) and for the cinema with a small role in The Name of the Rose (1986). However it was with Karate Warrior (1987) and Poliziotti (1995) that Kim reached popularity. After this commercial movie he began to act only in quality movies, like Senza pelle (1994) where his role, a man with psychological problems, was appreciated by critics. Then he acted with the legendary director Michelangelo Antonioni in Beyond the Clouds (1995), and in an international TV fiction The Red and the Black (1997).
In the last years he came back to act in the theater with "Re Lear", a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and with the most important Italian actors like Turi Ferro in the opera "Le visiteur", a comedy by Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt, from which it is derived Il visitatore (1997), still interpreted by Kim and Turi.
On November 26th, 2011, at the age of 42, Kim became a father: the actress Ilaria Spada, his girlfriend from just a few months before, gave birth to their son, a child called Ettore. They have announced their intention to marry in summer 2015.- Actress
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Margherita Buy was born on 15 January 1962 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Mia madre (2015), The Ignorant Fairies (2001) and Days and Clouds (2007). She was previously married to Sergio Rubini.- Actor
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Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian department of "Eagle Lion Films" in Rome and joined a drama club, where he was discovered by director Luchino Visconti. In 1957 Visconti gave him the starring part in his Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation White Nights (1957) and in 1958 he was fine as a little thief in Mario Monicelli's comedy Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). But his real breakthrough came in 1960, when Federico Fellini cast him as an attractive, weary-eyed journalist of the Rome jet-set in La Dolce Vita (1960); that film was the genesis of his "Latin lover" persona, which Mastroianni himself often denied by accepting parts of passive and sensitive men. He would again work with Fellini in several major films, like the exquisite 8½ (1963) (as a movie director who finds himself at a point of crisis) and the touching Ginger & Fred (1986) (as an old entertainer who appears in a TV show). He also appeared as a tired novelist with marital problems in Michelangelo Antonioni's La Notte (1961), as an impotent young man in Mauro Bolognini's Bell' Antonio (1960) , as an exiled prince in John Boorman's Leo the Last (1970), as a traitor in Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's Allonsanfan (1974) and as a sensitive homosexual in love with a housewife in Ettore Scola's A Special Day (1977). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor three times, for Divorce Italian Style (1961), A Special Day (1977), and Oci ciornie (1987). During the last decade of his life he worked with directors, like Theodoros Angelopoulos, Bertrand Blier and Raúl Ruiz, who gave him three excellent parts in Three Lives and Only One Death (1996). He died of pancreatic cancer in 1996.- Actor
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Michele Riondino was born on 14 March 1979 in Taranto, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for Palazzina Laf (2023), Dormant Beauty (2012) and The Past Is a Foreign Land (2008).- Actor
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Pierfrancesco Favino was born on 24 August 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for World War Z (2013), Rush (2013) and Angels & Demons (2009).- Actress
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Ornella Muti was born on 9 March 1955 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for Flash Gordon (1980), Oscar (1991) and The Most Beautiful Wife (1970). She was previously married to Federico Fachinetti and Alessio Orano.- Actor
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Riccardo Scamarcio was born on 13 November 1979 in Trani, Apulia, Italy. He is an actor and producer, known for John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017), Loose Cannons (2010) and Tre metri sopra il cielo (2004).- Actor
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Sergio Rubini was born on 21 December 1959 in Grumo Appula, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Passion of the Christ (2004), The Station (1990) and The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999). He was previously married to Margherita Buy.- Actress
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Valeria Golino is an Italian actress and film director. She is known to English-language audiences for her role in Rain Man, Big Top Pee-wee and the two Hot Shots! films, especially the olive-in-the-belly-button scene. The second child of an Italian germanist and a Greek painter, Valeria Golino grew up in Naples until her parents parted. After three years in Athens with her mother and another three in Naples with her father, she began to work as a model. She left high school after her first movie and didn't study performing arts at all. In 1985 she got the leading role in Little Flames (1985) by Peter Del Monte and the next year won the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival for Storia d'amore (1986). After some European co-productions (Dernier été à Tanger (1987), The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), Three Sisters (1988)) she began to work in Hollywood (Big Top Pee-wee (1988)). She soon gained prominent roles in Rain Man (1988), Hot Shots! (1991) and Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993). Now she works in the US (Clean Slate (1994), An Occasional Hell (1996)), Europe (The King's Whore (1990), Immortal Beloved (1994)) and in Italy. too, especially with young directors (Come due coccodrilli (1994), Le acrobate (1997), L'albero delle pere (1998)). In 1994 she produced and acted in Slaughter of the Cock (1996) by Greek director Andreas Pantzis. Her voice is more appreciated in Hollywood (where she took speech therapy) than in Italy (where she is sometimes dubbed); in "The Slaughter of the Cock" she acts as a deaf and dumb woman. She speaks four languages: Italian, Greek, French and English. Her brother is a musician and their uncle Enzo Golino is a famous journalist.- Actor
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Stefano Accorsi got his diploma from the School of Theater in Bologna. He divides his time between theater, cinema, and television. Currently he is the Artistic Director of the Theater Foundation of Tuscany. He was appointed Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters) by the French Ministry of Culture. His movies include: Jack Frusciante è uscito dal gruppo (Jack Frusciante Has Left the Band) by Enza Negroni, I piccoli maestri (Little Teachers) by Daniele Luchetti, Ormai è fatta! (Outlaw) by Enzo Monteleone (Grolla d'Oro Award), Un uomo perbene (A Respectable Man) by Maurizio Zaccaro (Grolla d'Oro), Capitaes de Abril (April Captains) by Maria de Medeiros, Come quando fuori piove by Mario Monicelli, Radiofreccia (Radio Arrow) and Made in Italy by Luciano Ligabue (David di Donatello, Amidei Award and Ciak d'Oro), L'ultimo bacio (The Last Kiss), Baciami ancora (Kiss Me Again) and A casa tutti bene (There's No Place like Home) by Gabriele Muccino, Saturno contro (Saturn in Opposition), Le fate ignoranti (The Ignorant Fairies) and La Dea Fortuna (The Goddess of Fortune) by Ferzan Ozpetek (Nastro d'Argento, Ciak d'Oro and Globo d'Oro from the foreign press in Italy), La stanza del figlio (The Son's Room) by Nanni Moretti, Santa Maradona by Marco Ponti, Romanzo criminale (Crime Novel) and Un viaggio chiamato amore (A Scandalous Journey / A Journey Called Love) by Michele Placido (Coppa Volpi Best Actor at the 59th Venice Film Festival), Tous le soleils by Philippe Claudel, Veloce come il vento (Italian Race) by Matteo Rovere (David di Donatello, Nastro d'Argento, 2016 FICE Award Actor of the Year), Fortunata directed by Sergio Castellitto (Ciak d'Oro Best Actor). He debuted in directing with the short film Io non ti conosco, produced by Yoox Group that he also acted in (2014 Nastro d'Argento Best NewDirector). For Sky Italia, the series 1992 and the sequels 1993 and 1994 directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi, of which he is the creator and actor. Also for Sky in association with HBO, The Young Pope by Paolo Sorrentino.- Actor
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'Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio' was a descendant of the 'Comneno di Bizanzio' and also one of the most popular Italian film stars in history. His genre was undoubtedly the comedy where he achieved world fame. From 1917 he was an actor of the companies of the "comedia dell'arte" and also poet in Neapolitan dialect. In 1939 he started his career at the movies and as "Gaspare" in I due orfanelli (1947) he had his big breakthrough.- Actor
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Among others of Ugo Tognazzi's superb, award-winning performances of his prolific career, this excellent Italian character star has been widely cherished for his classic comedy role of gay cabaret owner Renato Baldi, opposite Michel Serrault's hilariously mincing drag queen partner Alban, in La Cage aux Folles (1978) one of the biggest cross-over foreign hits to ever land on American soil.
Born Ottavio Tognazzi in Cremona, Italy, on March 23, 1922, by the time Ugo was a teen he was a bookkeeper for a salami factory and performed in local amateur theatricals on the sly. Appearing on the stage, he finally found an entry into films at age 28 in 1950 with a featured role in the war comedy I cadetti di Guascogna (1950). He built up a solid comedy resume in primarily Neapolitan 50's features including La paura fa 90 (1951) (his first co-starring role), Café chantant (1953), I milanesi a Napoli (1954), La moglie è uguale per tutti (1955), Domenica è sempre domenica (1958), Le confident de ces dames (1959) and Tipi da spiaggia (1959).
Ugo became a middle-aged European star the following decade. Turning in a number of powerhouse character studies, he excelled as bon vivants, adulterous husbands and other suave gents in primarily farcical comedy and saucy, sardonic romps, particularly those of director/writer Marco Ferreri. He also demonstrated a remarkable range when it came to portraying world-weary protagonists in political drama or grim satire. For Ferreri alone, he appeared in the award-winning The Conjugal Bed (1963), Countersex (1964), The Wedding March (1966), L'udienza (1972) and the masterful The Big Feast (1973), among others.
In 1978, Tognazzi decided to take a chance, and play a character unlike anything he had done, (and, also, rarely done, for fear of being 'stereotyped'), and co-starred with the wonderful Michel Serrault in an image-shattering part in 1978. What he did was experience the most popular role of his career as one-half of an aging gay couple who operate a drag club. La Cage aux Folles (1978) went on to spawn two sequels and an American remake (The Birdcage (1996) starring Robin Williams (in the Tognazzi role) and Nathan Lane (in the diva Serrault part).
Tognazzi won several acting honors over the course of his long career. He copped several European awards for his classic roles in The Monsters (1963) (The Monsters), I Knew Her Well (1965), The Climax (1967) (also a rare foreign Golden Globe nomination), La bambolona (1968), Il commissario Pepe (1969), Lady Caliph (1970) and Duck in Orange Sauce (1975). He capped it off with the Cannes Film Festival award for his trenchant performance in Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981), the tale of a near-bankrupt factory owner who attempts to use the kidnapping of his son (played by his real-life eldest son Ricky Tognazzi) to his financial advantage. Tognazzi was also the father of actor Gianmarco Tognazzi and director Maria Sole Tognazzi, and had another son, producer/writer Thomas Robsahm, via a relationship with actress Margrete Robsahm.
In the eighties, Tognazzi focused strongly on the theater and starred in such plays as Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author" (1986, directed by Jean-Pierre Vincent in Paris, Théâtre de l' Europe) and Molière's "The Miser" (1989, where he sparked a controversy in Italian government circles when he improvised lines about corruption in high places during his performance). Although he directed himself in a handful of his own often sexually explicit films, including Il fischio al naso (1967) and Sissignore (1968), Ugo's true brilliance shines in front of the camera and in the works of other famed European directors, notably Ferrari, Bernardo Bertolucci, Pietro Germi, Dino Risi and Mario Monicelli. He worked up until the end with incisive starring performances in Arrivederci e grazie (1988), I giorni del commissario Ambrosio (1988), Tolérance (1989) and La batalla de los Tres Reyes (1990) (The Battle of the Three Kings). In 1972, at age 50, Tognazzi wed actress Franca Bettoia, who survives him. He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1990, age 68.- Actor
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Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Bitter Rice (1949). This fixed him to his main parts: The ambiguous gentleman inflicting pain and pleasure at the same time. He also participated in the Italian comedies and in American movies but the latter with only minor success. As a homage to his passion for the theatre he directed a cinema version of the play Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957).- Actress
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Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was born on 16 November 1964 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Like Crazy (2016), Il est plus facile pour un chameau... (2003) and Human Capital (2013).- Actor
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Nino Manfredi was born on 22 March 1921 in Castro dei Volsci, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for Between Miracles (1971), Bread and Chocolate (1974) and Café Express (1980). He was married to Erminia Ferrari Manfredi. He died on 4 June 2004 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members, including an aunt who told him frighting bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own--according to him--was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for the Rome daily newspaper "Paese Sera". Inspired by the movies, he later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his western collaborations, which included Cemetery Without Crosses (1969) and the Sergio Leone masterpiece Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). After its release Argento wrote and directed his first movie, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970), which starred Tony Musante and and British actress Suzy Kendall. It's a loose adoption on Fredric Brown's novel "The Screaming Mimi", which was made for his father's film company. Argento wanted to direct the movie himself because he did not want any other director messing up the production and his screenplay.
After "The Bird With the Crystal Plumage" became an international hit, Argento followed up with two more thrillers, The Cat o' Nine Tails (1971), starring 'Karl Madlen' (qv" and 'James Fransiscus', and Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971) ("Four Flies On Black Velvet"), both backed by his father Salvatore. Argento then directed the TV drama Testimone oculare (1973) and the historical TV drama The Five Days (1973). He then went back to directing so-called "giallo" thrillers, starting with Deep Red (1975), a violent mystery-thriller starring David Hemmings that inspired a number of international directors in the thriller-horror genre. His next work was Suspiria (1977), a surreal horror film about a witch's coven that was inspired by the Gothic fairy tales of the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson, which he also wrote in collaboration with his girlfriend, screenwriter/actress Daria Nicolodi, who acted in "Profondo Rosso" ("Deep Red") and most of Argento's films from then to the late 1980s. Argento advanced the unfinished trilogy with Inferno (1980), before returning to the "giallo" genre with the gory Tenebrae (1982), and then with the haunting Phenomena (1985).
The lukewarm reviews for his films, however, caused Argento to slip away from directing to producing and co-writing two Lamberto Bava horror flicks, Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986). Argento returned to directing with the "giallo" thriller Opera (1987), which according to him was "a very unpleasant experience", and no wonder: a rash of technical problems delayed production, the lead actress Vanessa Redgrave dropped out before filming was to begin, Argento's father Salvatore died during filming and his long-term girlfriend Daria broke off their relationship. After the commercial box-office failure of "Opera", Argento temporarily settled in the US, where he collaborated with director George A. Romero on the two-part horror-thriller Two Evil Eyes (1990) (he had previously collaborated with Romero on the horror action thriller Dawn of the Dead (1978)). While still living in America, Argento appeared in small roles in several films and directed another violent mystery thriller, Trauma (1993), which starred his youngest daughter Asia Argento from his long-term relationship with Nicolodi.
Argento returned to Italy in 1995, where he made a comeback in the horror genre with The Stendhal Syndrome (1996) and then with another version of "The Phantom of the Opera", The Phantom of the Opera (1998), both of which starred Asia. Most recently, Argento directed a number of "giallo" mystery thrillers such as Sleepless (2001), The Card Player (2003) and Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005), as well as two gory, supernatural-themed episodes of the USA TV cable anthology series Masters of Horror (2005).
Having always wanted to make a third chapter to his "Three Mothers" horror films, Argento finally completed the trilogy in 2007 with the release of Mother of Tears (2007), which starred Asia Argento as a young woman trying to identify and stop the last surviving evil witch from taking over the world. In addition to his Gothic and violent style of storytelling, "La terza madre" has many references to two of his previous films, "Suspiria" (1997) and "Inferno" (1980), which is a must for fans of the trilogy.
His movies may be regarded by some critics and opponents as cheap and overly violent, but second or third viewings show him to be a talented writer/director with a penchant for original ideas and creative directing.- Writer
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The women who both attracted and frightened him and an Italy dominated in his youth by Mussolini and Pope Pius XII - inspired the dreams that Fellini started recording in notebooks in the 1960s. Life and dreams were raw material for his films. His native Rimini and characters like Saraghina (the devil herself said the priests who ran his school) - and the Gambettola farmhouse of his paternal grandmother would be remembered in several films. His traveling salesman father Urbano Fellini showed up in La Dolce Vita (1960) and 8½ (1963). His mother Ida Barbiani was from Rome and accompanied him there in 1939. He enrolled in the University of Rome. Intrigued by the image of reporters in American films, he tried out the real life role of journalist and caught the attention of several editors with his caricatures and cartoons and then started submitting articles. Several articles were recycled into a radio series about newlyweds "Cico and Pallina". Pallina was played by acting student Giulietta Masina, who became his real life wife from October 30, 1943, until his death half a century later. The young Fellini loved vaudeville and was befriended in 1940 by leading comedian Aldo Fabrizi. Roberto Rossellini wanted Fabrizi to play Don Pietro in Rome, Open City (1945) and made the contact through Fellini. Fellini worked on that film's script and is on the credits for Rosselini's Paisan (1946). On that film he wandered into the editing room, started observing how Italian films were made (a lot like the old silent films with an emphasis on visual effects, dialogue dubbed in later). Fellini in his mid-20s had found his life's work.- Writer
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Elio Petri was born on 29 January 1929 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), We Still Kill the Old Way (1967) and His Days Are Numbered (1962). He was married to Paola Pegoraro. He died on 10 November 1982 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Marco Tullio Giordana was born on 1 October 1950 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012), One Hundred Steps (2000) and The Best of Youth (2003).- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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Sergio Leone was virtually born into the cinema - he was the son of Roberto Roberti (A.K.A. Vincenzo Leone), one of Italy's cinema pioneers, and actress Bice Valerian. Leone entered films in his late teens, working as an assistant director to both Italian directors and U.S. directors working in Italy (usually making Biblical and Roman epics, much in vogue at the time). Towards the end of the 1950s he started writing screenplays, and began directing after taking over The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) in mid-shoot after its original director fell ill. His first solo feature, The Colossus of Rhodes (1961), was a routine Roman epic, but his second feature, A Fistful of Dollars (1964), a shameless remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961), caused a revolution. It was the first Spaghetti Western, and shot T.V. cowboy Clint Eastwood to stardom (Leone wanted Henry Fonda or Charles Bronson but couldn't afford them). The two sequels, For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), were shot on much higher budgets and were even more successful, though his masterpiece, Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), in which Leone finally worked with Fonda and Bronson, was mutilated by Paramount Pictures and flopped at the U.S. box office. He directed Duck, You Sucker! (1971) reluctantly (as producer he hired Peter Bogdanovich to direct but he left before shooting began), and turned down offers to direct The Godfather (1972) in favor of his dream project, which became Once Upon a Time in America (1984). He died in 1989 after preparing an even more expensive Soviet co-production on the World War II siege of Leningrad.- Writer
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Together with Fellini, Bergman and Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni is credited with defining the modern art film. And yet Antonioni's cinema is also recognized today for defying any easy categorization, with his films ultimately seeming to belong to their own distinctive genre. Indeed, the difficulty of precisely describing their category is itself the very quintessence of Antonioni's films. Among the most-cited contributions of Antonioni's cinema are their striking descriptions of that unique strain of post-boom ennui everywhere apparent in the transformed life and leisure habits of the Italian middle and upper classes. Detecting profound technological, political and psychological shifts at work in post-WWII Italy, Antonioni set out to explore the ambiguities of a suddenly alienated and dislocated Italy, not simply through his oblique style of narrative and characters, nor through any overt political messaging, but instead by tearing asunder the traditional boundaries of cinematic narrative in order to explore an ever shifting internal landscape expressed through architecture, urban space and the sculptural, shaping presence of objects, shapes and emotions invented by camera movement and depth of focus.
Antonioni deftly manipulates the quieter, indirect edges of cinematic structure, often so discretely that his existential puzzles are felt before they can be intellectualized. The negative space is as prominent as the positive, silence as loud as noise, absence as palpable as presence, and passivity as driving a force as direct action. Transgressing unspoken cinematic laws, Antonioni frequently focuses on female protagonists while refusing to sentimentalize or morally judge his characters and placing them on equal footing with the other elements within his total dynamic system, like sounds or set pieces. And he violates spoken rules with unconventional cutting techniques, fractured spatial and temporal continuity, and a camera that insistently lingers in melancholy pauses, long after the actors depart, as if drifting just behind an equally distracted, dissipating narrative. Leaving questions unanswered and plot points irresolute, dispensing with exposition, suspense, sentimentality and other cinematic security blankets, Antonioni releases the viewer into a gorgeous, densely layered fog to contemplate and wrestle with his characters' imprecise quandaries and endless possibilities. Culminating in tour de force endings that often reframe the narrative in a daring, parting act of deconstruction, Antonioni's rigorously formal, yet open compositions allow his great, unwieldy questions to spill over into the world outside the cinema and outside of time.
Born into a middle-class family in the northern Italian town of Ferrara, Antonioni studied economics at the University of Bologna where he also co-founded the university's theatrical troupe. While dedicating himself to painting, writing film reviews, working in financial positions and in different capacities on film productions, Antonioni suffered a few false starts before expressing his unique directorial vision and voice in his first realized short film, Gente del Po, a moving portrait of fisherman in the misty Po Valley where he was raised. Uncomfortable with the neo-realist thrust of Italian cinema, Antonioni directed a series of eccentric and oblique documentary shorts that, in retrospect, reveal his desire to investigate the psyche's mysterious interiors. In his first fictional feature, Story of a Love Affair, Antonioni immediately subtly challenged traditional plot and audience expectation in ways that anticipate the formal and emotional expressionist dynamic that would fully flower within the groundbreaking L'Avventura (1960).
Reversing its raucous 1960 premiere to an infuriated Cannes audience, L'Avventura was rapturously lauded by fellow artists and filmmakers and awarded a special Jury Prize "for its remarkable contribution toward the search for a new cinematic language." It also presented the controlled ambivalence of Monica Vitti, who would become his partner, muse and psychological constant throughout his famed trilogy of L'Avventura, La Notte (1961) and L'Eclisse (1962) in addition to the exquisite Red Desert (1964), a film that marked another significant shift toward expressive color, male leads and working with soft focus and faster cuts. After the phenomenal commercial success of the MGM-produced Blow-Up (1966), Antonioni was devastated by the anti-climactic box office disaster of Zabriskie Point (1970) and returned to documentary. Invited to make Chung Kuo China by the Chinese government, Antonioni delivered a mesmerizing yet unsentimental four-hour tour of China which was vehemently rejected by its solicitors. A few years later, Antonioni returned to fictional form in his last masterpiece, The Passenger (1975), an enigmatic fable of vaporous identity that offers a bold companion piece to L'Avventura. Aside from the thematically retrospective Identification of a Woman (1982) and a period film made for television, The Mystery of Oberwald (1980) in which he conducted unusual experiments with color and video, Antonioni closed out his career with mostly short films, many of which were made after he suffered a stroke in 1985.
Tremendously influential yet largely taken for granted, Antonioni made difficult, abstract cinema mainstream. Embracing an anarchic geometry, Antonioni turned the architecture of narrative filmmaking inside-out in the most eloquent way possible, with many of his iconic scenes eternally preserved in the depths of the cinema's psyche. Observing modern maladies without judgment - sexism, dissolution of family and tradition, ecological/technological quandaries and the eternal questions of our place in the cosmos - Antonioni's prescience continues to resonate deeply as we find our way in the quickly moving fog.- Writer
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The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American directors, including Martin Scorsese.
He was born into the world of film, making his debut in Rome on May 8, 1906, the son of Elettra (Bellan), a housewife, and Angiolo Giuseppe "Beppino" Rossellini, the man who opened Italy's first cinema. He was immersed in cinema from the beginning, growing up watching movies in his father's movie-house from the time that film was first quickening as an art form. Italy was one of the places were movie-making matured, and Italian film had a huge influence on D.W. Griffith and other international directors. Between the two world wars, Hollywood would soon dictate what constituted a "well-made" film, but Rossellini would be one of the Italian directors who once again put Italy at the forefront of international cinema after the Second World War.
His training in cinema was thorough and extensive and he became expert in many facets of film-making. (His brother Renzo Rossellini, also was involved in the industry, scoring films.) He did his apprenticeship as an assistant to Italian filmmakers, then got the chance to make his first film, a documentary, "Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune", in 1937. Due to his close ties to Benito Mussolini's second son, the critic and film producer Vittorio Mussolini, he flourished in fascist Italy's cinema. Once Il Duce was deposed, Rossellini produced his first classic film, the anti-fascist Rome, Open City (1945) ("Rome, Open City") in 1945, which won the Grand Prize at Cannes. Two other neo-realist classics soon followed, Paisan (1946) ("Paisan") and Germany Year Zero (1948) ("Germany in the Year Zero"). "Rome, Open City" screenwriters Sergio Amidei and Federico Fellini were nominated for a Best Writing, Screenplay Oscar in 1947, while Rossellini himself, along with Amidei, Fellini and two others were nominated for a screen-writing Oscar in 1950 for "Paisan".
"I do not want to make beautiful films, I want to make useful films," he said. Rossellini claimed, "I try to capture reality, nothing else." This led him to often cast non-professional actors, then tailor his scripts to their idiosyncrasies and life-stories to heighten the sense of realism.
With other practitioners of neo-realism, Vittorio De Sica and Luchino Visconti, film was changed forever. American director Elia Kazan credits neo-realism with his own evolution as a filmmaker, away from Hollywood's idea of the well-made film to the gritty realism of On the Waterfront (1954).
Rossellini had a celebrated, adulterous affair with Ingrid Bergman that was an international scandal. They became lovers on the set of Stromboli (1950) while both were married to other people and Bergman became pregnant. After they shed their spouses and married, producing three children, history repeated itself when Rossellini cheated on her with the Indian screenwriter Sonali Senroy DasGupta while he was in India at the request of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to help revitalize that country's film industry. It touched off another international scandal, and Nehru ousted him from the country. Rossellini later divorced Bergman to marry Das Gupta, legitimizing their child that had been born out-of-wedlock.
Rossellini continued to make films until nearly his death. His last film The Messiah (1975) ("The Messiah"), a story of The Passion of Christ, was released in 1975.
Roberto Rossellini died of a heart attack in Rome on June 3, 1977. He was 71 years old.- Actor
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Roberto Benigni was born on 27 October 1952 in Manciano La Misericordia, Castiglion Fiorentino, Tuscany, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Life Is Beautiful (1997), The Tiger and the Snow (2005) and Down by Law (1986). He has been married to Nicoletta Braschi since 26 December 1991.- Actor
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Vittorio De Sica grew up in Naples, and started out as an office clerk in order to raise money to support his poor family. He was increasingly drawn towards acting, and made his screen debut while still in his teens, joining a stage company in 1923. By the late 1920s he was a successful matinee idol of the Italian theatre, and repeated that achievement in Italian movies, mostly light comedies. He turned to directing in 1940, making comedies in a similar vein, but with his fifth film The Children Are Watching Us (1943), he revealed hitherto unsuspected depths and an extraordinarily sensitive touch with actors, especially children. It was also the first film he made with the writer Cesare Zavattini with whom he would subsequently make Shoeshine (1946) and Bicycle Thieves (1948), heartbreaking studies of poverty in postwar Italy which won special Oscars before the foreign film category was officially established. After the box-office disaster of Umberto D. (1952), a relentlessly bleak study of the problems of old age, he returned to directing lighter work, appearing in front of the camera more frequently. Although Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) won him another Oscar, it was generally accepted that his career as one of the great directors was over. However, just before he died he made The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970), which won him yet another Oscar, and his final film A Brief Vacation (1973). He died following the removal of a cyst from his lungs.- Writer
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Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director whose films were known for their colorful visual style, was born in Parma, Italy. He attended Rome University and became famous as a poet. He served as assistant director for Pier Paolo Pasolini in the film Accattone (1961) and directed The Grim Reaper (1962). His second film, Before the Revolution (1964), which was released in 1971, received an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay. Bertolucci also received an Academy Award nomination as best director for Last Tango in Paris (1972), and the best director and best screenplay for the film The Last Emperor (1987), which walked away with nine Academy Awards.- Writer
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Giuseppe Bertolucci was born on 24 February 1947 in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Berlinguer: I Love You (1977), Segreti segreti (1985) and The Sweet Sounds of Life (1999). He was married to Lucilla Albano. He died on 16 June 2012 in Diso, Puglia, Italy.- Writer
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Paolo Virzì was born on 4 March 1964 in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for The First Beautiful Thing (2010), Tutta la vita davanti (2008) and Like Crazy (2016). He has been married to Micaela Ramazzotti since 17 January 2009. They have two children. He was previously married to Paola Tiziana Cruciani.- Actor
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Michele Placido was born on 19 May 1946 in Ascoli Satriano, Puglia, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for La piovra (1984), Romanzo Criminale (2005) and Un eroe borghese (1995). He has been married to Federica Vincenti since 14 August 2012. They have one child. He was previously married to Simonetta Stefanelli and Ilaria Lezzi.- Actor
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Giovanni Anzaldo was born on 12 November 1987 in Rivalta di Torino, Piedmont, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Mongrel (2012), Fuoco amico: Tf45 - Eroe per amore (2016) and Sullo stress del piccione (2017).- Director
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Salvatores attended school in the Lombard metropolis. He started doing theater there. After graduating from high school, Salvatores enrolled in the Faculty of Law at the University of Milan in 1968. He then studied at the Accademia d''arte drammatica, a drama school at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano. He completed his training with a diploma. It was the time of the student protests, which were particularly massive in Milan in the context of the left-wing radical movement "Lotta Continua". Salvatores took an active part and was involved in the newly emerging proletarian street theater. In 1972 Salvatores was among the co-founders of the Teatro dell''Elfo in Milan. In the following 10 years he played for this theater, for which he staged 21 performances. The musical that Salvatore staged from William Shakespeare's "Sogno di una notte di mezza estate" was a particular success.
He made his first feature film under the same title in 1983, which received an award in Venice. Salvatores became known to a larger Italian cinema audience primarily through the comedies "Marrakech Express" (1989) and "Turné" (1990), which dealt with his own political and social experiences. The director made a name for himself in international film with "Mediterraneo" (1991). The tragicomic film received an Oscar for best foreign contribution and, against the backdrop of the Italian military occupation of a Greek island during the Second World War, depicts the rapprochement between the occupiers and the locals. Salvatore's next film "Puerto Escondido" (1992) is set in Italy and Latin America. With "Sud" (1993), the director finally presented a sensitive study of the Italian south, his true home.
The following films "Nirvana" (1997), "Denti" (2000) and "Amnesia" (2001) were mainly known in Italian cinema. The Italian television broadcast of Salvatore's film "Io non ho paura" (2003) in April 2005 was a complete success: 35% of viewers saw the film. In May 2005, Salvatore's "Quo vadis, baby?" before, the film adaptation of a novel by Grazia Verasani, in which a female protagonist goes in search of her sister.- Actress
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Born in Rome in 1975, Maya Sansa is of Italian and Iranian descent. According to her interview (Io Donna magazine), Maya met her father for the first time when she was 15; until then, she had been living in Rome with her mother. As a teenager she moved to London, where she lived for many years until graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London in 1999. She made her film debut that same year in The Nanny (1999), a role that won her an Italian Golden Globe award (Globo d'oro) for Best Breakthrough Actress and a Golden Ciak award (Ciak d'oro) for Best Supporting Actress.- Actress
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Jasmine Trinca was born on 24 April 1981 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for The Gunman (2015), The Son's Room (2001) and Fortunata (2017).- Actor
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Actor and director Toni Servillo was born in Afragola in 1959. In 1977 Servillo founded the Teatro Studio in Caserta for whom he directed 'Propaganda' (1979), 'Norma' (1982), 'Billy il bugiardo' (1983) and 'Guernica' (1985), amongst others. In 1986 he collaborated with the Falso Movimento group, interpreting 'Ritorno ad Alphaville' by Mario Martone and staging 'E...' on the texts of Eduardo De Filippo. Servillo became one of the founders of Teatri Uniti in 1987, continuing work as actor and director in the poetic and dramatic Neapolitan theatrical language. Such plays included: 'Partitura' (1988) and 'Rasoi' (1991) by Enzo Moscato; 'Adda passà a nuttata' (1989) by Eduardo De Filippo; 'Zingari' (1993) by Raffaele Viviani; and 'Sabato, domenica e lunedì' (2002), an award-winning re-working of De Filippo's masterpiece. With Il Misantropo (1995) and 'Tartufo' (2000) by Molière, and 'Le false confidenze' (1998) by Marivaux, all translated by Cesare Garboli, he staged a triptych on 17-18th century French theatre. Toni Servillo also presented 'L'uomo dal fiore in bocca' (1990/96) by Luigi Pirandello; 'Natura morta' (1990) about the 23rd Congress of the Soviet Union Communist Party; 'Da Pirandello a Eduardo' (1997); and 'L'uomo dal fiore in bocca' coupled with 'Sik Sik, l'artefice magico' by Eduardo De Filippo at the Teatro San Joao in Oporto. With Mimmo Paladino he realised 'Iliade/ Odissea' (2001) as an installation reading from Homer's masterpieces. He also appeared in 'Eliogabalo' (1981) directed by Memè Perlini; 'I Persiani' (1990) and 'Edipo Re' (2000) directed by Mario Martone; 'Il cavaliere dell'intelletto' (1994) by Franco Battiato; with Mariangela Melato in 'Tango barbaro' (1995) directed by Elio De Capitani; and in the roles of Geppetto and Fire-Eater in Andrea Renzi's transposition of 'The Adventures of Pinocchio' (2001). In 1999 Servillo made his directorial debut in musical theatre with the first staging in modern times of 'La cosa rara' by Martin y Soler. This was followed by Lorenzo Da Ponte's libretto for the Venice Opera House, where in 2000 he staged 'Le nozze di Figaro' by Mozart. In 2001 he realised 'Il marito disperato' by Cimarosa for the San Carlo Opera House in Naples and 'Boris Godunov' by Mussorgskij at the Teatro Sao Carlos in Lisbon, where in 2003 he also staged 'Ariadne auf Naxos' by Richard Strauss.- Actor
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Alessio Boni was born on 4 July 1966 in Sarnico, Lombardy, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Best of Youth (2003), The Tourist (2010) and The Girl in the Fog (2017).- Writer
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Director and screenwriter Paolo Sorrentino was born in Naples in 1970, and and became an orphan when he lost both of his parents at the age of 16. At the age of 25, after studying for a few years at the Faculty of Economics and Business in University of Naples Federico II, he decided to work in the film industry. His first full-length feature L'uomo in più, starring Toni Servillo and Andrea Renzi, was selected at the 2001 Venice Film Festival, achieved three nominations for the David di Donatello (the Italian Academy Awards) and won the Nastro d'Argento (the Italian cinema journalists Academy Award) for Best First Time Director. In 2004 he directed Le conseguenze dell'amore, selected in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival and acclaimed by both Italian and International critics. The film won many important Italian awards, including five David di Donatello awards: for Best Film, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Cinematography. Three years later his third film L'amico di famiglia was also selected in Competition at Cannes. In 2008 another collaboration with Toni Servillo, Il Divo, became his third film to be selected in Competition at Cannes. The film was nominated for Best Make-Up at the Academy Awards® and won seven David di Donatello, five Ciak d'Oro and five Nastri d'Argento awards. He has also published a novel Hanno tutti ragione (Everybody's Right) in 2010, and two collections of short stories: Tony Pagoda e i suoi amici (2012), and Gli aspetti irrilevanti (2016). Hanno tutti region was warmly received by both critics and public and was short-listed for the Premio Strega, the most prestigious Italian literature award. As of 2021, seven of his 9 films have been presented in Competition at the Festival de Cannes, where Il Divo won the Prix du Jury in 2008. In 2014, his film La Grande Bellezza won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, as well as a BAFTA and five EFA Awards. In 2016, La Giovinezza gained an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Best Original Song. The film won three European Film Awards. In 2016, he made his first TV Series: The Young Pope. In 2021, È stata la mano di Dio won the Grand Jury Prize at the 78th Venice International Film Festival.- Director
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Daniele Luchetti was born on 26 July 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Yes Man (1991), Mio fratello è figlio unico (2007) and It's Happening Tomorrow (1988).- Actor
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Elio Germano was born on 25 September 1980 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Leopardi (2014), Nine (2009) and Mio fratello è figlio unico (2007).- Actor
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Fabrizio Gifuni was born on 16 July 1966 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an actor and writer, known for Human Capital (2013), Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy (2012) and Hannibal (2001). He has been married to Sonia Bergamasco since 2000. They have two children.- Actress
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Daria Nicolodi was born on 19 June 1949 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress and writer, known for Phenomena (1985), Deep Red (1975) and Tenebrae (1982). She died on 26 November 2020 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Pupi Avati was born on 3 November 1938 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Gli amici del bar Margherita (2009), Giovanna's Father (2008) and The Story of Boys & Girls (1989). He has been married to Amelia Turri since 1964. They have three children.- Actor
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Massimiliano Gallo was born on 19 June 1968 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is an actor and director, known for The Hand of God (2021), Loose Cannons (2010) and Il silenzio grande (2021). He has been married to Shalana Santana since 3 December 2022. They have two children.- Ennio Fantastichini was born on 20 February 1955 in Gallese, Lazio, Italy. He was an actor, known for Loose Cannons (2010), Open Doors (1990) and Napoléon (2002). He died on 1 December 2018 in Napoli, Campania, Italy.
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Flavio Bucci was born on 25 May 1947 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He was an actor, known for Suspiria (1977), Ligabue (1977) and Property Is No Longer a Theft (1973). He was married to Micaela Pignatelli. He died on 18 February 2020 in Passoscuro, Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Mario Martone was born on 20 November 1959 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for L'amore molesto (1995), The King of Laughter (2021) and Capri-Revolution (2018). He has been married to Ippolita Di Majo since 2010. They have one child.- Actor
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Filippo Scotti (Gravedona, 22 December 1999) is an Italian actor, protagonist of the film It was the hand of God presented at the Venice Film Festival 2021, with which he won the Marcello Mastroianni Award as best emerging actor.
He began his acting career in 2010, when he enrolled in various theatrical courses and workshops in Naples. After the theater, where he made his debut as a protagonist in the show Il Marchese di Collino directed by Patrizia Di Martino, he began acting in several short films by directors such as Gabriele Russo and Francesca Macrì. In the same year he gets a small role in the 1994 television series and then two years later in the series produced by Netflix Black Moon and in the film The King dies.
The first leading role comes in 2021 in It was the hand of God, directed by Paolo Sorrentino, where he plays the role of the alter ego of Sorrentino himself as a young man. For this interpretation he won the Marcello Mastroianni Prize at the 78th Venice International Exhibition.- Actress
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Alba Rohrwacher was born on 27 February 1979 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress, known for Hungry Hearts (2014), The Wonders (2014) and I Am Love (2009).- Writer
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Luigi Comencini was born on 8 June 1916 in Salò, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Voltati Eugenio (1980), Everybody Go Home! (1960) and Bread, Love and Dreams (1953). He was married to Giulia Grifeo. He died on 6 April 2007 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Matteo Garrone was born in Rome in 1968. He is the son of a theatre critic, Nico Garrone, and a photographer. In 1996 he won the Sacher d'Oro, an award sponsored by Nanni Moretti, with the short film Silhouette (1996), that became one of the three episodes of his first feature film Land in Between (1996). He won Best Director at the European Film Awards and at the David di Donatello Awards for Gomorrah (2008). His film Reality (2012) competed in competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and won the Grand Prix. His latest film Tale of Tales (2015) was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.- Writer
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Marco Ferreri was born on 11 May 1928 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981), L'udienza (1972) and El cochecito (1960). He was married to Jacqueline Ferreri. He died on 9 May 1997 in Paris, France.- Director
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Liliana Cavani was born on 12 January 1933 in Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. She is a director and writer, known for L'ospite (1971), Dove siete? Io sono qui (1993) and The Night Porter (1974).- Writer
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Born in his ancestral palazzo, situated in the same Milanese square as both the opera house La Scala and the Milan Cathedral, Luchino Visconti (1906 - 1976) was raised under the auspices of aristocratic privilege, theater and Catholicism. This triangulation of monuments would create an equally titanic filmmaker whose work remained stylistically sui generis through arguably the most impressive decades of 20th century filmmaking. The quietude of La Terra Trema (1948) is managed with an operatic virtuosity, and the baroque period pieces-for which he is best known today-clearly point to a noble upbringing. However, there is also a Gothic character to Visconti-embodied in the spired cathedral that overshadowed his childhood-that has remained largely unsung. The relationship between the Visconti family and Gothic architecture stretches back to the Medieval Era. In 1386, Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti envisioned a cathedral in the heart of Milan, though it was fated to remain under construction for almost half a millennium until Napoleon ordered its completion in the 19th century. Just as his ancestor brought Northern Gothic architecture to Italy, so, in 1943, did Luchino introduce the groundbreaking cinematic genre of Italian neorealism to the peninsula. Doing away with sets, neorealist cinema was set in the raw environment of postwar Italy. In one sense anti-architectural in its desire to transcend the bonds of interior space, this same ambition is what makes the style a perfect cinematic analog to the Gothic. The Gothic is an architecture of exteriority: Throwing ceilings to the sky and opening walls onto the outside with large windows, the Gothic presents light as the manifestation of divinity within a place of worship. The mysticism of light, dating back to the pseudo-Dionysian theology of Abbot Suger of St. Denis Cathedral, translates well to the medium of light that is the cinema. In any Visconti work, lighting is intimately connected to set design: It is often seen in the gleam of curtains, the radiance of starlight or the glow of Milanese fog, where the director carries the religiosity of Gothic architecture into his realism. Visconti's religion (or should we say religions? For he was also a Marxist) adds an ethical weight, powerful and challenging, to his works. The term decadence, often associated with Visconti, only attains meaning through being in excess of contemporary mores. Neither the Catholic Church nor the Italian communists could accept Visconti's homosexuality, and a resultant displaced angst is plainly worn by his protagonists-monumental individuals who bear the full weight of their social milieus. While neorealism has come to be packaged with its own mythology-a new cinema for a liberated nation, the idea of a new "Italian" style-re-centering our historical gaze on the Gothic Visconti allows one's imagination to spread across a much larger plane of geography and time. From his cinematic apprenticeship with Jean Renoir in France-the very cradle of Gothic architecture-to his German trilogy, Visconti's style has always been one of cosmopolitan effort. This international flavor also matches the deeper etymological referent of the Gothic-the Goths, those barbarian invaders who toppled the Roman Empire. Among Visconti's formal signatures are many borrowings from foreign directors, including the particularly pronounced influence of Jean Renoir, Josef Von Sternberg and Elia Kazan. Global in scope, timeless in influence and architectural in spirit: This is the legacy of Luchino Visconti.- Writer
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Pietro Germi was born on 14 September 1914 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Railroad Man (1956), Divorce Italian Style (1961) and The Birds, the Bees and the Italians (1966). He was married to Olga D'Aiello and Anna Bancio. He died on 5 December 1974 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
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Roldano Lupi was born on 8 February 1909 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964), The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo (1961) and The Mongols (1961). He died on 13 August 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Antonio Pietrangeli was born on 19 January 1919 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for I Knew Her Well (1965), The Visit (1963) and March's Child (1958). He was married to Margherita Ferroni. He died on 12 July 1968 in Gaeta, Lazio, Italy.- Actress
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Asia Argento was born in Rome, Italy, into a family of actors and filmmakers, both occupations which she has herself pursued. She made her debut when she was only nine years old in Sergio Citti's Sogni e bisogni (1985). In 1988 she had the leading role in Cristina Comencini's first film, Zoo (1988), and was part of the cast of The Church (1989), directed by Michele Soavi. The following year she played Nanni Moretti's daughter in Red Wood Pigeon (1989) (also directed by Moretti).
It was with Close Friends (1992), written and directed by Michele Placido, that Asia's career really took off and she was able to move on from playing very young girls to more mature, complex roles. The movie was well-received at the Cannes International Film Festival. In Trauma (1993), she worked for the first time with her father, famed Italian horror director Dario Argento (her mother is one of Argento's favorite actresses, Daria Nicolodi, playing an anorexic girl in search of her parents' killer. The Phantom of the Opera (1998) is the third film she has made with her father, the others being Trauma (1993) (filmed in the US) and The Stendhal Syndrome (1996).
Asia's absorbed, intense style of acting was well-used in Giuseppe Piccioni's Condannato a nozze (1993). In 1993 she co-starred in Carlo Verdone's Perdiamoci di vista (1994) in which she played Arianna, a physically disabled girl--an intricate, difficult role that won her the David di Donatello for best actress (1993-1994). She also had a featured role in the international cast of Queen Margot (1994), directed by Patrice Chéreau. In 1995 she worked with Michel Piccoli in Peter Del Monte's Traveling Companion (1996), which again won her a David di Donatello and a Grolla d'oro.
In 1994 Asia turned her hand to directing and turned out two short films: "Prospettive" (an episode of the film DeGeneration (1994)) and "A ritroso". In 1996 she directed a documentary on her father and, in 1998, one on cult director Abel Ferrara, Abel/Asia (1998), which won an award at the Rome Film Festival. In 1999 Asia made her feature-directing debut with Scarlet Diva (2000), in which she was the leading actress and author of the screenplay. The film was released in May 2000 in Italy and the rest of the world. It won an award at the Williamsburg Film Festival in Brooklyn, New York. In 2001, after directing a number of music videos, she gave birth to her first daughter, Anna Lou. In 2002 she starred in The Red Siren (2002) by Olivier Megaton with Jean-Marc Barr and the action thriller xXx (2002), directed by Rob Cohen, with Vin Diesel.
Asia is also the author of a number of short stories published in many prestigious magazines such as "Dynamo," "L'Espresso," "Sette," and "Village," Her first novel, "I Love You, Kirk," was published in Italy by Frassinelli Editrice in October 1999 and in France by Florent Massot in 2001.- Producer
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Nanni Moretti was born on the 19th of August, 1953. He lives in Rome, where since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In those years he was also very committed in politics, within the youth league of the Italian Communist Party. Once finished high school studies, he sold his stamps collection to buy a super8 cinema camera, using which he started shooting home-made short films with his friends in 1973. His professional movie-making career starts with Ecce bombo (1978). This was also his first nation-wide success, and still a cult-movie for many Italians.- Actress
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Giovanna Mezzogiorno was born on 9 November 1974 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and director, known for Vincere (2009), Love in the Time of Cholera (2007) and Facing Windows (2003). She has been married to Alessio Federico Fugolo since 24 October 2009. They have two children.- Writer
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Marco Bellocchio is one of the most consistent and most adventurous of today's Italian directors-an achievement all the more remarkable given that he made his feature debut almost fifty years ago. Over those years, he has amassed a body of films that encompasses a large number of original screenplays, adaptations of the likes of Pirandello and Kleist and personal, quasi-autobiographical work. What unifies these films is the beauty and originality of Bellocchio's images and his unceasing quest to understand the place of the individual in contemporary Italy and contemporary cinema. After making a few shorts, Bellocchio announced himself with his ferocious first feature, the acclaimed Fists in the Pocket (1965). This caustic and anarchic look at an extremely troubled family launched him instantly to the first ranks of the Italian film scene, alongside Antonioni, Pasolini and Bertolucci. For the next several years, films such as China Is Near (1967) and In the Name of the Father (1971) found Bellocchio examining the turbulent world of leftist politics and revolutionary dreams with an eye both sympathetic and jaundiced. During the 1980s and 1990s, under the spell of unorthodox-and, to some, controversial-psychoanalyst Massimo Fagioli, Bellocchio's emphasis turned to examining the interweaving of family dynamics and sexual desire as they produce and undermine personal identities. Films such as A Leap in the Dark (1980) and Devil in the Flesh (1986) create complex allegories of an audacious originality. More recently, Bellocchio has turned to more straightforward narratives in a number of films that examine Italy's recent past and its present, from The Nanny (1999) to one of his most recent works, Dormant Beauty (2012). Shifting brilliantly from realist fiction to archival footage to the imagery of dream or fantasy, all within a single film, this recent period has returned Bellocchio to the forefront of contemporary cinema, while combining the lessons learned from both the previous political and allegorical work. What has remained constant is Bellocchio's searching critique of the institutions that control individuals and organize the flow of power: the army, political parties, schools, the state and its laws, the Church, and the family.- Director
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Gabriele Muccino was born on 20 May 1967 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Seven Pounds (2008), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) and The Last Kiss (2001). He has been married to Angelica Russo since 22 December 2012. They have one child. He was previously married to Elena Majoni.- Actress
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Laura Morante was born on 21 August 1956 in Santa Fiora, Tuscany, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Cherry on the Cake (2012), The Son's Room (2001) and Tragedy of a Ridiculous Man (1981). She has been married to Francesco Giammatteo since 3 October 2004. She was previously married to Georges Claisse and Daniele Costantini.- Actor
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Giorgio Pasotti is an Italian actor who debuts in theatre as a protagonist aside Stefania Rocca in the theatrical show "Le Poligraphe" by Robert Lepage. He then appears in the film "I Piccoli Maestri" directed by Daniele Luchetti based on Luigi Meneghello's novel, and in Gabriele Muccino's directorial debut, "Ecco Fatto" with Barbara Bobulova. Throughout the years he alternates between television and cinema, he finds fame with the tv series "Distretto di Polizia" where he interprets the role of Inspector Paolo Libero. In those years he stars in Neri Marcorè's miniseries "E Poi C'è Filippo", in "Due Mamme Di Troppo" directed by Antonello Grimaldi, "La Scelta di Laura" by Alessandro Piva, and in the miniseries "David Copperfield" by Ambrogio Lo Giudice. In 2012 he enters the role of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the miniseries "Anita Garibaldi" for Rai 1. He also interprets the role of Lino Zani, Pope John Paul II's ski instructor in "Non avere paura - Un'amicizia con Papa Wojtyla", and a police agent who fights against the Germans in World War II in "A Testa Alta - I Martiri di Fiesole". He appears in the series "Il Silenzio dell'Acqua" directed by Pier Belloni, in "La Compagnia Del Cigno" by Ivan Cotroneo, in Season 1 and 2 of "Lea e I Bambini Degli Altri" and in the first two seasons of "Mina Settembre" directed by Tiziana Aristarco. He returns in cinemas with "Ultimo Bacio" directed by Gabriele Muccino, as the protagonist's best friend, he also interprets the new groom in the movie "Volevo solo Dormirle Adosso" by Eugenio Capuccio. He works in "L'Aria Salata" directed by Alessandro Angelini and in "Le Rose del Deserto" by Mario Monicelli, and as the protagonist of "Diario di un Maniaco Per Bene" by Michele Picchi. Giorgio stars in Gabriele Muccino's sequel to "L'Ultimo Bacio" in "Baciamo Ancora", and in 2013 appears in the Oscar-winning film "La Grande Bellezza" directed by Paolo Sorrentino. In 2014 he is one of the protagonists of "Sapore Di Te" by Carlo Vanzina, working with him again in "Un Matrimonio Da Favola", interpreting a closeted homosexual who hides it from his friends. Francesco Prisco chooses him for his directorial debut "Nottetempo", without forgetting the movie "Mio Papà" directed by Giulio Base exploring the themes of a large family, he is the protagonist and, for the first time, writer. In 2015 he directs with Matteo Bini and acts in the movie "Io, Arlecchino". In 2020 he directs and acts in the movie "Abbi Fede" and in November of the same year he is chosen as the new director of Teatro Stabile d'Abruzzo. In 2022 he appears in the Tv Series "Lea - Un nuovo Giorno".- Vittoria Puccini was born on 18 November 1979 in Florence, Italy. After graduating from high school, she first appeared on screen in Sergio Rubini's TV movie Tutto l'amore che c'è (2000) and in other minor titles, and finally became a star on Italian TV, playing the title character in Elisa di Rivombrosa (2003). She also has appeared in several international productions including Kronprinz Rudolf (2006).
- Lilli Carati was born on 23 September 1956 in Varese, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for Skin Deep (1979), A Lustful Mind (1986) and L'alcova (1985). She died on 20 October 2014 in Besano, Lombardy, Italy.
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Fernando Di Leo was born on 11 January 1932 in San Ferdinando di Puglia, Puglia, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Caliber 9 (1972), Killer contro killers (1985) and Shoot First, Die Later (1974). He was married to Maria Pia Conte. He died on 1 December 2003 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Carlo Lizzani was born on 3 April 1922 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Violent Four (1968), Chronicle of Poor Lovers (1954) and Celluloide (1996). He was married to Edith Bieber. He died on 5 October 2013 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Pasquale Festa Campanile was born on 28 July 1927 in Melfi, Basilicata, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Leopard (1963), Rocco and His Brothers (1960) and The Four Days of Naples (1962). He was married to Anna Salvatore. He died on 25 February 1986 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
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Enrico Maria Salerno was born on 18 September 1926 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for The Anonymous Venetian (1970), Seasons of Our Love (1966) and It Happened in '43 (1960). He died on 28 February 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actress
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Daughter of the former speaker of the Italian Communist Party's delegation at the Lazio's Regional Council, Sabrina Ferilli never kept secret her leftism. Firm and stubborn, she did not care about the first unsuccessful attempts to come on to the stage. Her stubbornness was rewarded in the 1990, when she got a part in the Alessandro D'Alatri's film Americano rosso (1991). From that moment her success never ended. She lives with their two pets, a kitten and a tiny dog. Since she loves her privacy, she does not like to talk about their love affairs. She is also a big AS Roma's (Football Team) fan: she launched the official presentation of the team, in the summer of the 1999, at the Olympic Stadium, and she is a member of the AS Roma's Fans Council (a consultive board composed by famous Roma's fans like the actor Alberto Sordi). Typical Italian beauty - she also made an advertising campaign for a famous Spaghetti brand - a recent poll (in which Italian males from 15 to 34 yrs. were asked for to indicate one of the famous Italian women they would love) stated that Sabrina Ferilli is the most loved Italian woman.- Director
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Maria Sole Tognazzi was born on 2 May 1971 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is a director and assistant director, known for A Five Star Life (2013), Me, Myself & Her (2015) and Passato prossimo (2003).- Writer
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Francesca Archibugi was born on 16 May 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is a writer and director, known for Mignon è partita (1988), Questione di cuore (2009) and Il grande cocomero (1993). She is married to Battista Lena. They have three children.- Writer
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Giuseppe Piccioni was born on 2 July 1953 in Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Not of This World (1999), Light of My Eyes (2001) and The Shadow of the Day (2022).- Actor
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Roberto Zibetti was born on 11 March 1971 in Summit, New Jersey, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Stealing Beauty (1996), Pasolini (2014) and Addio fottuti musi verdi (2017).- Composer
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A classmate of director Sergio Leone with whom he would form one of the great director/composer partnerships (right up there with Eisenstein & Prokofiev, Hitchcock & Herrmann, Fellini & Rota), Ennio Morricone studied at Rome's Santa Cecilia Conservatory, where he specialized in trumpet. His first film scores were relatively undistinguished, but he was hired by Leone for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) on the strength of some of his song arrangements. His score for that film, with its sparse arrangements, unorthodox instrumentation (bells, electric guitars, harmonicas, the distinctive twang of the jew's harp) and memorable tunes, revolutionized the way music would be used in Westerns, and it is hard to think of a post-Morricone Western score that doesn't in some way reflect his influence. Although his name will always be synonymous with the spaghetti Western, Morricone has also contributed to a huge range of other film genres: comedies, dramas, thrillers, horror films, romances, art movies, exploitation movies - making him one of the film world's most versatile artists. He has written nearly 400 film scores, so a brief summary is impossible, but his most memorable work includes the Leone films, Gillo Pontecorvo's The Battle of Algiers (1966) , Roland Joffé's The Mission (1986), Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) and Giuseppe Tornatore's Cinema Paradiso (1988), plus a rare example of sung opening credits for Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Hawks and the Sparrows (1966).- Writer
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Roberto Faenza was born on 21 February 1943 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Look to the Sky (1993), Escalation (1968) and I Viceré (2007).- Writer
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Born in 1930 in Genoa. Still a young student in 1950 when director Carlo Lizzani gave him a role in the film Achtung Banditi!. Following this experience he traveled to Rome where, after acting in film and theater, he became the assistant director to Lizzani, Gillo Pontecorvo, Sergio Leone, Francesco Rosi. In 1960 he made his debut as a Director with Pigeon Shoot, a film about the Partisan Resistance, on competition at the 1961 Venice Film Festival. In 1964 he directed La Moglie Svedese, an episode of the film Extramarital. His second movie, The Reckless, won the special prize of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival in 1965; it's about a social climber in Italy during the time of the economic miracle. That year he also directed the second unit of Pontecorvo's masterpiece The Battle Of Algiers.
After having filmed for Paramount the heist movie Grand Slam (1967) and the gangster film Machine Gun McCain (1969) in the US, Montaldo returned to Italy to direct The Fifth Day of Peace (1970), Sacco and Vanzetti (in competition at Cannes Film Festival, where it won Best Actor 1971) and Giordano Bruno (1973). These films received great recognition and were widely appreciated at various film festivals around the world. The theme of the Resistance underlined And Agnes Chose to Die (1977).
In 1980 the director engaged in the production of a television series about the exploration of Marco Polo, an international co-production with RAI, BBC and NBC. It was filmed in Italy, the Middle East, Tibet, Mongolia and China. It was shown in 76 nations, and won 4 Emmy Awards. Other awards worldwide for cinematography, production design and costumes were received. Montaldo's experience with China reveals a turning point in his work.
Other films he directed are Closed Circuit (in competition at the Berlinale in 1978 and in permanent exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art), A Dangerous Toy (1979), The Gold Rimmed Glasses (1987), Control (1987), and Time to Kill (1989).
Always worked with an international cast. Some of the actors that worked with him are: Burt Lancaster, Rupert Everett, Nicolas Cage, Philippe Noiret, Janet Leigh, Edward G. Robinson, John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Rade Serbedzija, Charlotte Rampling, Ingrid Thulin, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud, F. Murray Abraham, Leonard Nimoy.
Some of his usual collaborators have been score composer Ennio Morricone and cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
Montaldo is also internationally recognized as a Opera director, directed commercials, documentaries and experimental film technology projects. From 1999 he was president of RAI Cinema, a major film production company, for 5 years in which the movies he produced became box office hits, won awards all over the world and formed a new generation of Italian directors.
In 2001 he was appointed Cavaliere di Gran Croce by the president of Italy, one of the top honors of the Republic.- Vittorio Mezzogiorno was born on 16 December 1941 in Cercola, Campania, Italy. He was an actor, known for Scream of Stone (1991), La piovra (1984) and Il giocattolo (1979). He was married to Cecilia Sacchi. He died on 7 January 1994 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
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The notably gifted, multi-talented actor, chanteur, poet and painter Serge Reggiani was born in Reggio Emilia, a town in northern Italy, in 1922. His father, a highly visible anti-fascist, fled his Mussolini-dictated homeland due to his fervent political activities and emigrated to France in order to protect his family. Serge learned to speak fluent French and developed an interest in athletics, particularly boxing, but went an entirely different route altogether by following in his father's footsteps as a hair stylist.
In 1937, his career path changed yet again when he was accepted into the Conservatoire des Arts Cinematographiques. After graduation, he landed a few minor roles in both films and theatre and enrolled at the prestigious Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique in 1939 wherein he won numerous acting awards. Though he earned a reputation for himself in the Paris theatre world, Reggiani was more interested in movie-making and would thereafter focus his attention toward the big screen.
During the filming of Le carrefour des enfants perdus (1944) [Children of Chaos], he met and subsequently married actress Janine Darcey, which produced two children: Stephan (1946) and Carine (1951). After obtaining French citizenship in 1948, he went on to secure a name for himself in Gallic cinema with roles in Gates of the Night (1946) [Gates of the Night], Manon (1949), The Lovers of Verona (1949) [The Lovers of Verona], La Ronde (1950) and Casque d'Or (1952). Following his divorce, he married actress Annie Noël and fathered three children: Celia (1958), Simon (1961) and Maria (1963). In 1959 Reggiani introduced a distinctive singing talent on radio and, following film roles in The Informer (1962) and The Leopard (1963) [The Leopard], launched his musical career at age 43.
Reggiani released his award-winning debut album in 1965 and it proved to be such a major hit with both the French public and the critics that singing became a prime career. Surprisingly, the middle-aged, deep-voiced balladeer would strike a chord with the younger politically left generation of the late 60s. A second album produced in 1967, plus a left-wing concert with the legendary Jacques Brel, clenched his popularity with teenagers. He began to extend himself internationally while continuing a healthy album output.
Children Stephan and Carine actively developed their own singing careers and Reggiani performed on the concert stage with them in encouragement but with lackluster results. Son Stephan, completely overshadowed by his father, took this extremely hard and in 1980 (July, 29) committed suicide at the family home in Mougins. He was only 33. Devastated, Reggiani withdrew from the music scene for a while to recover from his grief and would battle bouts of depression and alcoholism for much of his remaining life. Divorced from his second wife in 1973, he met actress Noëlle Adam in the 1980s and they lived in partnership for over 20 years, she becoming a lasting source of strength for him in dealing with his personal tragedies.
Reggiani's later years would be more or less spent in seclusion, finding one last passion in painting. He displayed his works at his first exhibition in 1989. After performing in concert to mark the 25th anniversary of his singing career, Reggiani found the strength to return to the French music scene with a brand new album. At age 70+, he successfully recorded and was welcomed back to the concert stage with great applause. Though his acting career had calmed down a great deal since his singing heyday erupted, he did star in De force avec d'autres (1992) [For the Love of Others], a film written and directed by son Simon Reggiani that also featured Ms. Adam.
Serge married his longtime partner, Noëlle Adam, in March of 2003; he died of a heart attack at his Paris home a little over a year later at age 82. Although little known here in the U.S., unlike chanson stylists Yves Montand and Jacques Brel, the acclaimed Reggiani has nevertheless reached legendary proportions in France and Europe.- Umberto Orsini was born on 2 April 1934 in Novara, Piedmont, Italy. He is an actor, known for The Damned (1969), Emmanuelle 3 (1977) and Solomon (1997).
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Lucia Bosè was born on 28 January 1931 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. She was an actress, known for The Lady Without Camelias (1953), Death of a Cyclist (1955) and Story of a Love Affair (1950). She was married to Luis Miguel Dominguín. She died on 23 March 2020 in Segovia, Segovia, Castilla y León, Spain.- Actress
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Gina Lollobrigida was born on July 4, 1927 in Subiaco, Italy. Destined to be called "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", Gina possibly had St. Brigid as part of her surname. She was the daughter of a furniture manufacturer, and grew up in the pictorial mountain village. The young Gina did some modeling and, from there, went on to participate successfully in several beauty contests. In 1947, she entered a beauty competition for Miss Italy, but came in third. The winner was Lucia Bosè (born 1931), who would go on to appear in over 50 movies, and the first runner-up was Gianna Maria Canale (born 1927), who would appear in almost 50 films. After appearing in a half-dozen films in Italy, it was rumored that, in 1947, film tycoon Howard Hughes had her flown to Hollywood; however, this did not result in her staying in America, and she returned to Italy (her Hollywood breakout movie would not come until six years later in the John Huston film Beat the Devil (1953)).
Back in Italy, in 1949, Gina married Milko Skofic, a Slovenian (at the time, "Yugoslavian") doctor, by whom she had a son, Milko Skofic Jr. They would be married for 22 years, until their divorce in 1971. As her film roles and national popularity increased, Gina was tagged "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World", after her signature movie Beautiful But Dangerous (1955). Gina was nicknamed "La Lollo", as she embodied the prototype of Italian beauty. Her earthy looks and short "tossed salad" hairdo were especially influential and, in fact, there's a type of curly lettuce named "Lollo" in honor of her cute hairdo. Her film Come September (1961), co-starring Rock Hudson, won the Golden Globe Award as the World's Film Favorite. In the 1970s, Gina was seen in only a few films, as she took a break from acting and concentrated on another career: photography. Among her subjects were Paul Newman, Salvador Dalí and the German national soccer team.
A skilled photographer, Gina had a collection of her work "Italia Mia", published in 1973. Immersed in her other passions (sculpting and photography), it would be 1984 before Gina would grace American television on Falcon Crest (1981). Although Gina was always active, she only appeared in a few films in the 1990s. She retired from acting in 1997 after 50 years in the motion picture industry. In June 1999, she turned to politics and ran, unsuccessfully, for one of Italy's 87 European Parliament seats, from her hometown of Subiaco. Gina was also a corporate executive for fashion and cosmetics companies. As she told Parade magazine in April 2000: "I studied painting and sculpting at school and became an actress by mistake". (We're glad she made that mistake). Gina went on to say: "I've had many lovers and still have romances. I am very spoiled. All my life, I've had too many admirers."- Sofia Loren is known for O Olho Mágico do Amor (1982) and Torno Sabato (2000).
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Monica Anna Maria Bellucci was born on September 30, 1964 in the Italian village of Città di Castello, Umbria, the only child of Brunella Briganti and Pasquale Bellucci. She originally pursued a career in the legal profession. While attending the University of Perugia, she modeled on the side to earn money for school, and this led to her modeling career. In 1988, she moved to one of Europe's fashion centers, Milan, and joined Elite Model Management. Although enjoying great success as a model, she made her acting debut on television in 1990, and her American film debut in Bram Stoker's Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992). Her role in the French thriller The Apartment (1996), shot her to stardom as she won the French equivalent of an Oscar nomination. Other credits include Malena (2000), Under Suspicion (2000) and Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001).- Director
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Claudio Caligari was born on 7 February 1948 in Arona, Novara, Piedmont, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Don't Be Bad (2015), Toxic Love (1983) and The Scent of the Night (1998). He died on 26 May 2015 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Giuseppe Tornatore was born on 27 May 1956 in Bagheria, Sicily, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for The Best Offer (2013), Cinema Paradiso (1988) and The Legend of 1900 (1998). He is married to Roberta Pacetti.- Clara Calamai was born on 7 September 1909 in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. She was an actress, known for L'adultera (1946), Deep Red (1975) and Obsession (1943). She was married to Leonardo Bonzi. She died on 21 September 1998 in Rimini, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
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Laura Chiatti was born on 15 July 1982 in Castiglione del Lago, Perugia, Umbria, Italy. She is an actress, known for Il caso dell'infedele Klara (2009), Ho voglia di te (2007) and Our Country (2006). She has been married to Marco Bocci since 5 July 2014. They have two children.- Writer
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Valerio Zurlini was born on March 19, 1926. During his law studies in Rome, he started working in the theatre. In 1943, he joined the Italian resistance. Zurlini became a member of the Italian Communist Party. He filmed short documentaries in the immediate post-war period and in 1954 directed his first feature film, Le ragazze di San Frediano (1955), his only comedy. In 1958, together with Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi and Alberto Lattuada, he won the Silver Ribbon for Best Script for Lattuada's Guendalina (1957). Zurlini made his name as a director with his second feature film, Violent Summer (1959), starring Eleonora Rossi Drago and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
In 1961 Zurlini filmed Girl with a Suitcase (1961), a successful drama, starring Claudia Cardinale and Jacques Perrin, who would become Zurlini's favorite actor. In 1962 Zurlini's film Family Diary (1962) earned him the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival (it tied with Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood (1962)). Zurlini had a masterful skill for screen adaptations Both Le ragazze di San Frediano (1955) and Family Diary (1962) were based on Vasco Pratolini's work. Zurlini admired the work of Italian novelist Giorgio Bassani and hoped to adapt his novel "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," which was subsequently directed by Vittorio De Sica (see The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)). His 1965 film The Camp Followers (1965) was entered into the 4th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Special Silver Prize. Zurlini's last film, The Desert of the Tartars (1976), produced by Jacques Perrin and featuring an all-star ensemble, was based on Dino Buzzati's novel of the same name. The movie won both the David di Donatello for Best Director and the Silver Ribbon for Best Director.
The visual style of Zurlini's adaptations was informed by artists Giorgio De Chirico, Giorgio Morandi and Ottone Rosai. During the last years of his life, Zurlini taught at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome and worked as a dubbing director for the Italian versions for such movies as The Deer Hunter (1978) and My American Uncle (1980). He died of stomach hemorrhage in Verona on October 27, 1982.- Anna Galiena was born on 22 December 1949 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress, known for The Hairdresser's Husband (1990), Black Angel (2002) and Senza pelle (1994).
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Francesco 'Nino' Castelnuovo was born to humble beginnings in Lombardy, the second of four brothers. His working life began with a series of stints in various jobs, including house painting, as a mechanic and as a sales agent, after which he decided to take drama classes at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan. A first screen appearance in 1957 was followed by a motion picture debut two years later. He had a small supporting part in Luchino Visconti's Rocco and His Brothers (1960), but his career only gained traction with a co-starring role opposite Catherine Deneuve in the romantic musical drama The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) (though his scenes were subsequently re-dubbed). Castelnuovo's greatest popularity came via the small screen, as Renzo Tramaglino, key protagonist of the mini-series I promessi sposi (1967), a period piece set during the Spanish occupation of Lombardy in the 17th century and based on a best-selling novel by Alessandro Manzoni. Other appearances have included both American and Italian-produced westerns (The Reward (1965), The 5-Man Army (1969)) among notably cosmopolitan casts. By the early 70s, Castelnuovo acted primarily on stage, in serial television and was seen for several years in commercials for Olio Cuore, a corn oil company. His final fling on the international scene was a small role in [The English Patient (1996)] as an archaeologist, recalled in flashback scenes by the lead character Almásy. Castelnuovo retired in 2016. He was married to the actress Danila Trebbi.- Actress
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Soundtrack
Elsa Martinelli was born in the central Tuscan city of Grosseto into a struggling family, one of eight siblings. She had to earn her keep from the age of twelve, delivering groceries in Rome. Looking older than her years suggested, she then did some part-time work as a barmaid. Aged sixteen and ambitious, she moved on to modeling and was soon promoted by well known designers, and, in particular, by a New York magazine editor who suggested a move to the Big Apple. While employed with the Eileen Ford Agency, she was spotted on a Life magazine cover by none other than Kirk Douglas (or by Douglas' wife, according to another version of the story) who, incidentally, happened to own a fashion company. In any case, Elsa soon found herself in Hollywood to co-star opposite Douglas in The Indian Fighter (1955) (despite some as yet unresolved problems with her command of English). Her sojourn in tinseltown was short-lived, however, and the contract she had signed with Douglas was quietly annulled -- and thus she famously spurned an opportunity to appear in the lucrative blockbuster Spartacus (1960). There were to be no further American pictures at this time. Instead, she returned to Italy, married Count Franco Mancinelli Scotti di San Vito, joined the glitterati, attended lavish parties and created an image for herself which rivaled those of Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida. She counted Aristotle Onassis and Maria Callas among her close friends.
Taken under the wing of Carlo Ponti, Elsa was able to eventually make a success of her screen career not merely because of her exotic good looks, but by deliberately varying the type of parts she took on and thereby avoid typecasting. Those included the titular Stowaway Girl (1957) who bewitches an embittered steamboat captain played by Trevor Howard. In stark contrast, she was also Carmilla, possessed by her vampiric ancestor Millarca in the unsatisfactorily filmed Blood and Roses (1960), an 'arthouse' horror movie, though artlessly directed by Roger Vadim, based on Sheridan Le Fanu's Gothic novella. Encumbered by excessive bathos, neither scary nor original, the only saving grace of the picture was derived from Claude Renoir's evocative camera work.
In Hatari! (1962) -- which might aptly be described as a good-looking travelogue -- Elsa co-starred as a freelance wildlife photographer on a Tanganyika game farm, torn between affections for baby elephants and 'bring-'em-back-alive' trapper John Wayne. With character development sorely lacking, the animals, the scenery (and two exquisitely ornamental ladies -- the other being Michèle Girardon) pretty much stole the show. Likewise, in her next outing, the wartime comedy The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962), Elsa was the romantic (mostly decorative) interest of Charlton Heston's army guy smuggled into Nazi-occupied Rome in 1944 to extract and send back secret military information via carrier pigeon. For the remainder of the '60s, Elsa appeared in a number of international co-productions which included a segment in The Oldest Profession (1967) as a Roman Emperor's wife discovered in a brothel; and as a gangster's daughter helping a bumbling American treasury agent in Rome (played by Dustin Hoffman in his first starring role) to recover Madigan's Millions (1968).
In 1968, Elsa married Paris Match photographer and furniture designer Willy Rizzo. Having already invested some of her earnings from film work into Roman and Parisian real estate, Elsa began to diversify into designing avant garde furniture with apparently mixed success. By the 1980s, she was active as an interior designer in Rome while still making sporadic screen appearances, primarily in TV series. Described by the newspaper La Repubblica as "an icon of style and elegance", Elsa Martinelli died on July 8, 2017 in Rome at the age of 82.- Cinematographer
- Special Effects
- Director
Italian director Mario Bava was born on July 31, 1914 in the coastal northern Italian town of Sanremo. His father, Eugenio Bava (1886-1966), was a cinematographer in the early days of the Italian film industry. Bava was trained as a painter, and when he eventually followed his father into film photography his artistic background led him to a strong belief in the importance of visual composition in filmmaking.
Other than a series of short films in the 1940s which he directed, Bava was a cinematographer until 1960. He developed a reputation as a special effects genius, and was able to use optical trickery to great success. Among the directors for whom Bava photographed films were Paolo Heusch, Riccardo Freda, Jacques Tourneur and Raoul Walsh. While working with Freda on Lust of the Vampire (1957) in 1956, the director left the project after an argument with the producers and the film mostly unfinished. Bava stepped in and directed the majority of the movie, finishing it on schedule. This film, also known as "The Devil's Commandment", inspired a wave of gothic Italian horror films. After a similar incident occurred on Freda's Caltiki, the Immortal Monster (1959), and Bava's having been credited with "saving" Tourneur's The Giant of Marathon (1959), Galatea urged Bava to direct any film he wanted with their financing.
The film that emerged, Black Sunday (1960), is one his most well known as well as one of his best. This widely influential movie also started the horror career of a beautiful but then unknown British actress named Barbara Steele. While Black Sunday is a black and white film, it was in the color milieu that the director excelled. The projects which followed began to develop stunning photography, making great use of lighting, set design, and camera positioning to compliment mise-en-scenes bathed in deep primaries. Through works such as Hercules in the Haunted World (1961), The Whip and the Body (1963), and Planet of the Vampires (1965), Bava's films took on the look of works of art. In the films The Evil Eye (1963) and Blood and Black Lace (1964), he created the style and substance of the giallo, a genre which would be perfected in the later films of Dario Argento.
Bava worked in many popular genres, including viking films, peplum, spaghetti westerns, action, and even softcore, but it is his horror films and giallo mystery films which stand out and for which he is best remembered. Recommended are Black Sunday (1960), The Whip and the Body (1963), Blood and Black Lace (1964), Kill, Baby... Kill! (1966), A Bay of Blood (1971), and Lisa and the Devil (1973). Bava's son Lamberto served as his assistant on most of his films since 1965, and since 1980 has been a director himself. Lamberto Bava's films include Macabre (1980), Demons (1985) and Body Puzzle (1992).
But after the commercial failure of his later films, as well as the unreleased works of Rabid Dogs (1974), Bava went into a decline and by 1975, retired from filmmaking all together. He was persuaded to come out of retirement at the request of his son, Lamberto, to direct Shock, as well as a made-for-Italian television movie. Mario Bava died from a sudden heart attack on April 27, 1980 at age 65. With his death, an era in Italian filmmaking had come to a close.