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Luis César Amadori was born on 28 May 1903 in Pescara, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Honeysuckle (1938), La pasión desnuda (1953) and Almafuerte (1949). He was married to Zully Moreno. He died on 5 June 1977 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Producer
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Giuseppe Amato was born on 24 August 1899 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was a producer and writer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), Umberto D. (1952) and Bicycle Thieves (1948). He died on 3 February 1964 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Mario Amendola was born on 8 December 1910 in Recco, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Trappola per sette spie (1966), Sword of Damascus (1964) and Who Finds a Friend Finds a Treasure (1981). He died on 22 December 1993 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Edoardo Anton was born on 7 January 1910 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Man from Cairo (1953), Ridere! Ridere! Ridere! (1954) and Robin Hood and the Pirates (1960). He died on 11 May 1986 in Villefranche-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes, France.- 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.- Director
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Cesare Barlacchi is known for Tormento di anime (1953), La sonnambula (1954) and La favorita (1952).- Director
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Ottorino Franco Bertolini is known for La canzone più bella (1957) and Pensione Edelweiss (1959).- Director
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Giorgio Bianchi was born on 18 February 1904 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for Cronaca nera (1947), Il conte Max (1957) and La maestrina (1942). He died on 9 February 1967 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Roberto Bianchi Montero was born on 7 December 1907 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Tharus figlio di Attila (1962), Savana: Violenza carnale (1979) and 36 ore all'inferno (1969). He died in 1986.- Writer
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Italian playwright, screenwriter, and director. At age 24, he received his law degree, but proceeded upon a career in journalism. He collaborated with Dino Falconi on a number of successful comedies for the stage before entering films soon after the coming of sound. Soon thereafter he began directing as well as writing films. During the Second World War he assumed the artistic leadership of Scalera Films. He continued to write fiction, reviews, and plays as well as films, his most renowned film script being that for Bicycle Thieves (1948).- Director
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Alessandro Blasetti was born on 3 July 1900 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for First Communion (1950), La corona di ferro (1941) and Me, Me, Me... and the Others (1966). He was married to Maria Laura Quagliotti. He died on 1 February 1987 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mauro Bolognini was born on 28 February 1922 in Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Madamigella di Maupin (1966), Mosca addio (1987) and Careless (1962). He died on 14 May 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Mario Bonnard was born on 24 December 1889 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for Il trattato scomparso (1933), I promessi sposi (1922) and Cinque a zero (1932). He died on 22 March 1965 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia was born on 8 July 1894 in Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Amore (1935), Barbablù (1941) and La vita è bella (1943). He died on 3 January 1998 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Guido Brignone was born on 6 December 1886 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Passaporto rosso (1935), Loyalty of Love (1934) and Under the Southern Cross (1938). He was married to Lola Visconti-Brignone. He died on 6 March 1959 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Gian Paolo Callegari was born on 7 March 1909 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Mystery of the Black Jungle (1954), Gladiator of Rome (1962) and Agente Sigma 3 - Missione Goldwather (1967). He died in 1982.- Director
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Mario Camerini was born on 6 February 1895 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Il signor Max (1937), I'll Give a Million (1935) and I grandi magazzini (1939). He was married to Assia Noris. He died on 4 February 1981 in Gardone Riviera, Lombardy, Italy.- Director
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Carlo Campogalliani was born on 10 October 1885 in Concordia sulla Secchia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for La grande luce - Montevergine (1939), Stadio (1934) and Il cavaliere di Kruja (1940). He was married to Letizia Quaranta. He died on 10 August 1974 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Luigi Capuano was born on 13 July 1904 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Suor Maria (1955), Rondini in volo (1949) and Cuore di mamma (1954). He died on 20 October 1979 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Aglauco Casadio was born in 1920 in Faenza, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Aglauco is a writer and director, known for Un ettaro di cielo (1958), Piccolo cabotaggio pittorico (1952) and La ferriera abbandonata (1963).- Writer
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Renato Castellani was born on 4 September 1913 in Finale Ligure, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Romeo and Juliet (1954), Two Cents Worth of Hope (1952) and Sotto il sole di Roma (1948). He died on 28 December 1985 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Fernando Cerchio was born on 7 August 1914 in Luserna San Giovanni, Piedmont, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Invasion 1700 (1962), Comacchio (1942) and Daughter of Cleopatra (1960). He died on 19 August 1974 in Mentana, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Ferruccio Cerio was born on 25 September 1904 in Savona, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Posto di blocco (1945), La prigione (1944) and L'ultimo addio (1942). He died on 23 April 1963 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Arguably more important than his contributions as director (5 films) or scenarist (11 titles which include work for De Sica and Rossellini) are the roles Luigi Chiarini (1900-75) played in Italy as theorist, editor, festival director and film school founder. During the Fascist era, in 1935 he started the Centro Sperimentale, a place where aspiring movie makers could learn their skills.A library there named after him is the biggest film research facility in the country. Beginning in 1937 with Bianco E Nero and later with Rivista Del Cinema Italiano, Chiarini ran two of the more important cinema magazines and was one of the first to write essays on and intellectualize in depth about Italian film. After serving on the juries of both the Venice (1937) and Cannes (1961) film festivals, he was made artistic director of the Venice festival in 1963 but was let go five years later, partly because of what was seen as his authoritarian personality and partly because of political conditions during the tumultuous year of 1968. In 1961 he was made chair of the first study program in Italy specifically on film, at the University of Pisa.- Director
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Duilio Coletti was born on 28 December 1906 in Penne, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Torpedo Zone (1954), Under Ten Flags (1960) and The House of Intrigue (1956). He died on 22 May 1999 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Golfiero Colonna was a writer and producer, known for The Pirates of Capri (1949), Nude Odyssey (1961) and I cavalieri della regina (1954). Golfiero died in 2000.- 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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Leonardo Cortese was born on 20 May 1915 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and actor, known for Art. 519 codice penale (1952), Violenza sul lago (1954) and Cavalleria rusticana (1939). He was married to Margherita Ligios. He died on 21 October 1984 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Mario Costa was born on 1 June 1910 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Pini di Roma (1941), The Beast (1970) and Mad About Opera (1948). He died on 22 October 1995 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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The son of an army officer and landowner, Cottafavi (christened Benedetto Vittorio Emmanuele Secondo) was already endowed with a university education in law, philosophy and literature by the time he graduated from the famous Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome in 1938.
He began his professional career in the film industry as a clapper boy. After progressing to write motion picture screenplays and working as assistant director under Alessandro Blasetti and Vittorio De Sica, he became a director in his own right in 1943. Many of his films have been lavishly-produced, including several tongue-in-cheek "sword-and sandal" costume spectaculars dealing with mythological subjects and usually involving the Roman Empire or Ancient Egypt. From the mid-60s, Cottafavi concentrated exclusively on directing TV series and mini-series under contract to RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana).- Writer
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Luigi Filippo D'Amico was born on 9 October 1924 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Playing the Field (1974), Mariti a congresso (1961) and Noi siamo le colonne (1956). He died on 28 April 2007 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Luciano Emmer was born on 19 January 1918 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Sunday in August (1950), L'acqua... il fuoco (2003) and Il paradiso perduto (1949). He died on 16 September 2009 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
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Beloved, hugely popular Italian comic character actor/writer/director, in music halls and variety shows for much of his early career. Fabrizi entered films in 1942 and often wrote and directed his vehicles, winning international acclaim in the Roberto Rossellini's neorealist drama Rome, Open City (1945), in which he played a priest who bravely defies the fascist regime. Heavy in heart and girth, he performed primarily in Neopolitan films for over four decades. Such notable post-war films include To Live in Peace (1946), Professor My Son (1946), Flesh Will Surrender (1947), Escape Into Dreams (1948), Immigrants (1949), Cops and Robbers (1951), Five Paupers in an Automobile 1952), Of Life and Love (1954) and The Teacher and the Miracle (1957), all co-written by Fabrizi. A master of the double take, he adapted equally well to comedy and drama, but did not earn much recognition in America. He devoted much of his time in later years to the culinary arts, writing several cookbooks and related poetry. He died of a heart ailment in his 85th year.- Writer
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Lionello De Felice was born on 9 September 1916 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Cento anni d'amore (1954), Constantine and the Cross (1961) and Too Young for Love (1953). He died on 14 December 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- 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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Coming from a show-business family (his father Eduardo Scarpetta was a famous stage actor), Eduardo de Filippo made his stage debut at age 5 playing the role of "Peppiniello" in his father's comedy "Miseria e Nobiltà". At 32 he formed his own stage company with his brother Peppino de Filippo and sister Tina de Filippo, and the three began making appearances in films, starting in 1933. The trio enjoyed success in both mediums, but broke up soon after World War II ended. De Filippo, who had begun directing films in 1940, began enjoying success as a director in the 1950s, turning out a string of light comedies, many based on his own plays. In addition to writing and directing his own films, he also wrote or collaborated on films with such directors as Vittorio De Sica.- Production Manager
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Clemente Fracassi was born on 5 March 1917 in Vescovato, Lombardy, Italy. He was a production manager and producer, known for La Dolce Vita (1960), 8½ (1963) and Sensualita (1952). He died in 1993 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Gianni Franciolini was born on 1 June 1910 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Racconti romani (1955), L'ispettore Vargas (1940) and The World Condemns Them (1953). He died on 10 May 1960 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Pietro Francisci was born on September 9, 1906, in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, best known for Anthony of Padua (1949), Attila: Scourge of God (1954), Hercules (1958), and Hercules Unchained (1959). The three later pictures launched the very successful career of Joseph E. Levine as a presenter/producer of international films. Francisci died in 1977.- Writer
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Lucio Fulci, born in Rome in 1927, remains as controversial in death as he was in life. A gifted craftsman with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of dark humor, Fulci achieved some measure of notoriety for his gore epics of the late 1970s and early 1980s, but respect was long in coming.
Abandoning his early career as a med student, Fulci entered the film industry as a screenwriter and assistant director, working alongside such directors as Steno and Riccardo Freda. Granted his debut feature in 1959, with a seldom seen comedy called I ladri (1959) (The Thieves), Fulci quickly established himself as a prolific craftsman adept at musicals, comedies and westerns.
In 1968, Fulci made his first mystery thriller, One on Top of the Other (1969), and its success was sufficient to garner the backing for his pet project The Conspiracy of Torture (1969). Based on a true story, the film details the trial of a young woman accused of murdering her sexually abusive father amid fear and superstition in 16th Century Italy. A scathing commentary on church and state, the film was the first to give voice to its director's passionate hatred of the Catholic Church. Predictably, the film was misunderstood, and Fulci's career was thrown into jeopardy. Deciding it would be best to leave his political feelings on the back burner, Fulci pressed on with a series of slickly commercial ventures.
In 1971 and 1972, Fulci re-established himself in the thriller arena, directing two excellent giallos: the haunting A Lizard in a Woman's Skin (1971) and the disturbing Don't Torture a Duckling (1972). The former, with its vivid hallucinations involving murderous hippies and vivisected canines, and the latter, with its psychotic religious zealots and brutal child killings, were -- to say the least -- controversial. In particular, Don't Torture a Duckling (1972), despite a huge box-office success, painted too graphic a portrait of perverted Catholicism, and Fulci's career was derailed... some would say, permanently. Blacklisted (albeit briefly) and despised in his homeland, Fulci at least found work in television and with the adventure genre with two financially successful Jack London 'White Fang' adventure movies in 1973 and 1974 which were Zanna Bianca, and Il ritorno di Zanna Bianca. Also during the mid and late 1970s, Fulci also directed two 'Spaghetti Westerns'; The Four of the Apocalypse... (1975) and Silver Saddle (1978), (Silver Saddle) and another 'giallo'; The Psychic (1977), as well as a few sex-comedies which include the political spoof The Eroticist (1972) (aka: The Eroticist), and the vampire spoof Dracula in the Provinces (1975) (aka: Young Dracula), and the violent Mafia crime-drama Contraband (1980).
In 1979, Fulci's film making career hit another high point with him breaking into the international market with Zombie (1979), an in-name-only sequel to George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), which had been released in Italy as 'Zombi'. With its flamboyant imagery, graphic gore and moody atmospherics, the film established Fulci as a gore director par excellence. It was a role he accepted, but with some reservations.
Over the next three years, Fulci plied his trade with finesse and flair, rivaling even the popularity of his "opponent" Dario Argento, with such sanguine classics as City of the Living Dead (1980) and The Beyond (1981). Frequently derided as sheer sensationalism, these films, as well as the reviled The New York Ripper (1982) are actually intelligently crafted, with sound commentaries on everything from American life to religion. High on vivid imagery and pure cinematic style, Fulci's films from this period of the early 1980s represent some of his most popular work in America and abroad, even if they do pale in comparison to his 1972 masterpiece and personal favorite Don't Torture a Duckling (1972) (an impossible act to follow, as it happens).
In the mid-1980s, at the peak of his most prolific period, Fulci became beset with personal problems and worsening health. Much of his work from the mid-1980s onward is disappointing, to say the least, but flashes of his brilliance can be seen in works like Murder-Rock: Dancing Death (1984) and The Devil's Honey (1986). A Cat in the Brain (1990), one of Fulci's last works, remains one of his most original. Though strapped by budgetary restraints and marred by mediocre photography, the film is wickedly subversive and comical. With Fulci playing the lead role (as more or less himself, no less -- a harried horror director who fears that his obsession with sex and violence is a sign of mental disease), Fulci also proves to be an endearing and competent actor (he also has cameos in many of his films, frequently as a detective or doctor figure).
By the 1990s, Fulci went on a hiatus with film making for further health and personal reasons as the Italian cinema market went into a further decline. While in pre-production for the Dario Argento-produced The Wax Mask (1997), Lucio Fulci passed away at his home on March 13, 1996 at the age of 68. A serious diabetic most of his adult life, he inexplicably forgot to take his insulin before retiring to bed; some consider his death a suicide, others consider it an accident, but his many fans all consider it to be a tragedy. Whether one considers him to be a hack or a genius, there's no denying that he was unique.- Actor
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Rate Furlan was born on 9 March 1911 in Padua, Veneto, Italy. He was an actor and writer, known for L'acqua li portò via (1949), Giudicatemi! (1948) and Arrivederci Firenze (1958). He died on 28 November 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Carmine Gallone was born on 10 September 1885 in Taggia, Liguria, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Life of Giuseppe Verdi (1938), Odessa in fiamme (1942) and Scipione l'africano (1937). He was married to Soava Gallone. He died on 12 March 1973 in Frascati, Lazio, Italy.- 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).- Director
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Augusto Genina was born on 28 January 1892 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Cielo sulla palude (1949), Bengasi (1942) and L'assedio dell'Alcazar (1940). He was married to Carmen Boni. He died on 18 September 1957 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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Giacomo Gentilomo was born on 5 April 1909 in Trieste, Austria-Hungary [now Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy]. He was a director and writer, known for The Lovers (1946), Condottieri (1937) and Ecco la radio! (1940). He died on 16 April 2001 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- 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.- Writer
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Ettore Giannini was born on 15 December 1912 in Naples, Campania, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Neapolitan Carousel (1954), Europe '51 (1952) and The City Stands Trial (1952). He died on 15 November 1990 in Massa Lubrense, Campania, Italy.- Director
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Marino Girolami was born on 1 February 1914 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Le tardone (1964), Walter e i suoi cugini (1961) and Caccia al marito (1960). He died on 20 February 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Actor
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Claudio Gora was born on 27 July 1913 in Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was an actor and director, known for Febbre di vivere (1953), The Facts of Murder (1959) and The Easy Life (1962). He was married to Marina Berti. He died on 13 March 1998 in Rocca Priora, Lazio, Italy.- Director
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sergio Grieco was born on 13 January 1917 in Codevigo, Veneto, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Il sergente Klems (1971), Beast with a Gun (1977) and Il figlio del circo (1963). He was married to Susan Terry. He died on 30 March 1982 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Alfredo Guarini was born on 23 May 1901 in Sestri Ponente, Genoa, Liguria, Italy. He was a writer and producer, known for Senza una donna (1943), La zia di Carlo (1943) and Documento Z-3 (1942). He was married to Isa Miranda. He died on 6 April 1981 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Paolo Heusch was born on 26 February 1924 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an assistant director and director, known for Un uomo facile (1959), Caligula (1979) and Una vita violenta (1962). He died on 21 October 1982 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
- Producer
Carlo Lastricati was born in 1921 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is an assistant director and production manager, known for Barbarella (1968), Contempt (1963) and Fast and Sexy (1958).- Writer
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Alberto Lattuada was born on 13 November 1914 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Guendalina (1957), Flesh Will Surrender (1947) and Bambina (1974). He was married to Carla Del Poggio. He died on 3 July 2005 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Antonio Leonviola was born on 13 May 1913 in Montagnana, Veneto, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Angel in a Taxi (1958), Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961) and The Temptress (1951). He was married to Sofia Scandurra. He died on 4 August 1995 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.- Director
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Nanni Loy was born on 23 October 1925 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Four Days of Naples (1962), Scugnizzi (1989) and Il padre di famiglia (1967). He was married to Bianca Marchesano. He died on 21 August 1995 in Fiumicino, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
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Ruggero Maccari was born on 28 June 1919 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Family (1987), A Special Day (1977) and I Knew Her Well (1965). He died on 8 May 1989 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Giulio Macchi was born on 1 October 1918 in Cantù, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for The Golden Coach (1952), India favolosa (1954) and Latin Lovers (1961). He died on 28 March 2009 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Anton Giulio Majano was born on 5 July 1909 in Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for La rivale (1956), Condottieri (1937) and Cento serenate (1954). He was married to Franca May and Maresa Gallo. He died on 12 August 1994 in Marino, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Composer
Curzio Malaparte (1898-1957) was a prominent Italian writer who directed one film, Strange Deception (which he also wrote and scored) that was recognized a decade later by US critic Parker Tyler in his book, Classics Of The Foreign Film.After serving in the Great War. Malaparte (who chose a last name that was a takeoff on Bonaparte) was active in the new Fascist movement but was later stripped of his membership for revealing too much information on how the party took power, and for comparing Hitler their ally to a woman.The author was exiled to several islands on house arrest.He also got in trouble with the Catholic Church for his book, The Skin, which was put on the index of prohibited works,though toward the end of his life he was more sympathetic to religion as well as to Communism.In 2012, US film editor Walter Murch translated some of his writing into English.His literature as well as his more limited film work is receiving a new appreciation for its connections to the Neo-Realism and Surrealism movements, though Malaparte remains an individual in a class all his own.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Guido Malatesta was born in 1919 in Gallarate, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for La strada dei giganti (1960), Colossus and the Headhunters (1963) and Maciste contro i mostri (1962). He died on 14 June 1970 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Producer
- Writer
- Production Manager
Maleno Malenotti was a producer and writer, known for La grande strada azzurra (1957), Melodie immortali - Mascagni (1952) and Beautiful But Dangerous (1955). Maleno died in 1976 in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Romolo Marcellini was born on 6 October 1910 in Montecosaro, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Sentinelle di bronzo (1937), The Orientals (1960) and Nell'anno della luna (1969). He died on 3 June 1999 in Civitanova Marche, Macerata, Marche, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Marcello Marchesi was born on 4 April 1912 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Milano miliardaria (1951), Sette ore di guai (1951) and Era lui, sì, sì! (1951). He was married to Enrica Sisti and Olga Barberis. He died on 19 July 1978 in San Giovanni di Sinis, Cabras, Oristano, Sardinia, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Francesco Maselli was born on 9 December 1930 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Storia d'amore (1986), Codice privato (1988) and Time of Indifference (1964). He was married to Stefania Brai and Goliarda Sapienza. He died on 21 March 2023 in Rome, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Camillo Mastrocinque was born on 11 May 1901 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for I mariti (Tempesta d'anime) (1941), Don Pasquale (1940) and Lost in the Dark (1947). He died on 23 April 1969 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Raffaello Matarazzo started writing film reviews for the Roman newspaper Il Tevere before re-editing scripts for the Italian film company Cines. His first films were comedies until he shifted to making melodramas. With Chains (1949), produced by Titanus in 1949, he became the most successful director in Italy. Audience loved his melodramas. Critics, however, have tended to disparage his work and dismiss it as 'saccharine neorealism.' Since the 1970s, some film critics have tried to restore Matarazzo's reputation. French magazine Positif loved his erotic-historical drama The Ship of Damned Women (1953).- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Mario Mattoli was born on 30 November 1898 in Tolentino, Marche, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Abbandono (1940), La damigella di Bard (1936) and Schoolgirl Diary (1941). He was married to Mity Mignone. He died on 26 February 1980 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Composer
- Music Department
Gian Carlo Menotti was born on 7 July 1911 in Cadegliano-Viconago, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and composer, known for The Medium (1951), Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951) and Great Performances (1971). He was married to Samuel Barber. He died on 1 February 2007 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.- Writer
- Director
Vittorio Metz was born on 18 July 1904 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for La paura fa 90 (1951), Sette ore di guai (1951) and Milano miliardaria (1951). He died on 1 March 1984 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Production Manager
- Producer
Paolo Moffa was born on 16 December 1915 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was an assistant director and production manager, known for The Island Princess (1954) and Il viaggio del signor Perrichon (1943). He died on 26 February 2005 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France.- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Mario Monicelli was born on 16 May 1915 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for The Organizer (1963), Speriamo che sia femmina (1986) and Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). He was married to Chiara Rapaccini and Antonella Salerni. He died on 29 November 2010 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Director
- Writer
Mauro Morassi was born in 1925 in Trento, Italy. He was an assistant director and director, known for Il cocco di mamma (1957), Juke box - Urli d'amore (1959) and Il successo (1963). He died in August 1966 in Isoka, Zambia.- Director
- Writer
- Cinematographer
Ermanno Olmi was born on 24 July 1931 in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978), The Legend of the Holy Drinker (1988) and Il posto (1961). He was married to Loredana Detto. He died on 5 May 2018 in Asiago, Veneto, Italy.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Gabriele Palmieri is known for Hercules in the Valley of Woe (1961), 5 marines per 100 ragazze (1961) and Totò, Fabrizi e i giovani d'oggi (1960).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Domenico Paolella was born on 15 October 1915 in Foggia, Puglia, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Hercules Against the Barbarians (1964), Rebel Gladiators (1962) and Operation Atlantis (1965). He died on 7 October 2002 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Bruno Paolinelli was born on 21 May 1923 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and producer, known for Tunis Top Secret (1959), Il colpaccio (1976) and OSS 77: Operazione fior di loto (1965). He died on 16 September 1991 in Roquebrune, Gers, France.- Writer
- Director
Giorgio Pastina was born in 1905 in Andria, Puglia, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Enrico IV (1943), Vanità (1947) and Desiderio 'e sole (1954). He died in 1956 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Piero Pierotti was born on 1 January 1912 in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Hercules and the Masked Rider (1963), The Pirate and the Slave Girl (1959) and Marco Polo (1962). He died on 4 May 1970 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
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.- Writer
- Director
- Production Manager
Renato Polselli was born on 24 February 1922 in Arce, Frosinone, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Mania (1974) and La verità secondo Satana (1972). He died on 1 October 2006 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gillo Pontecorvo was an Italian filmmaker. He is best known for his 1966 masterpiece, The Battle of Algiers, widely viewed as one of the finest films of its genre: realistic though fictionalized documentary. Its portrayal of the Algerian resistance during the Algerian War uses the neorealist style pioneered by fellow Italian film directors de Santis and Rossellini, employing newsreel-style footage and non-professional actors, and focusing primarily on a disenfranchised population that seldom receives attention from the general media. Though very much Italian neorealist in style, Pontecorvo co-produced with an Algerian film company.
The Battle of Algiers achieved great success and influence. It was widely screened in the United States, where Pontecorvo received a number of awards. He was also nominated for two Academy Awards.
Pontecorvo's next major work, Queimada! (Burn!, 1969), is also anti-colonial, this time set in the Antilles. This film (starring Marlon Brando) depicts an attempted revolution of the oppressed. Pontecorvo continued his series of highly political films with Ogro (1979), which addresses the occurrence of terrorism at the end of Francisco Franco's dwindling regime in Spain.
In 2006, he died from congestive heart failure in Rome at age 86.- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Gianni Puccini was born on 9 November 1914 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Io uccido, tu uccidi (1965), Il capitano di Venezia (1952) and The Seven Cervi Brothers (1968). He died on 3 December 1968 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Filippo Walter Ratti was born on 13 June 1914 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Operation White Shark (1966), Non è mai troppo tardi (1953) and Amore e smarrimento (1954).- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Dino Risi became a movie director by chance. In 1940 he met Alberto Lattuada at a friend's boutique. Lattuada told him they needed an assistant director for the movie Piccolo mondo antico (1941). Risi accepted just for fun, not for work. Later, he became a psychiatrist and wrote some articles for a local newspaper in his spare time.
After the Second World War, he met a producer who financed his short films. One of these, Buio in sala (1950), was bought by Carlo Ponti. At that point, Risi decided to become a movie director. So he went to Rome and wrote the plot of Poor But Beautiful (1957) which made him famous. But the film that changed his life forever was The Easy Life (1962). At the opening night, Risi and producer Mario Cecchi Gori were waiting outside the movie theater. They were worried because no viewers had been coming to see the movie. So Risi went back home with much disappointment. However, the next day all the tickets were sold out and Risi became a star.- Writer
- Director
- Editor
Francesco De Robertis was born on 16 October 1902 in San Marco in Lamis, Puglia, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Alfa Tau! (1942), La donna che venne dal mare (1957) and The Woman Who Came from the Sea (1954). He died on 3 February 1959 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Camera and Electrical Department
Giovanni Roccardi was born on 6 July 1912 in Serrone, Italy. He is a writer and director, known for Africa sotto i mari (1953), L'oceano ci chiama (1957) and La violenza dei dannati (1965).- Writer
- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
His father was a shipowner. After school, Rosi initially began studying law, which he soon dropped out to work as a broadcast journalist and book illustrator in Naples. From 1944 to 1945 he worked for "Radio Napoli". In the immediate post-war years, Rosi moved to Rome, where he came into contact with the film world. He initially acted as an assistant to several directors and thus played a key role in the development of Italian "Neorealismo". From 1947 to 1948, Rosi assisted Luchino Visconti in the filming of the masterpiece of neorealism "La terra trema". In addition to working on other Visconti films, he also studied with Michelangelo Antonioni. In 1957 Rosi celebrated his directorial debut with "La sfida".
The success led to a long series of films in the following decades, some of which courageously dealt with unpleasant and critical topics in Italian post-war society. Rosi's films such as "Le mani sulla città" (1963), "Cadaveri eccellenti" (1976) and "Cristo si è fermato a Eboli" (1979) are dedicated to the ruthless analysis of events in contemporary Italian history and the present. The director bluntly denounces the grievances resulting from war, crime and corruption as social processes that are tolerated, accepted or even intended by political power. With the film adaptation of the opera "Carmen" (1984) and the novel by Gabriel García Márquez "Cronaca di una morte annunciata" (1987), Rosi approached emotional productions, abandoning his previous materialistic analysis.
However, both films remain connected to the basic theme of Rosi's work, the Italian South, which the director deepened again through the pessimistic study of the global character of the Italian-American mafia in "Dimenticare Palermo" (1989). Rosi received numerous awards for his work. His directorial debut won an award in Venice in 1958. In 1962 he was awarded the Berlin Silver Bear for the film about "Salvatore Giuliano". In 2000 he received the "Grand Prix des Amériques" in Montreal for his life's work.
Francesco Rosi is married to Giancarla Rosi Mandelli and lives in Rome.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
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.- Director
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- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Franco Rossi was born on 28 April 1919 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for The Woman in the Painting (1955), Nude Odyssey (1961) and Smog (1962). He died on 5 June 2000 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Vittorio Sala was born on 1 July 1918 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Notturno (1950), Tempo di tonni (1955) and Donne sole (1956). He died on 11 May 1996 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Guido Salvini was born on 12 May 1893 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Adriana Lecouvreur (1955), Regina della Scala (1937) and Il conte Aquila (1955). He died on 4 May 1965 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Giuseppe De Santis was born on 11 February 1917 in Fondi, Lazio, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Tragic Hunt (1947), Giorni d'amore (1954) and Bitter Rice (1949). He was married to Gordana Miletic. He died on 16 May 1997 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Roberto Savarese was born on 6 August 1910 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for The Wages of Fear (1953), La principessa del sogno (1942) and Sette anni di felicità (1942). He died in 1996 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Writer
Leopoldo Savona was born on 13 July 1913 in Lenola, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and assistant director, known for Warriors Five (1962), Apocalypse Joe (1970) and Arms of the Avenger (1963). He died on 19 October 2000 in Jesi, Marche, Italy.- Director
- Writer
- Production Manager
Mario Sequi was born on 30 June 1913 in Monserrato, Sardinia, Italy. He is a director and writer, known for Cronaca di un delitto (1953), Incantesimo tragico (1951) and Altura (1954).- Actor
- Director
- Writer
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.- Director
- Editor
- Writer
Giorgio Simonelli was born on 23 November 1901 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. He was a director and editor, known for Noi siamo due evasi (1959), C'è un fantasma nel castello (1942) and Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno (1937). He died on 3 October 1966 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
Mario Soldati studied by the Jesuits and in the 1920s was acquainted with liberal intellectuals who gathered around Piero Gobetti. He wrote his first play ("Pilatus") when he was 18, and published hist first short story collection ("Salmace") in 1929. In 1935 he reached literary success with "America primo amore" (America First Love), a novel in which he transposed his diary of his stay in the U.S. between 1929 and 1931 as guest professor at the Columbia University. His life was divided between literature and movie-making. He was also a well-known scholar of English and American Literature, and authored several documentary programs for Italian State broadcaster RAI-TV.