Dino de Laurentiis, Italian legendary film producer that produced his first movie by the time he was 20, has died. He was 91 years old.
De Laurentiis was born in Torre Annunziata in Campania, Italy in August of 1919. In 1936, he enrolled in film school and took jobs on movie sets as a propman, an extra, and even as an actor to make money. After taking a brief hiatus from moviemaking to fight in World War II, de Laurentis resumed film production and hit it big with Riso Amaro (“Bitter Rice,” 1949), and later married its star, Silvana Mangano.
After ending a partnership with Carlo Ponti, de Laurentiis decided in 1957 that he would build his own studio, with the goal of making him capable of making the movies he really wanted to. Shortly after Dinocitta was built, it was closed due to the financial difficulties of Italy at the time and the misfortune of producing several unsuccessful movies.
He went on to produce La Strada and Nights of Cabiria with Frederico Fellini. Later in his life he made Flash Gordon, Serpico, Death Wish, Barbarella, Blue Velvet and Hannibal.
De Laurentiis divorced Mangango in 1988. They had four children together – a son, who died in a plane crash in Alaska, and three daughters who survive him.
Source: Reuters
