Mario Monicelli R.I.P.

Mario Monicelli, the Italian director responsible for Big Deal on Madonna Street (the Italian title is I Soliti Ignoti, or Persons Unknown), committed suicide on Monday. He was 95 years old and was being treated at a Rome hospital for what The New York Times characterized as a "pancreatic condition that appeared terminal."

Monicelli was credited with directing 65 pictures in his career. He was generally considered a master of Italian film comedy, working with actors such as Alberto Sordi, Toto, and Marcello Mastroianni (shown at right in I Soliti Ignoti).

One of Monicelli's last public appearances this year was for the funeral of the great screenwriter Suso Cecchi D'Amico.

The YouTube link connects to a 2008 television interview with Monicelli. It shows an engaged, intelligent person still quite active at age 93, and not simply coasting on his considerable laurels.

Dino DeLaurentiis

Dino DeLaurentiis passed away at age 91. The LA Times obit offers a reasonable overview of his life. The article includes a quote from Arnold Schwartzenegger, whose Conan the Barbarbian was a DeLaurentiis production.

Agostino DeLaurentiis (his original name) came from the Naples area and, like Sophia Loren and other Neapolitans, went to Rome and made it big in the movie business. DeLaurentiis had many faults and was not easy to like. However, he produced two of Italy's best post-war movies: Bitter Rice with Silvia Mangano (who later became Mrs. DeLaurentiis) and Nights of Cabiria, a Fellini picture that splendidly captures the Roman sensibility of the time.

The photograph shows Ms. Mangano in a scene from Bitter Rice. The animal is uncredited, hardly an unusual situation for performers in a DeLaurentiis production. Another Bitter Rice curiosity is that the Italian language version does not feature Mangano's voice. Lydia Simoneschi, Italy's grande dame of vocal dubbing, was the voice of Mangano's character. This vocal substitution was not unusual: Simoneschi dubbed Sophia Loren, Lea Masari, and Gina Lollobrigida, and other marquee Italian actresses in a variety of pictures.