Dino De Laurentiis
Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (Italian: [ˈdiːno de lauˈrɛnti.is]; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian film producer and businessman who held both Italian and American citizenship. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into film production; alongside Carlo Ponti, he brought Italian cinema to the international scene in the post-World War II period. He produced or co-produced over 500 films, with 38 of his Hollywood films receiving Academy Award nominations. He was also the creator and operator of DDL Foodshow, a chain of Italian specialty foods stores.
Dino De Laurentiis | |
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![]() De Laurentiis in September 2009 | |
Born | Agostino De Laurentiis 8 August 1919 |
Died | 10 November 2010 91) | (aged
Resting place | Torre Annunziata, Italy |
Citizenship |
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Occupations |
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Years active | 1938–2010 |
Spouses |
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Children | 6, including Veronica and Raffaella |
Relatives |
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Early life
Agostino De Laurentiis was born in Torre Annunziata, which was then in the Kingdom of Italy, on 8 August 1919. He grew up selling spaghetti made by his father's pasta factory. His older brother, Luigi De Laurentiis (1917–1992), later followed him into film production. He studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1937 and 1938, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.[1]
Career
Film production
De Laurentiis produced his first film, L'ultimo Combattimento, in 1941. His company, the Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, moved into film production in 1946. In the early years, De Laurentiis produced Italian neorealist films such as Bitter Rice (1949) and the early Fellini works La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cabiria (1956), often in collaboration with producer Carlo Ponti.
In the 1960s, De Laurentiis built his own studio facilities. He produced such films as Barabbas (1961), a Christian religious epic; The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966); Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, an imitation James Bond film; Navajo Joe (1966), a spaghetti Western; Anzio (1968), a World War II film; Barbarella (1968) and Danger: Diabolik (1968), both successful comic book adaptations; and The Valachi Papers (1972), released before its originally scheduled date in order to capitalize on the popularity of The Godfather. His studio financially collapsed during the 1970s.
In the 1980s, he had his own studio: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) based in Wilmington, North Carolina. The studio made Wilmington an unexpected center of film and television production.[2] In 1990, he obtained backing from an Italian friend and formed another company: Dino De Laurentiis Communications in Beverly Hills.
De Laurentiis produced a number of successful films, including The Scientific Cardplayer (1972), Serpico (1973), Death Wish (1974), Mandingo (1975), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Shootist (1976), Drum (1976), Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg (1977), Ragtime (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Blue Velvet (1986) and Breakdown (1997). De Laurentiis' name became well known through the 1976 King Kong remake, which was a commercial hit; Lipstick (1976), a rape and revenge drama; Orca (1977), a killer whale film; The White Buffalo (1977), a western; the disaster movie Hurricane (1979); the remake of Flash Gordon (1980); David Lynch's Dune (1984); and King Kong Lives (1986). De Laurentiis also produced several adaptations of Stephen King works, including The Dead Zone (1983), Cat's Eye (1985), Silver Bullet (1985), and Maximum Overdrive (1986). De Laurentiis' company was involved with the horror sequels Halloween II (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992).
De Laurentiis also produced the first Hannibal Lecter film, Manhunter (1986), an adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon. He passed on adapting the novels' sequel, The Silence of the Lambs (1991), but produced the two follow-ups, Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002), a re-adaptation of the novel. He also produced the prequel Hannibal Rising (2007), which tells the story of how Hannibal becomes a serial killer.
DDL Foodshow
DDL Foodshow was an Italian specialty foods store with three locations: two in New York City and one in Beverly Hills. They were opened in the mid-1980s, and were owned and operated by De Laurentiis.[3]
The first store was opened in the restored palm court in the ornate lobby of the historical Endicott Hotel now a co-op on Manhattan's Upper West Side in close proximity to the older establishment, Zabar's food emporium on Broadway.[4] The first NYC store opened in November 1982, and it was reported that the store "opened to crowds of 30,000 over the Thanksgiving weekend, when de Laurentiis himself greeted customers at the door". The store's assistant manager said that "it was like the premiere of a movie".[5]
Food critic Gael Greene wrote a scathing review on the opening in New York.[4] In an interview with the Chicago Tribune a month later, she admitted that the store was "probably the most stunningly handsome grocery in the world, certainly in New York", but "the pricing was insane. They hadn't paid enough attention to the competition." She reported that she'd talked to De Laurentiis: "Dino's reaction was that I'm full of it. And we're meeting over a bowl of pasta to discuss it."[6] A review in The San Francisco Examiner said that it was "worth a peek and a purchase".[7][8]
DDL Foodshow was later considered to be a forebear of the new Italian specialty goods food-store restaurant dining attraction Eataly.[9]
Personal life
De Laurentiis' brief first marriage in Italy was annulled.[10]
In 1949, De Laurentiis married Italian-British actress Silvana Mangano, with whom he had four children: Veronica, an author and actress; Raffaella, a fellow film producer; Federico, a fellow film producer who died in a plane crash in 1981; and Francesca. His granddaughter through Veronica is chef Giada De Laurentiis, while his nephew through his brother Luigi is fellow film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis. He and Mangano divorced in 1988,[11] and she died of lung cancer the following year.
Having lived in the U.S. since 1976,[12] De Laurentiis became an American citizen in 1986.[13]
In 1990, De Laurentiis married American producer Martha Schumacher, who had produced many of his films since 1985. They had two daughters named Carolyna and Dina and remained married until his death in 2010. Schumacher died of cancer in 2021.
Death
On 10 November 2010, at the age of 91, De Laurentiis died at his home in Beverly Hills, California.[14][15][16][17]
Awards and recognitions
In 1958, De Laurentiis won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film for producing La Strada. It was the only time where individuals could win the award instead of the country it was made in and in the case of the first Foreign Film Oscar, he and his fellow producer won the Academy Award, as opposed to the director of the film Federico Fellini.
In 2001, De Laurentiis received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[18]
In 2012, De Laurentiis posthumously received the America Award of the Italy–USA Foundation.
Filmography
Films produced
Year | Title | Director | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1946 | Black Eagle | Riccardo Freda | |
The Bandit | Alberto Lattuada | ||
1947 | The Captain's Daughter | Mario Camerini | |
Bullet for Stefano | Duilio Coletti | ||
1948 | Bitter Rice | Giuseppe De Santis | |
The Street Has Many Dreams | Mario Camerini | ||
1949 | The Wolf of the Sila | Duilio Coletti | |
1951 | Anna | Alberto Lattuada | |
1952 | Europe '51 | Roberto Rossellini | |
Lieutenant Giorgio | Raffaello Matarazzo | ||
Toto in Color | Steno | ||
1953 | Funniest Show on Earth | Mario Mattoli | |
The Unfaithfuls | Mario Monicelli | ||
Man, Beast and Virtue | Steno | ||
1954 | La Strada | Federico Fellini | |
Attila | Pietro Francisci | ||
Woman of Rome | Luigi Zampa | ||
The Gold of Naples | Vittorio De Sica | ||
Poverty and Nobility | Mario Mattoli | ||
Where Is Freedom? | Roberto Rossellini | ||
A Slice of Life | Alessandro Blasetti, Paul Paviot | ||
An American in Rome | Steno | ||
1955 | Ulysses | Mario Camerini | |
The River Girl | Mario Soldati | ||
Mambo | Robert Rossen | ||
The Miller's Beautiful Wife | Mario Camerini | ||
1956 | War and Peace | King Vidor | |
Nights of Cabiria | Federico Fellini | ||
1958 | This Angry Age | René Clément | |
Tempest | Alberto Lattuada | ||
1959 | The Great War | Mario Monicelli | |
1960 | Everybody Go Home | Luigi Comencini | |
Five Branded Women | Martin Ritt | ||
Under Ten Flags | Duilio Coletti | ||
Crimen | Mario Camerini | ||
The Hunchback of Rome | Carlo Lizzani | ||
1961 | The Last Judgment | Vittorio De Sica | |
A Difficult Life | Dino Risi | ||
The Fascist | Luciano Salce | ||
The Best of Enemies | Guy Hamilton | ||
Black City | Duilio Coletti | ||
1962 | Mafioso | Alberto Lattuada | |
The Italian Brigands | Mario Camerini | ||
1963 | Il Boom | Vittorio De Sica | |
The Verona Trial | Carlo Lizzani | ||
1964 | My Wife | Luigi Comencini, Mauro Bolognini, Tinto Brass | |
1965 | Battle of the Bulge | Ken Annakin | Uncredited |
1966 | The Bible: In the Beginning | John Huston | |
Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die | Henry Levin | ||
Navajo Joe | Sergio Corbucci | ||
The Hills Run Red | Carlo Lizzani | ||
1967 | The Stranger | Luchino Visconti | |
Matchless | Alberto Lattuada | ||
The Witches | Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Rossi, Vittorio De Sica | ||
1968 | Danger: Diabolik | Mario Bava | |
Barbarella | Roger Vadim | ||
Anzio | Edward Dmytryk, Duilio Coletti | ||
Bandits in Milan | Carlo Lizzani | ||
Caprice Italian Style | Mauro Bolognini, Mario Monicelli, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Steno | ||
1969 | Fräulein Doktor | Alberto Lattuada | |
Brief Season | Renato Castellani | ||
The Bandit | Carlo Lizzani | ||
1970 | A Man Called Sledge | Vic Morrow | |
Waterloo | Sergei Bondarchuk | ||
The Deserter | Burt Kennedy | ||
1972 | The Valachi Papers | Terence Young | |
The Assassin of Rome | Damiano Damiani | ||
The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life | Ettore Scola | ||
1973 | Serpico | Sidney Lumet | |
Chino | John Sturges | ||
Mean Frank and Crazy Tony | Michele Lupo | ||
1974 | Death Wish | Michael Winner | |
Two Missionaries | Franco Rossi | ||
Crazy Joe | Carlo Lizzani | ||
Three Tough Guys | Duccio Tessari | ||
1975 | Mandingo | Richard Fleischer | |
1976 | King Kong | John Guillermin | |
Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson | Robert Altman | ||
Drum | Steve Carver | ||
The Serpent's Egg | Ingmar Bergman | ||
The Shootist | Don Siegel | ||
1977 | Orca | Michael Anderson | |
1978 | The Brink's Job | William Friedkin | |
King of the Gypsies | Frank Pierson | ||
1979 | Hurricane | Jan Troell | |
1980 | Flash Gordon | Mike Hodges | |
1981 | Beyond the Reef | Frank C. Clarke | |
Halloween II | Rick Rosenthal | ||
Ragtime | Miloš Forman | ||
1982 | Fighting Back | Lewis Teague | |
Conan the Barbarian | John Milius | ||
Amityville II: The Possession | Damiano Damiani | ||
Halloween III: Season of the Witch | Tommy Lee Wallace | ||
1983 | Amityville 3-D | Richard Fleischer | |
Dead Zone | David Cronenberg | ||
1984 | The Bounty | Roger Donaldson | |
Firestarter | Mark L. Lester | ||
Conan the Destroyer | Richard Fleischer | ||
Dune | David Lynch | ||
1985 | Maximum Overdrive | Stephen King | |
Marie | Roger Donaldson | ||
Silver Bullet | Daniel Attias | ||
Cat's Eye | Lewis Teague | ||
Year of the Dragon | Michael Cimino | ||
Red Sonja | Richard Fleischer | ||
1986 | Crimes of the Heart | Bruce Beresford | |
Raw Deal | John Irvin | ||
Blue Velvet | David Lynch | ||
Trick or Treat | Charles Martin Smith | ||
Tai-Pan | Daryl Duke | ||
Manhunter | Michael Mann | ||
King Kong Lives | John Guillermin | ||
1987 | Million Dollar Mystery | Richard Fleischer | |
Hiding Out | Bob Giraldi | ||
Evil Dead II | Sam Raimi | ||
The Bedroom Window | Curtis Hanson | ||
From the Hip | Bob Clark | ||
1989 | Collision Course | Lewis Teague | |
1990 | Sometimes They Come Back | Tom McLoughlin | |
Desperate Hours | Michael Cimino | ||
1992 | Once Upon a Crime | Eugene Levy | |
Kuffs | Bruce A. Evans | ||
Army of Darkness | Sam Raimi | ||
Body of Evidence | Uli Edel | ||
1995 | Solomon & Sheba | Robert Young | |
Slave of Dreams | |||
Rumpelstiltskin | Mark Jones | ||
Assassins | Richard Donner | ||
1996 | Unforgettable | John Dahl | |
Bound | The Wachowskis | ||
1997 | Breakdown | Jonathan Mostow | |
2000 | U-571 | ||
2001 | Hannibal | Ridley Scott | |
2002 | Red Dragon | Brett Ratner | |
2006 | The Last Legion | Doug Lefler | |
2007 | Hannibal Rising | Peter Webber | |
Virgin Territory | David Leland |
References
- "Dino De Laurentiis". Telegraph.co.uk. 11 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
- "Laurentiis has others looking our way". Wilmington Morning Star. 9 July 1984. p. 1C. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- Kalogerakis, George (February 2002). "Let's Do Lunch". Foodandwine.com. Archived from the original on 27 March 2018. Retrieved 12 November 2010.
- Greene, Gael, "Dino's Food Show", New York Magazine, 20 December 1982. Cf. p.82.
- Mink, Claudia Gellman (7 March 1983). "Food's the Star In New De Laurentiis Show". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. p. D1. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- Daniels, Mary (16 January 1983). "Are discriminating New Yorkers going to buy this deli with a difference?". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- Alexander, Dick (4 September 1983). "DDL isn't your run-of-the-meal delicatessen". San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
- Sifton, Sam, "Eataly Offers Italy by the Ounce", The New York Times, 19 October 2010
- Sheraton, Mimi, "DDL FOODSHOW: A TASTER FINDS IT'S GOOD, AND NOT SO GOOD", The New York Times, 4 May 1983, WednesdayLate City Final Edition, Section C, Page 1, Column 1
- Arnold, Laurence (11 November 2010). "Dino De Laurentiis, Producer of Film Spectacles, Dies at 91". Business Week. Archived from the original on 14 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- "Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiis dies". The Globe and Mail. Reuters. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- Lane, John Francis (11 November 2010). "Obituary: Dino De Laurentiis". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- Delugach, Al (20 February 1988). "De Laurentiis Resigns From Film Group". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- "Filmmaker Dino De Laurentiis Dies at Age 91". USA Today. 11 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- "Movie Producer Dino de Laurentiis dies". CNN. 11 November 2010. Archived from the original on 13 November 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- Mondello, Bob (11 November 2010). "Dino De Laurentiis: For Decades, A Big-Picture Guy". NPR. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
- "Funeral services for De Laurentiis will be held Monday". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. 13 November 2010. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- "Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award". 17 July 2014.
External links

- Dino De Laurentiis Company Official site
- Dino De Laurentiis at IMDb
- Who Was Dino De Laurentiis? Archived 15 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine – image slideshow by Life magazine