...yet another giant departs: DINO DE LAURENTIIS

[Wallingford]

Italian Film Legend Dino De Laurentiis Dies at 91
By Dylan Stableford
Published: November 11, 2010 @ 5:42 am



Legendary film producer Dino De Laurentiis has died in Los Angeles, according to several Italian media reports. He was 91.

He produced more than 500 films, and won two Oscars -- one in 1956 for Federico Fellini's "La Strada," another in 1957 for "Nights of Cabiria."

"Cinema has lost one of its greats," Walter Veltroni, former mayor of Rome and founder the Rome Film Festival, said in a statement to Agence France-Press on Thursday.

Born in Italy, he founded the Dino De Laurentiis Studios in 1947 after serving in the Italian army during World War II. There, De Laurentiis lured some of Hollywood's top actors to Italy to star in his films, such as Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda for “War and Peace" (1956).

De Laurentiis moved to the U.S. in the 1970s and produced several American films, including "Serpico" (1973), "Three Days of the Condor" (1975), "King Kong" (1976), David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet” (1986) and "Hannibal" (2001).

De Laurentiis is also credited with launching Arnold Schwarzenegger's acting career in "Conan the Barbarian."

He's collected several awards for his decades of film work, including the Irving G.Thalberg Memorial Award at the 2001 Academy Awards and a lifetime achievement award at the 2003 Venice Film Festival.

He is survived by six children from two marriages. His granddaughter, Giada De Laurentiis, is a chef on the Food Network.