Tullio Pinelli

Tullio Pinelli (24 June 1908 7 March 2009) was an Italian screenwriter known for his work on the Federico Fellini films I Vitelloni, La Strada, La Dolce Vita and .

Tullio Pinelli
Tullio Pinelli by Damian Pettigrew (2002)
Born(1908-06-24)24 June 1908
Died7 March 2009(2009-03-07) (aged 100)
Rome, Italy
OccupationPlaywright/Screenwriter
Years active1944—2009
Spouse
(m. 1988)

Biography

Born in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, Pinelli began his career as a civil lawyer but spent his free time working in the theatre as a playwright. He was descended from a long line of Italian patriots; his great-uncle General Ferdinando Pinelli quashed the bandit revolt in Calabria following Italian unification.[1]

He met Fellini in a Rome kiosk in 1946 while they were reading opposite pages of the same newspaper. "Meeting each other", explained Pinelli, "was a creative lightning bolt. We spoke the same language from the start... We were fantasizing about a screenplay that would be the exact opposite of what was fashionable then: the story of a very shy and modest office worker who discovered he can fly; so he flaps his arms and escapes out the window. It certainly wasn't Italian neorealism. But the idea never went anywhere either."[2] The anecdote about flying presages the opening scene of (1963) in which the protagonist, a prominent film director, who dreams of escape by flying out of his car caught in a traffic jam.

Pinelli died at the age of 100 on 7 March 2009 in Rome. He was married (from 1988) to the French-born actress Madeleine Lebeau, who had roles in and Casablanca (1942).

Selected filmography

References

  1. Tullio Kezich, Federico Fellini: His Life and Work, Faber and Faber, Inc., 2006, p. 96.
  2. Kezich, Federico Fellini: His Life and Work, p. 96

Bibliography

  • Pinelli, Tullio (2008). L'uomo a cavallo. Roma: Edizioni Sabinae.
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