born Aug. 8, 1919, Torre Annunziata, Italy
Italian-U.S. film producer.
He produced his first film at age 20 and scored his first hit with Bitter Rice (1948). He formed a joint production company with Carlo Ponti and produced films such as Federico Fellini 's La strada (1954, Academy Award) and The Nights of Cabiria (1956, Academy Award). In the early 1960s he built a studio, Dinocittà, where he made several epics; their lack of success forced him to sell the studio in the early 1970s. He then moved to the U.S., where he produced films such as Serpico (1973), Ragtime (1981), and Hannibal (2001).