Tullio Pinelli

One of the finest screenwriters Italy ever produced, Tullio Pinelli was seemingly destined for an elite life. Hailing from an old, noble family, he first followed tradition by becoming a cavalry officer, then he tried law. But he hit on real success with his theatrical writing, particularly when one of his plays attracted the attention of Lux, a production house active at the time. The company hired him to write screenplays, and his career was set. In the span of that career, which spanned a remarkable seven decades, Pinelli helped write some of his country's most enduring classics. Federico Fellini utilized his services as a co-writer on several of the director's most beloved films, including the coming-of-age ensemble drama "I Vitelloni" (1953), and 1963's surreal trip inside the head of a celebrated film director, "8½." Pinelli also worked on a few other notable efforts, among them an uncredited co-write of Vittorio De Sica's blistering portrayal of a rich Jewish family in Fascist Italy, "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis" ('70). For the most part, however, Pinelli was the sole credited writer on most of his works. For example, his name graces features such as the '66 religious biopic "Francis of Assisi," as well as tons of other films, TV miniseries, and TV movies.