Luchino Visconti biography

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Born into an aristocratic family, Visconti was well acquainted with the arts: his mother was a talented musician, and throughout his childhood his father engaged performers to appear at their private theatre. He studied cello for 10 years and spent a short time as a theatrical set designer. He also had a solid classical education. In 1935 Visconti was hired as an assistant to the French motion-picture director Jean Renoir, who developed his sensitivity to social and political issues.

Ossessione (1942; “Obsession”), an adaptation of James M. Cain's novel The Postman Always Rings Twice, established his reputation as a director. In it he used natural settings, combined professional actors with local residents, experimented with long-travelling camera shots, and incorporated sequences taken with hidden cameras to enhance authenticity. A masterpiece of realism, this film foreshadowed the postwar Neorealist work of such internationally important filmmakers as Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. Six years later La terra trema (1948; The Earth Trembles), a documentary-style study of Sicilian fishermen filmed entirely on location and without actors, won the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Visconti's other widely acclaimed films include Bellissima (1951; The Most Beautiful) and Siamo donne (1953; We the Women), both starring Anna Magnani; Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1960; Rocco and His Brothers); and Il gattopardo (1963; The Leopard), based on the novel by Giuseppe di Lampedusa about a traditional aristocrat with liberal convictions, a character with whom Visconti strongly identified; Lo straniero (1967; The Stranger); La caduta degli dei (1969; The Damned); and Morte a Venezia (1971; Death in Venice). At the time of his death he had nearly finished editing his last film, L'innocente (The Innocent), based on the novel by Gabriele D'Annunzio.

As a theatrical director Visconti introduced to Italy the work of such French and U.S. playwrights as Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, and Erskine Caldwell. He built up a repertory company that supplied actors for later films.

During the 1950s Visconti produced internationally