De Laurentiis Company History
Courtesy of LA Times ( Associated Press )
Dino De Laurentiis
Founder, 1919 — 2010
Augostino “Dino” De Laurentiis
Born August 8, 1919 in Torre Annuziata, Italy. Although having studied to be a cinematographer and actor in his youth, Dino found a different path into film making, as one of world’s most prolific film producers and financiers. Across a 60-year career, Dino would produce, fund or otherwise contribute to over 600 films.
In his earlier work in Italy, Dino found international acclaim with Oscar winning films such as La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cambria (1956). In the late 1960’s, Dino made the move to Hollywood where he would continue to produce hits such as Serpico (1973), Three Days of the Condor (1975)and Ragtime (1981). He would sustain this pattern for three more decades passing away in 2010 at the age of 91. His legacy of hard work and determination to the craft of film making lives on in the work being done at the De Laurentiis Company today, which brings to TV hits such as Hannibal (2013).
70 Years of Excellence
DINO DE LAURENTIIS
Academy Award
2001
Irving G Thalberg Lifetime Achievement Award
KING KONG
Academy Award
1976
Best Visual Effects
Carlo Rambaldi
THE NIGHTS OF CABIRIA
Academy Award
1957
Best Foreign Language Film,
Dino De Laurentiis (Producer)
LA STRADA
Academy Award
1956
Best Foreign Language Film
Dino De Laurentiis (Producer)
ABC NEWS
Nightline
Dino and Martha De Laurentiis
VANITY FAIR
Interview
The Maestro
Dino De Laurentiis, producer, last of the big-time spenders.
Photographed at his Los Angeles home, with his wife, Martha, and two daughters, by Sam Jones.
One hundred twenty films; three Oscars, including this year’s Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award for lifetime achievement in film.
“Every picture I produce myself. I work very near the screenplay writer. I select the director. Then I select the cast. Then I leave the director alone.”
Over the last 60 years, the films of the 82-year-old De Laurentiis have cemented his reputation as “the Cecil B. DeMille of Italy.” Major hits: War and Peace (1956), La Strada (which won the 1956 Oscar for best foreign film), The Valachi Papers (1972), Serpico (1973), Death Wish (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Blue Velvet (1986), and Hannibal (2001). De Laurentiis Productions is already at work on the Hannibal prequel, Red Dragon, for which he has offered his friend Sir Anthony Hopkins $20 million, a record for a British star. While a struggling actor in his native Italy, De Laurentiis persuaded a shopkeeper to give him a pair of black shoes. Years later, when the shopkeeper needed a new job, De Laurentiis put him in charge of his wardrobe department because the man was “willing to trust-ah my face.” To this day, De Laurentiis often wears black shoes, believing they bring him luck.
Published by, (c) Vanity Fair 2001
- Nikujaga (2014) … (executive producer)
- Kaiseki (2014) … (executive producer)
- Savoureux (2013) … (executive producer)
- Relevés (2013) … (executive producer)
- Rôti (2013) … (executive producer)
- Buffet Froid (2013) … (executive producer)
- Trou Normand (2013) … (executive producer)
- Fromage (2013) … (executive producer)
- Sorbet (2013) … (executive producer)
- Entrée (2013) … (executive producer)
- Oeuf (2013) … (executive producer)
- Coquilles (2013) … (executive producer)
- Potage (2013) … (executive producer)
- Amuse-Bouche (2013) … (executive producer)
- Apéritif (2013) … (executive producer)
2007 Virgin Territory (producer)
2007 The Last Legion (producer)
2007 Hannibal Rising (producer)
2002 Red Dragon (producer)
2001 Hannibal (producer)
2000 U-571 (producer)
1997/I Breakdown (producer)
1996 Unforgettable (producer)
1995 Slave of Dreams (TV Movie) (producer)
1995 Assassins (executive producer)
1995 Solomon & Sheba (TV Movie) (producer)
1993 Body of Evidence (producer)
1992 Army of Darkness (executive producer)
1992 Once Upon a Crime… (producer)
1991 Sometimes They Come Back (TV Movie) (executive producer)
1990 Desperate Hours (producer)
1986 King Kong Lives (executive producer)
1986 Tai-Pan (executive producer)
1986 Manhunter (executive producer – uncredited)
1986 Maximum Overdrive (executive producer)
1985 Silver Bullet (producer)
1985 Year of the Dragon (producer)
1985 Cat’s Eye (producer)
1984 Dune (executive producer)
1984 Conan the Destroyer (executive producer)
1984 The Bounty (executive producer)
1983 The Dead Zone (executive producer – uncredited)
1982 Halloween III: Season of the Witch (executive producer – uncredited)
1982 Amityville II: The Possession (executive producer – uncredited)
1982 Conan the Barbarian (executive producer – uncredited)
1981 Ragtime (producer)
1981 Halloween II (executive producer – uncredited)
1980 Flash Gordon (producer)
1979 Hurricane (producer)
1978 King of the Gypsies (executive producer)
1978 The Brink’s Job (executive producer)
1977 The Serpent’s Egg (producer)
1977 Orca (executive producer)
1977 The White Buffalo (executive producer)
1976 King Kong (producer)
1976 Drum (producer – uncredited)
1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (executive producer)
1976 Lipstick (executive producer)
1975 Three Days of the Condor (executive producer – uncredited)
1975 Mandingo (producer)
1974 Turn the Other Cheek (producer)
1974 Death Wish (producer – uncredited)
1974 Tough Guys (producer)
1974 Crazy Joe (producer)
1974 Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia (producer)
1973 Serpico (executive producer – uncredited)
1973 Chino (producer – uncredited)
1972 La più bella serata della mia vita (producer)
1972 Torino nera (producer)
1972 Lo scopone scientifico (producer)
1972 Boccaccio (producer)
1972 Cause of Divorce (producer)
1972 La violenza: Quinto potere (producer)
1972 The Valachi Papers (producer)
1971 Io non vedo, tu non parli, lui non sente (producer)
1971 Liberation (producer)
1971 The Deserter (producer)
1970 A Man Called Sledge (producer)
1970/I Waterloo (executive producer) / (producer)
1970 Io non scappo… fuggo (producer)
1969 A Brief Season (producer)
1969 First Prize Irene (Documentary) (producer)
1969 Barbagia (producer)
1969 Attraction (producer)
1969 The Bandit (producer)
1969 Fraulein Doktor (producer)
1968 Vietnam, guerra e pace (Documentary) (producer)
1968 Bandits in Rome (producer)
1968 Barbarella (producer)
1968 Anzio (producer)
1968 Capriccio all’italiana (producer)
1968 The Violent Four (producer)
1968 Odissea (TV Mini-Series) (producer – 1 episode)
– Episode #1.1 (1968) … (producer)
1968 Danger: Diabolik (producer)
1967 Vietnam guerra senza fronte (Documentary) (producer)
1967 The Stranger (producer)
1967 Matchless (producer)
1967 The Witches (producer)
1966 The Bible: In the Beginning… (producer)
1966 Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (executive producer)
1965 Menage Italian Style (producer)
1965 Battle of the Bulge (executive producer – uncredited)
1965 Thrilling (producer)
1965 I tre volti (producer)
1964 The Flying Saucer (producer)
1964 My Wife (producer)
1964 Corpse for the Lady (producer)
1963 The Teacher from Vigevano (producer)
1963 Il boom (producer)
1963 To Bed or Not to Bed (producer)
1963 Il processo di Verona (producer)
1963 The Hours of Love (producer)
1962 Le pillole di Ercole (producer)
1962 Mafioso (executive producer)
1962 I Love, You Love (Documentary) (executive producer)
1962 The Police Commissioner (executive producer)
1961 Barabbas (producer)
1961 A Difficult Life (producer)
1961 The Last Judgment (producer)
1961 The Best of Enemies (executive producer)
1961 Il re di Poggioreale (producer)
1961 Goliath and the Vampires (executive producer)
1961 The Fascist (executive producer)
1960 …And Suddenly It’s Murder! (producer)
1960 Il gobbo (producer)
1960 Everybody Go Home (producer)
1960 Under Ten Flags (producer)
1960 5 Branded Women (producer)
1959 The Great War (producer)
1958 Maid, Thief and Guard (producer)
1958 Tempest (producer)
1958 Fortunella (producer)
1957 Malafemmena (producer)
1957 This Angry Age (producer)
1957 Nights of Cabiria (producer)
1957 Guendalina (executive producer)
1956 Eighteen Year Olds (producer)
1956 War and Peace (producer)
1955 Girls of Today (producer)
1955 The Miller’s Beautiful Wife (producer)
1954 The River Girl (co-producer – as Dino de Laurentiis)
1954 Siluri umani (producer)
1954 Attila (producer)
1954 The Gold of Naples (producer)
1954 An American in Rome (producer)
1954 Woman of Rome (producer)
1954 Ulysses (producer)
1954 Mambo (producer)
1954 La Strada (producer)
1954 Miseria e nobiltà (producer)
1954 Dov’è la libertà…? (producer)
1954 A Day in Court (producer – uncredited)
1953 Easy Years (producer)
1953 She Wolf (co-producer)
1953 Toto in Color (producer)
1953 Jolanda, the Daughter of the Black Corsair (producer)
1953 The Unfaithfuls (producer)
1953 Hell Raiders of the Deep (producer)
1952 Gli undici moschettieri (Documentary) (producer)
1952 Brothers of Italy (producer)
1952 The Three Pirates (producer)
1952 La tratta delle bianche (producer)
1952 Europe ’51 (associate producer)
1951 Anna (producer)
1951 Cops and Robbers (producer)
1951 Il padrone del vapore (producer)
1951 Last Meeting (producer)
1951 Toto the Third Man (producer)
1951 Accidents to the Taxes!! (producer)
1950 Outlaw Girl (producer)
1950 Side Street Story (co-producer)
1949 Lure of the Sila (producer)
1949 Romanticismo (producer)
1949 Adam and Eve (producer)
1949 Bitter Rice (producer)
1949 The Firemen of Viggiu (producer)
1948 The Mysterious Rider (producer)
1948 Woman Trouble (producer)
1947 The Captain’s Daughter (producer)
1946 The Bandit (producer)
1946 Return of the Black Eagle (producer)
1941 L’amore canta (producer)