Dino Risi Biography
Dino Risi (1916 - 2008) was an Italian director. With Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, Nanni Loy and Ettore Scola he is considered one of the masters of Italian comedy. He was born in Milan. The son of a doctor, he graduated in Medicine and specialized in Psychiatry, but soon abandoned the profession to dedicate himself to cinema and began his career in cinema as assistant director of cinema personalities such as Mario Soldati and Alberto Lattuada. He later began directing his own films and was credited with giving early opportunities to future acting stars such as Sophia Loren and Vittorio Gassman. His 1966 film The Treasure of San Gennaro was entered into the 5th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a silver award. His biggest hits were Poor, But Handsome, followed by two sequels, which he also directed; A difficult life; The Easy Life(The Overtaking); Opiate '67 or, in a cut version, 15 From Rome (I Mostri); and Scent Of A Woman, which was remade by Martin Brest with Al Pacino in 1992. In 2002, he received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the Venice Film Festival for his work. Two of his films, Thursday and Inspector Lo Gatto, were screened in a retrospective on Italian comedy at the 67th Venice International Film Festival. He died on 7 June 2008 in his Roman residence. He was 91 years old and survived by two sons, Claudio and Marco, also a director.
