- Born
- Died
- Birth nameAgostino De Laurentiis
- Height5′ 4″ (1.63 m)
- Dino De Laurentiis left home at age 17 to enrol in film school, supporting himself as an actor, extra, propman, or any other job he could get in the film industry. His persistence paid off, and by the time he reached his 20th birthday he already had one produced film under his belt. After serving in the Italian army during World War II, De Laurentiis went back into film production, and in 1946 scored a critical and commercial international hit with Bitter Rice (1949) ("Bitter Rice"). He later married its star, Silvana Mangano. De Laurentiis eventually formed a partnership with producer Carlo Ponti, and the team had a string of hits, including several by director Federico Fellini. After the partnership dissolved, De Laurentiis embarked on a plan to build his own studio facilities, which would enable him to make the kind of massive spectacles he wanted to make. The studio complex, called Dinocitta', eventually was forced to close down due to a combination of hard times in the Italian film industry and a string of flops by De Laurentiis himself. De Laurentiis eventually sold the property to the Italian government and moved his base of production to the United States. He again opened up a film production complex in Wilmington, North Carolina, called DEG Studios, but was eventually forced by economic conditions to sell that, too. De Laurentiis has had some critical successes since his move to the U.S. (Ragtime (1981)), but most of his U.S. productions have been critically lambasted, although several have been commercial successes.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Serg Pageen
- Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis was born on August 8, 1919 in Torre Annunziata, Campania, Italy. He spent his childhood selling spaghetti that his father made. But he caught his interest on one big thing: making movies.
De Laurentiis left his home at the age of 17 to enroll for film studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. He bounced around any job he could get in the film industry, which in turn paid off. Even though he was ready to launch a career with his first film, L'ultimo Combattimento (1940), Dino got drafted to serve in the army during World War II. After that, Dino went back into film production to make neorealist films at his newly opened Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica.
Although his output was lukewarm, one film earned him critical and financial success; Bitter Rice (1949). Things went from good to great when Dino formed a partnership with producer Carlo Ponti, scoring a bunch of hits. While the partnership dissolved in the late 1950's, Dino set out to make massive eye spectacles by setting up his own studio facilities. Thus, his Dinocitta' Studios was formed in Rome.
But as Dino was heading to new heights, the Italian film industry was facing a new low. During the early 1970's, De Laurentiis undoubtedly released a string of financial flops which dissolved chances on making spectacles. Finally, Dinocitta was forced to close and he sold the property to the Italian government.
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis relocated to the USA, taking his Cinematografica with him. His studio found a new home in Wilmington, North Carolina and soon he was on the right track with some financially successful films. But his spectacles dreams grew more bigger and one of them was certain to be masterful. As Dino himself said, "When Jaws dies, nobody cries. When Kong dies, we all cry".
De Laurentiis unleashed a big budget remake of King Kong (1976). It turned out to be a worldwide hit, but it was lambasted by critics. He spent the rest of the 1970's and the 1980's with an unbalanced output of art films and ridiculous looking "spectacles" that earned him the name "Dino Di Horrendous", whether it was a success or not.
Around the early 1980's, Dino De Laurentiis embarked on his most ambitious project yet, an adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi masterpiece, Dune. Bringing in a clueless David Lynch as director, this adaptation was finally released in 1984. To the shock of Dino (and to no surprise at Lynch), it was a critical and commercial disaster. The spectacle dreams were once again closing in on Dino.
In 1986, De Laurentiis bought the theatrical unit of Embassy Pictures and renamed it the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group. Dino was now able to distribute the films he produced. Unfortunatly, the division released a string of flops and was forced to shut down in 1989.
But even those hardships didn't stop Dino from producing films. He kept his career rolling in the 1990's with some hits during the time. Dino was finally able to make his dream spectacles in the 21st century, with U-571 (2000) and the two Hannibal Lecter films, Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002). They were his biggest hits both domestically and internationally.
But in 2007, Dino's producing career came to an abrupt end, thanks to the unsatisfied performance of Hannibal Rising and the disaster of The Last Legion. It is dubious that his last film was the chick flick, Virgin Teritory. He planned to do at least four more films in his latter years, but they got stuck in development hell.
Dino De Laurentiis died peacefully on November 10, 2010 at his residence in Beverly Hills, California.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Lazlo - Dino De Laurentiis was born in Torre Annunziata, a province of Naples. As a teenager, he worked as a sales representative for his father, who owned a small pasta factory. But while food would be one of his great loves, his first grand passion was for the cinema.
With the fearlessness and the indefatigable energy that he would be known for his entire life and career, De Laurentiis produced his first movie at the age of 21, L'ultimo combattimento (1941) and, later, his first success, Bitter Rice (1949) (aka "Bitter Rice"). He would go on to produce countless number of films in his homeland in the next three decades, and alongside such figures as Carlo Ponti, Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, he revitalized Italian cinema, winning accolades and Oscars for films such as La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cabiria (1957) (aka "Nights of Cabiria").
In 1973, at the age of 54 and with a string of successes that would have satisfied any lesser man, Dino instead chose to begin again in America. It was during this time that he made his mark in Hollywood, with acclaimed films such as The Valachi Papers (1972), Serpico (1973), Death Wish (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Shootist (1976), Ragtime (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982) and Blue Velvet (1986). Beside these famous films, Dino also became known for such commercial successes and cult favorites as: Barbarella (1968), King Kong (1976), Dune (1984), Flash Gordon (1980) and Manhunter (1986) and worked with such directors as Ridley Scott, David Cronenberg, Sam Raimi, the Wachowski Brothers, Jonathan Mostow and David Lynch. His later films included U-571 (2000), Hannibal (2001), Red Dragon (2002), Hannibal Rising (2007), The Last Legion (2007) and Virgin Territory (2007).
Dino's career spanned more than seven decades and over 600 movies. He also built film studios: the Dinocitta (Dino's city) just outside of Rome; Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast of Australia; North Carolina Film Studios (AKA Screen Gem Studios) in Wilmington, North Carolina; and the CLA De Laurentiis Studios in Ouarzazate Morocco. And, throughout it all, was his indomitable spirit, the same verve and dynamism that would constantly push him "faster, faster; higher, higher".
Dino died on November 10, 2010 at the age of 91 in his home in Beverly Hills.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Dino De Laurentiis Company
- SpousesMartha De Laurentiis(April 7, 1990 - November 10, 2010) (his death, 2 children)Silvana Mangano(July 17, 1949 - December 16, 1989) (her death, 4 children)
- Children
- RelativesAurelio De Laurentiis(Niece or Nephew)Luigi De Laurentiis(Sibling)Jade Thompson(Great Grandchild)Dino A. De Laurentis(Grandchild)Giada De Laurentiis(Grandchild)Eloisa De Laurentiis(Grandchild)Igor De Laurentiis(Grandchild)Luigi De Laurentiis Jr.(Niece or Nephew)Luca Escriva De Laurentiis(Grandchild)Guido De Laurentiis(Grandchild)
- In the middle of her audition for King Kong (1976), he turned to his son and described Meryl Streep as "Troppo brutta per King Kong" ("Too ugly for King Kong), assuming she couldn't understand him if he spoke in Italian. She then replied in perfect Italian that she was very sorry to have disappointed him, and left him stunned.
- His only son Federico De Laurentiis (28 February 1955 - 15 July 1981) died at 26, in airplane crash.
- Changed the name of the big screen adaptation of Thomas Harris's "Red Dragon" novel to Manhunter (1986). This was due to the fact that he had a flop with Heart of Dragon (1985) ("The Year of the Dragon") previously and didn't want to tempt fate by having another movie with the word "dragon" in it.
- Grandfather of Dino A. De Laurentis, Giada De Laurentiis, Eloisa De Laurentiis and Igor De Laurentiis.
- DeLaurentiis was famous among producers for his theories about movie marketing, among which was: "In the trailer, show the audience everything - They always figure there must be more!".
- [to Arnold Schwarzenegger after the massive hit of Conan the Barbarian] I make you a star.
- No one cry when Jaws die but when the monkey die, people gonna cry. Intellectuals gonna love Kong. Even film buffs who love the first Kong gonna love ours. Why? Because I no give them crap.
- [to Arnold Schwarzenegger, when Schwarzenegger came to read for the title role in De Laurentiis's *Flash Gordon*] You have an accent! I cannot use you for Flash-a Gordon! Nah! Flash-a Gordon has no accent! I cannot use you! Nah!
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