R.I.P. Dino DeLaurentiis

[Big Magilla]

Nov. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Dino De Laurentiis, the son of Italian pasta makers who became a prolific movie producer of blockbuster hits such as "Serpico," expensive duds such as "Dune" and sweeping epics including "War and Peace," has died, Ansa news agency reported. He was 91.

He died in Los Angeles, Ansa reported. De Laurentiis lived in Beverly Hills with his third wife, Martha.

First in his native Italy, then in the U.S., De Laurentiis combined marketing flair, an eye for talent and a fearlessness of failure as he produced more than 600 films, some prodigious in scale and ambition, often featuring superstar names in action thrillers.

He worked with, among many others, directors Federico Fellini and Milos Forman and actors Al Pacino, Audrey Hepburn and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who credited De Laurentiis's "Conan" movies with making him an international superstar.

The tumult of his personal life rivaled the action in his movie scripts. He had four children with Italian model-turned- actress Silvana Mangano, who died in 1989 shortly after their divorce became final, then two more daughters with third wife Martha, the youngest one born when De Laurentiis was 71.

His only son, Federico, died in a 1981 plane crash while making a documentary about salmon fishing. One of De Laurentiis's grandchildren, Giada, is a celebrity chef on U.S. television.

De Laurentiis earned much of his critical acclaim early in his career. Two films he produced during a seven-year collaboration with fellow Italian Carlo Ponti -- "La Strada," which Fellini directed, and "Nights of Cabiria" -- won back- to-back Academy Awards for best foreign-language film in 1956 and 1957.

Oscar for Work

Decades passed before the academy again honored De Laurentiis, presenting him with the Irving Thalberg Memorial Award in 2001 for his body of work.

"I've been very lucky in my long life," De Laurentiis said upon receiving the award. "On three continents, in diverse cultures, through happy moments, not-so-happy moments, and moments as marvelous as this one, I've had the privilege of working with the cinema's greatest masters."

Small in stature (various accounts gave his height as either 5 feet 4 inches or 5 feet 6 inches), De Laurentiis made a giant impact on how the movie industry stages, promotes and finances big-budget, big-name spectacles. Rather than work for Hollywood studios, he sold his productions directly to distributors in the U.S. and around the world.

'Event' Films

That made De Laurentiis one of the first "global film producers, savvy about their international audience and raising money all over the world in order to make 'event' films," Brooklyn College professor Frederick Wasser wrote in the 2002 book "Movies and American Society."

In the 1980s De Laurentiis briefly turned his attention to improving the American culinary experience, opening food stores in Manhattan and Los Angeles. Their lavish displays of breads, pastas and cold cuts drew crowds of sightseers, but the stores closed within a few years.

Impressed by the serenity of coastal North Carolina during filming of Stephen King's "Firestarter" in 1983, De Laurentiis built what later became the EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington. He seemed on his way to assembling an entertainment conglomerate when he acquired Embassy Pictures from Coca-Cola Co., formed the De Laurentiis Entertainment Group and, in 1986, took the company public.

Big-Budget Flops

A series of big-budget disappointments, including David Lynch's sci-fi thriller "Dune" (1984), led to a financial crisis, and the Beverly Hills, California-based film company filed for bankruptcy protection in 1988. De Laurentiis stepped aside as chairman and his daughter, Raffaella, resigned as president of production.

He never stopped producing movies, however. He ran Dino De Laurentiis Co. with his wife, the former Martha Schumacher, a one-time administrative assistant in his New York offices. Among its productions was the hit "Hannibal" (2001).

[anonymous1980]

Story,

A major one. R.I.P.