Carlo Ponti

Producer

About

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Birth Place

Italy

Born

December 11, 1912

Died

January 10, 2007

Cause of Death

Pulmonary Complications

Biography

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Worked for Lux Films in Rome from 1945 to 1949, where he oversaw several features by directors including Mario Camerini and Alberto Lattuada. In 1950 Ponti began a successful partnership with Dino De Laurentiis, producing a number of noted films such as Federico Fellini's "La Strada" (1954). He then branched out on his own in the mid-1950s, scoring critical and popular success with inter...

Filmography

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Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1992)

Andy Warhol's Dracula (1992)

Saturday, Sunday and Monday (1990)

Executive Producer

Running Away (1989)

The Cassandra Crossing (1977)

A Special Day (1977)

Executive Producer

Photos & Videos

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La Strada (1954) — (Movie Clip) The Fool Will Perform

La Strada -- (Movie Clip) Trifle

Family & Companions

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Sophia Loren

Wife

Actor. Married 1957.

Biography

Worked for Lux Films in Rome from 1945 to 1949, where he oversaw several features by directors including Mario Camerini and Alberto Lattuada. In 1950 Ponti began a successful partnership with Dino De Laurentiis, producing a number of noted films such as Federico Fellini's "La Strada" (1954). He then branched out on his own in the mid-1950s, scoring critical and popular success with international productions by directors such as Vittorio De Sica, Jean-Luc Godard and David Lean.

Ponti's 1957 marriage to Sophia Loren sparked off a string of Italian legal complications (a previous divorce was still being contested) which resulted in his taking French citizenship in 1964. In 1979, he was sentenced, in absentia, to a jail term and a multi-million dollar fine, for charges involving the smuggling of currency and art.

Filmography

Producer (Feature Film)

Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1992)

Andy Warhol's Dracula (1992)

Saturday, Sunday and Monday (1990)

Executive Producer

Running Away (1989)

The Cassandra Crossing (1977)

A Special Day (1977)

Executive Producer

Ugly, Dirty and Bad (1976)

Loving Cousins (1975)

The Boss And The Worker (1975)

Baby Sitter - Un maledetto pasticcio (1975)

The Passenger (1975)

Virilita (1975)

La Poliziotta (1974)

Permette signora che ami vostra figlia (1974)

Il Bestione (1974)

Dirty Weekend (1973)

I Corpi Presentano Tracce Di Violenza Carnale (1973)

Massacre in Rome (1973)

Giordano Bruno (1973)

Gawain And The Green Knight (1973)

Lady Liberty (1972)

Lady Liberty (1972)

The Priest's Wife (1971)

Executive Producer

Bianco, Rosso e... (1971)

Zabriskie Point (1970)

Sunflower (1970)

A Place for Lovers (1969)

Ghosts--Italian Style (1969)

A Report on the Party and the Guests (1968)

The Fifth Horseman Is Fear (1968)

Capricious Summer (1968)

The Man With the Balloons (1968)

Kiss the Other Sheik (1968)

Les carabiniers (1968)

The 25th Hour (1967)

The Girl and the General (1967)

Smashing Time (1967)

Smashing Time (1967)

More Than a Miracle (1967)

Closely Watched Trains (1967)

Operation Crossbow (1965)

The Railroad Man (1965)

Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Casanova '70 (1965)

The 10th Victim (1965)

The Railroad Man (1965)

A Woman Is a Woman (1964)

Doulos--The Finger Man (1964)

Marriage Italian Style (1964)

The Empty Canvas (1964)

The Ape Woman (1964)

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1964)

Contempt (1964)

The Condemned of Altona (1963)

Rice Girl (1963)

A Day in Court (1963)

Executive Producer

The Third Lover (1963)

Arturo's Island (1962)

Boccaccio '70 (1962)

Cleo From 5 to 7 (1962)

Executive Producer

Two Women (1961)

Heller in Pink Tights (1960)

A Breath of Scandal (1960)

The Black Orchid (1959)

That Kind of Woman (1959)

Guendalina (1957)

Femmine tre volte (1957)

The Gold of Naples (1957)

La Strada (1954)

Where is Freedom? (1954)

Woman Of Rome (1954)

Production Companies (Feature Film)

Zabriskie Point (1970)

A Place for Lovers (1969)

The Best House in London (1969)

Ghosts--Italian Style (1969)

Kiss the Other Sheik (1968)

The Girl and the General (1967)

More Than a Miracle (1967)

The 25th Hour (1967)

Operation Crossbow (1965)

Casanova '70 (1965)

War and Peace (1956)

Producer (Short)

The Passenger (Trailer) (1975)

Producer (TV Mini-Series)

Mario Puzo's The Fortunate Pilgrim (1988)

Executive Producer

Life Events

1942

First feature producing credit, "Piccolo Mondo Antico/Old-Fashioned World"

1950

Begins producing partnership with Dino De Laurentiis

1954

Produces Fellini's "La Strada"

1957

Dissolves partneship with De Laurentiis and marries Sophia Loren

1958

First American producing credit, "The Black Orchid"

1964

Obtains French citizenship

1965

Produces epic film "Dr. Zhivago"

1979

Fined by Italian court the equivelent of 25 million dollars and sentenced to a four year term in absentia for muggling art and currency

1989

First film produced after legal difficulties, "Running Away'

Videos

La Strada (1954) — (Movie Clip) The Fool Will Perform Innocent Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina, directed by her husband Federico Fellini) has run away from her employer/owner (barnstorming entertainer Zampano, Anthony Quinn) and wandered into a nearby town where she sees a Catholic festival, then one of his rivals (Richard Basehart as “Il Matto,” or “The Fool”), in the worldwide hit La Strada, 1954.

La Strada -- (Movie Clip) Trifle Subtitled puns and slapstick in this famous scene as low-rent itinerant strong man performer Zampano (Anthony Quinn) and Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina, the director's wife), his new assistant, performing for the first time, charm their rural Italian audience, in Federico Fellini's La Strada, 1954.

La Strada -- (Movie Clip) Opening Credits Opening credit sequence for Federico Fellini's first international hit, La Strada, 1954, starring his wife Giuletta Masina, Anthony Quinn and Richard Basehart, from the new restoration by The Film Foundation, The Criterion Collection and The Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

La Strada -- (Movie Clip) Macho Man Directed by her husband Federico Fellini, country-girl Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) at her first restaurant dinner with intoxicated roustabout strong-man Zampano (Anthony Quinn), who in-effect purchased her from her impoverished mother, and who soon becomes more interested in the barmaid (Anna Primula), in La Strada, 1954.

La Strada -- (Movie Clip) Here He Is, Zampano! On their first day together, traveling entertainer Zampano (Anthony Quinn) discovers Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina, the director's wife), the assistant he's basically purchased, can't cook, and offers some instruction on performance, in Federico Fellini's La Strada, 1954.

La Strada -- (Movie Clip) Gelsomina Opening scene in which Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina) is sold by her mother (Caterina Boratto) to entertainer Zampano (Anthony Quinn) for ten thousand lire, in Federico Fellini's La Strada, 1954.

Special Day, A (1977) -- (Movie Clip) You'd Even Keep Hitler Waiting After nearly six minutes of chilling newsreel footage detailing Hitler’s 1938 visit to Mussolini in Rome, and Nazi flags being unfurled in cinematographer Pasqualino De Santis’ desaturated color, we meet Sophia Loren as housewife Antoinieta, John Vernon her husband, in an elaborate single shot, in director Ettore Scola’s A Special Day, 1977, also starring Marcello Mastroianni.

Special Day, A (1977) -- (Movie Clip) It's Not A Person Dozing off while reading an Italian fascist comic book, her Rome apartment building nearly vacant because everyone’s gone to the parade for Adolph Hitler, Sophia Loren as housewife Antoineta is wakened by the family mynah bird, and meets neighbor Gabriele (Marcello Mastroianni), in director Ettore Scola’s A Special Day, 1977.

Special Day, A (1977) -- (Movie Clip) The Virtue Of A Mediocre Mind In cinematographer Pasqualino De Santis’ widely-praised desaturated color, in 1938 Rome, with coverage of Hitler’s visit to Rome playing on the radio, troubled bachelor Gabriele (Marcello Mastroianni) surprises neighbor housewife Antoineta (Sophia Loren), abandoning his excuse quickly, after they first met that same morning, in director Ettore Scola’s A Special Day, 1977.

Two Women (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Those Men Will Come Back Now on foot on their trek from wartime Rome to her rural home province, mother Cesira (Sophia Loren) and daughter Rosetta (Eleanora Brown) are also fleeing local fascist militia brigands, meeting a passerby as Allied aircraft roar overhead, in Vittorio De Sica’s drama of the “Marocchinate” war crime campaign, Two Women, 1960.

Two Women (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Those Germans Aren't So Bad Fleeing Allied bombs in Rome, Cesira (Sophia Loren) and daughter Rosetta (Eleanora Brown), decide to walk when the train can't go on, amusing German soldiers, in Vittorio De Sica's drama of the war crime campaign known as the “Marocchinate,” Two Women, 1960.

Two Women (1960) -- (Movie Clip) To A New World Cesira (Sophia Loren), Rosetta (Eleanora Brown) and their Marxist friend Michele (Jean-Paul Belmondo), are the only villagers willing to feed two English soldiers, in Vittorio De Sica's Two Women, 1960.

That Kind Of Woman (1959) -- Original Trailer Theatrical trailer for the unsuccessful but ambitious racy semi-comedy, starring Sophia Loren, produced by her husband Carlo Ponti, directed by Sidney Lumet, with teen heart-throb Tab Hunter as the leading man, That Kind Of Woman 1959.

25th Hour, The - (Original Trailer) A Romanian peasant (Anthony Quinn) fights to get back to his family after he's imprisoned by the Nazis in The 25th Hour (1967).

Ghosts - Italian Style - (Original Trailer) A husband (Vittorio Gassman) and wife (Sophia Loren) live in a mansion haunted by a romantic rival in the comedy Ghosts - Italian Style (1968).

Heller In Pink Tights - (Original Trailer) Touring actors in the wild West brave Indians and outlaws in Heller In Pink Tights (1960) starring Sophia Loren, directed by George Cukor.

Cassandra Crossing, The - (Original Trailer) An all-star cast is trapped on a train carrying a deadly virus in The Cassandra Crossing (1976) starring Sophia Loren and Martin Sheen.

War And Peace (1956) - (Original Trailer) Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda star in King Vidor's massive adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic War And Peace (1956).

Zabriskie Point - (Original Trailer) A young girl helps a student radical escape the police in Michaelangelo Antonioni's Zabriskie Point (1970).

More Than a Miracle - (Original Trailer) Omar Sharif is the handsome prince in love with serving girl Sophia Loren in the fairy tale romance More Than A Miracle (1967), directed by Francesco Rosi.

Blow-Up - (Wide Release Trailer) A photographer discovers a murder in the background of a candid photo in Michelangelo Antonioni's portrait of "Swinging London" Blow-Up (1966) starring Vanessa Redgrave.

Lady L - (Original Trailer) Beautiful laundress Sophia Loren rises through European society via Paul Newman and David Niven in Peter Ustinov's Lady L (1965).

Operation Crossbow - (Original Trailer) Allied agents go behind enemy lines to destroy a German missile base during World War II in Operation Crossbow (1965) starring George Peppard & Sophia Loren.

Family

Carlo Ponti Jr

Son

Actor, pianist. Born c. 1969.

Eduoardo Ponti

Son

Writer, actor. Born c. 1973.

Companions

Sophia Loren

Wife

Actor. Married 1957.

Bibliography

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