Biography for
Mario Monicelli More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

15 May 1915, Viareggio, Tuscany, Italy

Date of Death

29 November 2010, Rome, Lazio, Italy (suicide)

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Spouse

Chiara Rapaccini	(? - ?) (separated) 1 child
Antonella Salerni	(? - ?) (divorced) 2 children

Trivia

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 687-692. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.

His movies I soliti ignoti (1958), La grande guerra (1959) and La ragazza con la pistola (1968) were Oscar-nominate for "Best Foreign Language Film".

Member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 1982.

His father Tomaso Monicelli was a novelist and an editor.

Has three daughters; Martina (b.1967), Ottavia (b.1974) and Rosa (b.1988).

Son of writer/production manager Tomaso Monicelli, brother of writers Franco Monicelli, Mino Monicelli and Furio Monicelli.

He attended the University of Milan, where he studied history. While a student, he directed a 16mm feature film which won a prize at the 1935 Venice Film Festival.

Monicelli died on November 29, 2010 at the age of 95, after committing suicide by jumping from a window of the San Giovanni hospital in Rome, where he was admitted a few days earlier for prostate cancer.

Personal Quotes

The themes that make one laugh always stem from poverty, hunger, misery, old age, sickness, and death. These are the themes that make Italians laugh, anyway.

Where Are They Now

(March 2007) He visited Argentina as guest at Mar del Plata International Film Festival.

(May 2009) In Rome, Italy where an exhibit on his life's work will soon be presented in Cinecitta.