Biography

July 7, 1901 · Sora, Lazio, Italy

November 13, 1974 · Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France (lung cancer)

5′ 9¼″ (1.76 m)

"Bicycle Thieves" is a good picture. I like very much. But some concession to sentimentality. A little concession. "Umberto D" never. Nothing. Without compromise. But it was too early. Many pictures of mine this way. Now is a great success. Then, nothing. Oh, a little. The intelligentsia accept "Umberto D." But the audience -- no, nothing. Too early. Too early.

[on Sophia Loren] I consider Sophia a great -- a good actress and a great personality. Because she is a Neopolitan. Like me. We are the same people, the same origin. And we feel together the same. Yes, for me, I am very happy when I work with Sophia.

There is no crisis in cinema. There are negative periods. There are times when some films are received well and others aren't. The past teaches us that some films were received badly, while others go sailing on. There are two films doing very well right now in the Italian market: One is The Leopard (1963) ("The Lepoard"), which earns seven million lire a day, and the other is "Il diavolo" ("To Bed or Not to Bed (1964)"), starring (Alberto) Sordi, which earns 3 1/2 million. So there are films that are doing very well. What I notice is that producers have been known to make errors in judgment, which have caused them to be overly daring. For example, I've been told many millions were spent, somewhere around half a billion, for a film entrusted to a young person. We must make room for young people , but with half a billion we could have made eight of Bicycle Thieves (1948) ("The Bicycle Thief"). Experimental cinema should be inexpensive cinema. Half a billion lire should be entrusted to those professionals who we can be sure will bring home the half billion spent. We should be cautious with new initiatives. Producers should be cautious. As for television as a competitor, yes, there I see a danger. Let television do television, let them do documentaries, but cinema as such should be shown on screens, because there's no one more lazy than the public. When people don't have to leave their homes, they're very happy. A film shown in the home encourages the audience not to budge.

I am basically an unhappy man. Life gives me always the impression of cruelty. I read the newspaper - crimes, murders, divorces, and so on. I do not find evidence of sincerity or solidarity there. I love humanity, I trust humanity, but humanity has a way of disillusioning me. The pictures I direct are nearly always melancholy. This comes from the contrast between my love and my disillusion. I am an optimist. I love life. I seek perfection. If my art seems pessimistic, it is a consequence of my continuing optimism and its disillusion. At least I have enthusiasm. It is necessary to all professions to have enthusiasm in order to have success.