Lina Wertmuller is dead. The great director who was 93 passed away during the night in Rome. She was born on August 14, 1928 and had signed films such as Overwhelmed by an unusual fate in the blue sea of August, Pasqualino settebellezze, Mimì metallurgico marking the history of Italian comedy.
Lina Wertmuller, born Arcangela Felice Assunta Wertmuller von Elgg Spanol von Braueich, was born in the capital and was of aristocratic and Swiss origins, married to the set designer Enrico Job. She was the first woman in history to be nominated for an Oscar, in 1977, as best director (but also for best foreign film and best screenplay) for ‘Pasqualino Settebellezze’. Only in 2020 was she awarded the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement.
His was a life full of encounters and friendships that will prove indispensable and fundamental for his career. At school he meets Flora Carabella who, a few years later, will become the wife of Marcello Mastroianni (with him and Sophia Loren she will shoot in 1978 ‘Made of blood between two men because of a widow. Political motives are suspected’, a film that boasts the Guinness Book of Records as the longest title in the history of cinema), among its iconic actors alongside Giancarlo Giannini.
While still a teenager, the young Lina attended the world of cinema and theater, enrolled in the Theater Academy directed by Pietro Sharoff, animates a puppet theater, initially collaborated with Guido Salvini, Giorgio De Lullo, Garinei and Giovannini, worked in radio and television, he signed the first Canzonissima and the ‘Giornalino di Gian Burrasca’ with Rita Pavone protagonist in men’s clothes.
His first appearance on the big screen was in 1953 in the role of secretariat of the edition with ‘… e Napoli sings!’ by Armando Grottini, followed by Fellini’s ‘La dolce vita’ as assistant director. The real debut was in 1963 with ‘I basilischi’, shot between Basilicata and Puglia, Silver Sail at the Locarno Festival, while in ’68 under a ‘nom de plume’ (Nathan Witch) he directed an Italian western ‘My body for a poker’ with a charming Elsa Martinelli.