Federico Fellini

Fellini married Giulietta Masina in 1943, an Italian film and stage actress. Their son Pierfederico tragically lived for only one month and died of encephalitis in 1944. Masina and Fellini did not have another child. The couple remained together till his death in 1993.

Fellini, Masina and their son Pierfederico are buried in a bronze sepulchre sculpted by Arnaldo Pomodoro. Designed as a ship's prow, the tomb is located at the main entrance to the Cemetery of Rimini.

Fellini was born on January 20, 1920 in Rimini, then a small town on the Adriatic Sea, on January 20, 1920, to Urbano Fellini and Ida Barbiani. He had two younger siblings: Riccardo, a documentary director for RAI Television, and Maria Maddalena.

In 1926, he began attending the Carlo Tonni public school. He spent his leisure time drawing, staging puppet shows, and loved the American cartoons in the corriere dei piccoli, the popular children’s magazine.

In 1926, he was introduced to the world of Grand Guignol, the circus with Pierino the Clown, and Guido Brignone’s ‘Maciste all’Inferno’ became the first film he saw.

In 1939, he enrolled at the University of Rome law school on his parents’ insistence but never attended classes. Instead, he spent time with his newly made lifelong friend, painter Rinaldo Geleng.

He soon joined the editorial board of Marc’Aurelio, the biweekly humor magazine, and wrote a regular column which gave him steady employment between 1939 and 1942, and enabled interactions with scriptwriters.

The famous actor Fabrizi recruited Fellini to continue supplying stories and ideas for his performances. Between 1939 and 1944, they worked on a number of largely forgotten comedies, including No Me Lo Dire.

Roma città aperta or Rome, Open City, a 1945 Italian war drama film, was directed by Roberto Rossellini. The screen play was co-written by Sergio Amidei and Fellini for which they received Oscar nominations.

Between 1946 and 1948, he worked as screenwriter and assistant director on Rossellini’s Paisà (Paisan), co-wrote Alberto Lattuada’ Senza and Il mulino del Po, and worked with Rossellini on the anthology film L'Amore.

In 1950, he co-produced and co-directed with Lattuada, Variety Lights, but its poor performance left the production company bankrupt. The White Sheik, the following year, his first solo-directed feature, was trashed by critics.

Fellini’s La Strada (The Road), released in 1954, was described by a critic as “an unfinished poem,” and won fifty international awards. He co-wrote the screenplay with Pinelli and Flaiano.

La Dolce Vita, a 1960 comedy-drama film by him, follows Marcello Rubini, on his fruitless search for love and happiness. It was voted 6th greatest film of all time by Entertainment Weekly.

Amarcord, a 1973 comedy-drama film directed by him, is a semi-autobiographical tale about an adolescent boy growing up among eccentric characters in an Italian village. A critic described Fellini as "an artist at his peak”.