Vittorio De Sica

Born into poverty in Sora (Frosinone[?]), he began his career as a theatre actor in the early 1920s and joined Tatiana Pavlova[?]'s theatre company in 1923.

In 1933 he founded his own company with his wife Giuditta Rissone[?] and Sergio Tofano. The company performed mostly light comedies, but they also staged plays by Beaumarchais, and worked with famous directors like Luchino Visconti.

His meeting with Cesare Zavattini was a very important event: they wrote together some of the most celebrated films of the neorealistic age, like Sciuscià[?] (Shoeshine) and Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief).

One of his best-received is La Ciociara[?] (Two Women) (1961): Sophia Loren won the Oscar for her performance, and critics widely regard the film a classic. De Sica died in Paris on November 13, 1974.

Notable films:

• Gli uomini che mascalzoni[?] (1932)
• Il signor Max[?] (1937)
• Rose scarlatte[?] (1939)
• Grandi magazzini[?] (1939)
• Maddalena, zero in condotta[?] (1940)
• Teresa Venerdì[?] (1941)
• I bambini ci guardano[?] (The Children Are Watching Us[?]) (1942)
• Sciuscià[?] (Shoeshine[?]) (1946)
• Ladri di biciclette (The Bicycle Thief) (1948)
• Miracolo a Milano[?] (Miracle in Milan[?]) (1951)
• Umberto D[?] (1952)
• L'oro di Napoli[?] (The Gold of Naples[?]) (1954)
• La Ciociara[?] (Two Women) (1961)
• Ieri, oggi e domani[?] (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow[?]) (1963)
• Matrimonio all'italiana[?] (Marriage Italian-Style[?]) (1964)
• Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini[?] (The Garden of the Finzi-Continis[?]) (1970)