by Jeannine Guilyard
The Museum of Modern Art's current film series "Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective" is in its final days, so if you're in New York City this week, it's still not too late to catch one of these Italian classics on the big screen. Born in Rome, Pietrangeli first studied medicine but fate took over when he assisted Luchino Visconti on his 1943 film, "Obsession."
Pietrangeli went on to contribute to the screenplays of Visconti's "La Terra Trema" and Roberto Rossellini's "Europa '51" (in which he also appears as a psychiatrist). As a director, he wasted no time in finding his own voice with the social satire of "Lo Scapolo" (The Bachelor) in 1955 with Alberto Sordi, and the hilarious supernatural tale of "Fantasmi a Roma" (Ghosts of Rome) in 1961 with Marcello Mastroianni.
Source: Italian American Voice
