DE SANTIS, PASQUALINO

(1927-1996)

Cinematographer. Brother of directorGiuseppe De Santis, Pasquale (or Pasqualino, as he was most often known) studied at theCentro Sperimentale di Cinematografiabefore working as assistant cameraman for Piero Portalupi on a number ofGiuseppe De Santis's films during the early 1950s. He then worked as camera operator forGianni Di Venanzountil Di Venanzo's death in 1966. His first solo film as director of photography wasFrancesco Rosi'sOnce upon a Time. . . (More Than a Miracle, 1967) but only a year later he received an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for his work onFranco Zeffirelli'sRomeo e Giulietta(Romeo and Juliet, 1968).

In the years that followed he worked again with Rosi on all Rosi's major films, includingIl caso Mattei(The Mattei Affair, 1972),Lucky Luciano(1974), andCadaveri eccellenti(Illustrious Corpses, 1976) and photographedFederico Fellini'sBlocknotes d'un regista(Fellini:A Director's Notebook, 1969).However, he appeared to provide the best proof of his brilliance as a cinematographer in the films he did withLuchino Visconti:La caduta degli dei(The Damned, 1969),Morte a Venezia(Death in Venice, 1971),Gruppo di famiglia in un interno(Conversation Piece, 1974), andL'Innocente(The Innocent, 1976). Internationally he also worked on a number of films with Robert Bresson, includingLancelot du Lac(1974) andLe diable, probablement(The Devil, Probably, 1977), and with Joseph Losey onThe Assassination of Trotsky(1972). In 1995, together with his brother, Giuseppe, and fellow cinematographerGiuseppe Lanci, De Santis founded the Nuova Universita del Cinema e della Televisione with a special scholarship established for cinematography. After a successful and prolific career, crowned with many prizes and awards, including theNastro d'argentofour times and twoDavid di Donatello, De Santis died in Ukraine in 1996 on the set of Francesco Rosi'sLa tregua(The Truce, 1996).