PINELLI, TULLIO

(1908-)

Playwright and screenwriter. After graduating in jurisprudence, Pinelli alternated between practicing as a lawyer and writing plays, becoming, by the early 1940s, one of Italy's most respected contemporary playwrights. At this time he also began working as a screenwriter, one of his first efforts being the screenplay ofMario Bonnard'sCampo de' Fiori(Peddler and the Lady, 1943), which he cowrote withFederico Fellini.

In the immediate postwar period, Pinelli collaborated extensively withAlberto Lattuada, helping to writeIl bandito(The Bandit, 1946),Senza pieta(Without Pity, 1948), andIl Mulino del Po(The Mill on the Po, 1948) and worked withPietro GermionIn nome della legge(In the Name of the Law, 1949) andIl cammino della speranza(Path of Hope, 1950) before collaborating with both Fellini and Lattuada onLuci del varieta(Variety Lights, 1950).From then on, usually together withEnnio Flaiano, he was Fellini's regular screenwriter on all the latter's major films up toGiulietta degli spiriti(Juliet of the Spirits, 1965), which includedLa dolce vita(1960), for which he shared an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay and aNastro d'argentofor Best Original Story, a success repeated withOtto e mezzo(8'A, 1963). After a number of years away from Fellini, during which he worked again with Pietro Germi as well as withAntonio Pietrangeli,Liliana Cavani, andMario Monicelli, he returned to write Fellini's last two films,Ginger e Fred(Ginger and Fred, 1986) andLa voce della luna(The Voice of the Moon, 1990). He subsequently retired from screenwriting but in 1998 published his first novel,La casa di Robespierre(Robespierre's House).