SONEGO, RODOLFO

(1921-2000)

Screenwriter. One of the most respected screenwriters in postwar Italian cinema, Sonego studied drawing at the Turin Academy of Fine Arts before taking part in theResistancemovement during World War II. Following the war he moved to Rome where he wrote and directed a number of documentaries on scientific and art-historical subjects for theLux Filmcompany. After earning his first screenwriting credit on Giorgio Ferroni'sTombolo, paradiso nero(Tombolo, 1947), he worked withCarlo LizzanionAchtung! Banditi!(Attention! Bandits!1951) and helped to writeAlberto Lattuada'sAnna(1951) andLa spiaggia(Riviera, 1953).Having met actorAlberto Sordion the set of Franco Rossi'sIl seduttore(The Seducer, 1954), Sonego initiated what would become a lifelong personal and professional relationship that would see him as a regular screenwriter on practically all of the films in which Sordi either acted or directed, thus allowing him an opportunity to modulate Sordi's characters as time went on so as to present a composite portrait of the changing face of the ordinary Italian male. Among the host of films he penned for Sordi wereIl vedovo(The Widower, 1959) andUna vita difficile(A Difficult Life, 1961), directed byDino Risi;Il vigile(The Traffic Policeman, 1960) andBello, onesto, emigrato in Australia sposerebbe compaesana illibata(A Girl in Australia, 1971), directed byLuigi Zampa;Un eroe dei nostri tempi(A Hero of Our Times, 1955), directed byMario Monicelli; and, directed by Sordi himself,Un italiano in America(An Italian in America, 1967),In viaggio con papa(Journey with Papa, 1982),Un tassinaro a New York(A Taxi Driver in New York, 1987), andIl comune senso del pudore(A Common Sense of Modesty, 1976). His numerous other screenwriting credits include collaborations withMario CamerinionI briganti italiani(The Italian Brigands, 1962), withTinto BrassonIl disco volante(The Flying Saucer, 1964), and withVittorio De SicaonUna breve vacanza(A Brief Vacation, 1973).