Tinto Brass, Italian director known for erotic films Caligula and 'Salon Kitty,' dies at 93
This is read by an automated voice.Please report any issues or inconsistencies here.
See more from the L.A.Times in Google Search.
Set us as preferred Tinto Brass, the avant-garde Italian director best known for 1970s erotic films “Caligula” and “Salon Kitty,” died Wednesday in Rome.He was 93.His wife, Caterina Varzi, and children Bonifacio and Beatrice Brass confirmed the director’s death to Italian press agency Ansa.Brass was born in Milan in 1933 but grew up in in Venice.
The son of a criminal lawyer, Brass graduated from the University of Padua in Northern Italy with a law degree in 1957, but he never felt the vocation suited him and instead packed his bags for Paris, where he followed his passion for cinema.In Paris, he worked as an editor and assistant at the Cinémathèque Française, an acclaimed film archive that doubled as a school for cinephiles founded by Henri Langlois and three friends.
When he returned to Italy, Brass worked under prominent Italian neorealist director Roberto Rossellini as an editor and assistant director.Entertainment & Arts Elke Sommer, the German actor known for her roles in 1960s Hollywood comedies and espionage films, has died at 85.In 1963, Brass made his feature directorial debut with “Who Works Is Lost,” a day in the life of an unmoored designer in Venice who questions the societal expectation of labor, which screened at the 1963 Venice International Film Festival.
The decade cemented Brass’ reputation as an experimental director with a rebellious spirit, and in the late ’60s, he was approached by Warner Bros to direct the film adaptation of Anthony Burgess’ dystopian novel, “A Clockwork Orange.” The deal fell through due to scheduling conflicts, but Brass would go on to work with the film’s title star, Malcolm McDowell, in his most famous film, “Caligula,” which was written by Gore Vidal and produced by Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione.McDowell starred as the sexually de...