Agostino "Dino" De Laurentiis (; 8 August 1919 – 10 November 2010) was an Italian and American film producer and businessman. Following a brief acting career in the late 1930s and early 1940s, he moved into film production; alongside Carlo Ponti, he brought Italian cinema to the international scene in the post-World War II period.
He produced or co-produced over 500 films, with 38 of his Hollywood films receiving Academy Award nominations. He was also the creator and operator of DDL Foodshow, a chain of Italian specialty foods stores.
Early life Agostino De Laurentiis was born in Torre Annunziata, Kingdom of Italy, on 8 August 1919. He grew up selling spaghetti made by his father's pasta factory. His older brother, Luigi De Laurentiis (1917–1992), later followed him into film production. He studied at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 1937 and 1938, but his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of World War II.
Film career De Laurentiis produced his first film, L'ultimo Combattimento, in 1941. His company, the Dino de Laurentiis Cinematografica, moved into film production in 1946. In the early years, De Laurentiis produced Italian neorealist films such as Bitter Rice (1949) and the early Fellini works La Strada (1954) and Nights of Cabiria (1956), often in collaboration with producer Carlo Ponti.
In the 1960s, De Laurentiis built his own studio facilities. He produced such films as Barabbas (1961), a Christian religious epic; The Bible: In the Beginning... (1966); Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), a spoof of the James Bond films; Navajo Joe (1966), a spaghetti Western; Anzio (1968), a World War II film; Barbarella (1968) and Danger: Diabolik (1968), both successful comic book adaptations; and The Valachi Papers (1972), released before its originally scheduled date in order to capitalize on the popularity of The Godfather. The company had its first-look deal in North America with Paramount Pictures to distribute most of the company's productions since the 1950s.
In 1973, De Laurentiis relocated his headquarters to New York and he was reportedly considering to produce an American television series. His studio financially collapsed during the 1970s. In the 1980s, he had his own studio: De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG) based in Wilmington, North Carolina. The studio made Wilmington an unexpected center of film and television production. After DEG collapsed, he then founded The Film & Television Company. In 1990, he obtained backing from an Italian friend and formed another company: Dino De Laurentiis Communications in Beverly Hills. Also in late 1990, the company signed a two-picture deal with Universal Pictures to distribute the company's productions.
De Laurentiis produced a number of successful films, including The Scientific Cardplayer (1972), Serpico (1973), Death Wish (1974), Mandingo (1975), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Shootist (1976), Drum (1976), Ingmar Bergman's The Serpent's Egg (1977), Ragtime (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), Blue Velvet (1986) and Breakdown (1997). De Laurentiis' name became well known through the 1976 King Kong remake, which was a commercial hit; Lipstick (1976), a rape and revenge drama; Orca (1977), a killer whale film; The White Buffalo (1977), a western; the disaster movie Hurricane (1979); the remake of Flash Gordon (1980); David Lynch's Dune (1984); The Bounty (1984); and King Kong Lives (1986).
De Laurentiis produced several adaptations of Stephen King works, including The Dead Zone (1983), Cat's Eye (1985), Silver Bullet (1985), and Maximum Overdrive (1986). De Laurentiis' company was involved with the horror sequels Halloween II (1981), Evil Dead II (1987), and Army of Darkness (1992). De Laurentiis also produced the first Hannibal Lecter film, Manhunter (1986), an adaptation of the Thomas Harris novel Red Dragon. He passed on adapting the novels' sequel, The Silence of the Lambs (1991), but produced the two follow-ups, Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002), a re-adaptation of the novel. He also produced the prequel Hannibal Rising (2007), which tells the story of how Hannibal becomes a serial killer.
DDL Foodshow DDL Foodshow was an Italian specialty foods store with three locations: two in New York City and one in Beverly Hills. They were opened in the mid-1980s, and were owned and operated by De Laurentiis.
The first store was opened in the restored palm court in the ornate lobby of the historic Endicott Hotel, now a co-op on Manhattan's Upper West Side, near the existing Zabar's food emporium on Broadway.Greene, Gael, "Dino's Food Show", New York Magazine, 20 December 1982. Cf. p.82. The first NYC store opened in November 1982, and it was reported that the store "opened to crowds of 30,000 over the Thanksgiving weekend, when de Laurentiis himself greeted customers at the door". The store's assistant manager said that "it was like the premiere of a movie".
The food critic Gael Greene wrote a scathing review on the opening in New York. In an interview with the Chicago Tribune a month later, she admitted that the store was "probably the most stunningly handsome grocery in the world, certainly in New York", but "the pricing was insane. They hadn't paid enough attention to the competition." She reported that she'd talked to De Laurentiis: "Dino's reaction was that I'm full of it. And we're meeting over a bowl of pasta to discuss it." A review in The San Francisco Examiner said that it was "worth a peek and a purchase".Sifton, Sam, "Eataly Offers Italy by the Ounce", The New York Times, 19 October 2010
The stores closed less than two years after opening, due in part to the poor reviews and lower sales than expected. When the stores first opened, de Laurentiis had estimated that the Upper West Side location would need to take in $75,000 to $80,000 a week to break even; after the closing, he stated that the store had never turned a profit. Restauranteur Hans W. Pauli, who took over the space, renamed it and cut the staff from 100 to 30; he stated that it would have actually taken "closer to $200,000 a week" to break even.
Personal life De Laurentiis' brief first marriage in Italy was annulled.
In 1949, De Laurentiis married Italian-British actress Silvana Mangano, with whom he had four children: Veronica, an author and actress; Raffaella, a fellow film producer; Federico, also a film producer who died in a plane crash in 1981; and Francesca. His granddaughter through Veronica is chef Giada De Laurentiis, while his nephew through his brother Luigi is fellow film producer Aurelio De Laurentiis. He and Mangano divorced in 1988, and she died of lung cancer the following year.
Having lived in the U.S. since 1976, De Laurentiis became an American citizen in 1986.
In 1990, De Laurentiis married American producer Martha Schumacher, who had produced many of his films since 1985. They had two daughters named Carolyna and Dina and remained married until his death in 2010. Schumacher died of cancer in 2021.
Death On 10 November 2010, at the age of 91, De Laurentiis died at his home in Beverly Hills, California.
Awards and recognitions In 1957, De Laurentiis and Carlo Ponti won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for producing La Strada (1954). This was a unique occasion when the producers' names were included in the nominations, and they, not the director Federico Fellini, received the award.
In 2001, De Laurentiis received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In 2012, he was posthumously honored with the America Award by the Italy–USA Foundation.
Filmography Producer Year Title Director(s) 1946 Black Eagle Riccardo Freda The Bandit Alberto Lattuada 1947 The Captain's Daughter Mario Camerini Bullet for Stefano Duilio Coletti 1948 Bitter Rice Giuseppe De Santis The Street Has Many Dreams Mario Camerini 1949 The Wolf of the Sila Duilio Coletti 1950 I'm in the Revue Mario Soldati 1951 Anna Alberto Lattuada 1952 Europe '51 Roberto Rossellini Lieutenant Giorgio Raffaello Matarazzo Toto in Color Steno 1953 Funniest Show on Earth Mario Mattoli The Unfaithfuls Mario Monicelli Man, Beast and Virtue Steno 1954 La Strada Federico Fellini Attila Pietro Francisci Woman of Rome Luigi Zampa The Gold of Naples Vittorio De Sica Where Is Freedom? Roberto Rossellini A Slice of Life Alessandro BlasettiPaul Paviot An American in Rome Steno Ulysses Mario Camerini 1955 The River Girl Mario Soldati Mambo Robert Rossen The Miller's Beautiful Wife Mario Camerini 1956 War and Peace King Vidor Nights of Cabiria Federico Fellini1958 This Angry Age René Clément Tempest Alberto Lattuada 1959 The Great War Mario Monicelli 1960 Everybody Go Home Luigi Comencini Five Branded Women Martin Ritt Under Ten Flags Duilio Coletti Crimen Mario Camerini The Hunchback of Rome Carlo Lizzani 1961 The Last Judgment Vittorio De Sica A Difficult Life Dino Risi Black City Duilio Coletti 1962 The Italian Brigands Mario Camerini 1963 Il Boom Vittorio De Sica The Verona Trial Carlo Lizzani 1964 My Wife Luigi ComenciniMauro BologniniTinto Brass 1966 The Bible: In the Beginning John Huston Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die Henry Levin Navajo Joe Sergio Corbucci 1967 The Stranger Luchino ViscontiMatchless Alberto LattuadaThe Witches Luchino ViscontiMauro BologniniPier Paolo PasoliniFranco RossiVittorio De Sica 1968 Danger: Diabolik Mario Bava Barbarella Roger Vadim Anzio Edward DmytrykDuilio Coletti Bandits in Milan Carlo Lizzani Caprice Italian Style Mauro BologniniMario MonicelliPier Paolo PasoliniSteno 1969 Fräulein Doktor Alberto Lattuada Brief Season Renato Castellani The Bandit Carlo Lizzani 1970 A Man Called Sledge Vic Morrow Waterloo Sergei Bondarchuk The Deserter Burt Kennedy 1972 The Valachi Papers Terence Young The Assassin of Rome Damiano Damiani The Most Wonderful Evening of My Life Ettore Scola 1973 Mean Frank and Crazy Tony Michele Lupo 1974 Two Missionaries Franco Rossi Crazy Joe Carlo Lizzani Three Tough Guys Duccio Tessari 1975 Mandingo Richard Fleischer 1976 King Kong John Guillermin The Serpent's Egg Ingmar Bergman The Shootist Don Siegel 1979 Hurricane Jan Troell 1980 Flash Gordon Mike Hodges 1981 Ragtime Miloš Forman 1985 Marie Roger Donaldson Cat's Eye Lewis Teague Year of the Dragon Michael Cimino Red Sonja Richard Fleischer 1987 Million Dollar Mystery Hiding Out Bob Giraldi Evil Dead II Sam Raimi The Bedroom Window Curtis Hanson From the Hip Bob Clark 1989 Collision Course Lewis Teague 1990 Sometimes They Come Back Tom McLoughlin Desperate Hours Michael Cimino 1992 Once Upon a Crime Eugene Levy Kuffs Bruce A. Evans Body of Evidence Uli Edel 1995 Solomon & Sheba Robert Young Slave of Dreams 1996 Unforgettable John Dahl 1997 Breakdown Jonathan Mostow 2000 U-571 2001 Hannibal Ridley Scott 2002 Red Dragon Brett Ratner 2007 Hannibal Rising Peter Webber Virgin Territory David Leland
Executive producer
Year Title Director1961 Goliath and the Vampires Sergio CorbucciGiacomo Gentilomo The Best of Enemies Guy Hamilton Io amo, tu ami Alessandro Blasetti1962 The Police Commissioner Luigi Comencini Mafioso Alberto Lattuada 1973 Serpico Sidney Lumet 1976 Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson Robert Altman1978 The First Great Train Robbery Michael Crichton King of the Gypsies Frank Pierson 1984 The Bounty Roger Donaldson1986 Raw Deal John Irvin Maximum Overdrive Stephen King Tai-Pan Daryl Duke 1992 Army of Darkness Sam Raimi 1995 Assassins Richard Donner Uncredited