Tullio Pinelli

Born in Turin, Pinelli began his career as a civil lawyer but spent his free time working in the theatre as a playwright. He was descended from a long line of Italian patriots; his great-uncle General Ferdinando Pinelli quashed the bandit revolt in Calabria following Italian unification.^[1]

He met Fellini in a Rome kiosk in 1946 while they were reading opposite pages of the same newspaper. "Meeting each other", explained Pinelli, "was a creative lightning bolt. We spoke the same language from the start... We were fantasizing about a screenplay that would be the exact opposite of what was fashionable then: the story of a very shy and modest office worker who discovered he can fly; so he flaps his arms and escapes out the window. It certainly wasn't Italian neorealism. But the idea never went anywhere either."^[2] The anecdote about flying presages the opening scene of 8½ (1963) in which the protagonist, a prominent film director, who dreams of escape by flying out of his car caught in a traffic jam.

Pinelli died at the age of 100 on 7 March 2009 in Rome. He was married (from 1988) to the French-born actress Madeleine Lebeau, who had roles in 8½ and Casablanca (1942).

• His Young Wife (1945)
• The Adulteress (1946)
• The Bandit (1946)
• Bullet for Stefano (1947)
• The Opium Den (1947)
• L'amore (1948)
• Without Pity (1948)
• The Earth Cries Out (1948)
• In the Name of the Law (1949)
• The Mill on the Po (1949)
• Path of Hope (1950)
• Variety Lights (1950)
• Four Ways Out (1951)
• Cameriera bella presenza offresi... (1951)
• The Bandit of Tacca Del Lupo (1952)
• The White Sheik (1952)
• Pietà per chi cade (1953)
• I Vitelloni (1953)
• Love in the City (1953)
• Symphony of Love (1954)
• The Lovers of Manon Lescaut (1954)
• La Strada (1954)
• Il bidone (1955)
• The Wolves (1956)
• Nights of Cabiria (1957)
• Fortunella, (1958)
• Herod the Great (1958)
• La Dolce Vita (1960)
• Adua and Her Friends (1960)
• Boccaccio '70 (1962)
• Careless (1962)
• The Steppe (1962)
• 8½ (1963)
• The Three Faces (1965)
• The Gaucho (1965)
• Juliet of the Spirits (1965)
• Francesco di Assisi (1966)
• The Climax (1967)
• Check to the Queen (1969)
• Galileo (1969)
• Sweet Charity (1969)
• Serafino (1969)
• How, When and with Whom (1969)
• Help Me, My Love (1969)
• A Pocketful of Chestnuts (1970)
• The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970)
• Alfredo Alfredo (1972)
• Amore e ginnastica (1973)
• My Friends (1975)
• Down the Ancient Staircase (1975)
• Lovers and Liars (1979)
• Il Marchese del Grillo (1981)
• All My Friends Part 2 (1982)
• Amici miei - Atto III (1985)
• Ginger and Fred (1986)
• Let's Hope It's a Girl (1986)
• Mano rubata (1989)
• The Voice of the Moon (1990)