Carlo Ponti

Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti Sr. Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (11 December 1912 – 10 January 2007) was an Italian movie producer. He made over 140 movies. He and Dino De Laurentiis were important in making Italian cinema popular again after World War II.^[1] He made some of the most important and successful Italian movies in the 1950s and 1960s.

Carlo Ponti Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI
Ponti in 1951
Born	Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti (1912-12-11)11 December 1912 Magenta, Lombardy, Kingdom of Italy
Died	10 January 2007(2007-01-10) (aged 94) Geneva, Switzerland
Alma mater	University of Milan
Spouses	Giuliana Fiastri ​ ​ (m. 1946; div. 1965)​ Sophia Loren ​ ​ (m. 1957; ann. 1962)​ ​ ​ (m. 1966)​
Children	4; including Carlo Jr. and Edoardo
Relatives	Maria Scicolone (sister-in-law) Sasha Alexander (daughter-in-law)
Honours	Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1st Class)

Ponti worked with many important Italian directors in the era. He worked with Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Vittorio De Sica. He also worked with international directors like Agnès Varda and David Lean. He helped his wife's career, Sophia Loren.

Ponti won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film for La Strada (1954). He was nominated for Best Picture for producing Doctor Zhivago (1965). In 1996, he became a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.^[2]

Early life

Ponti was born in Magenta, Lombardy. His grandfather was the mayor of Magenta. Ponti studied law at the University of Milan. He then joined his father's law firm in Milan. He negotiated many contracts in the movie business.^[3]

Movies

• Piccolo mondo antico (1940)
• Giacomo the Idealist (1943)
• A Yank in Rome (1946)
• To Live in Peace (1947)
• The White Primrose (1947)
• Prelude to Madness (1948)
• Hey Boy (1948)
• Alarm Bells (1949)
• The White Line (1950)
• Her Favourite Husband (1950)
• Figaro Here, Figaro There (1950)
• A Dog's Life (1950)
• The Knight Has Arrived! (1950)
• Toto the Third Man (1951)
• The Steamship Owner (1951)
• Europa '51 (1952)
• Brothers of Italy (1952)
• The Piano Tuner Has Arrived (1952)
• Toto in Color (1952)
• Lieutenant Giorgio (1952)
• Easy Years (1953)
• Le infedeli (1953)
• Carosello napoletano (1954)
• La strada (1954)
• The Doctor of the Mad (1954)
• Mambo (1954)
• Un americano a Roma (1954)
• L'oro di Napoli (1954)
• Attila (1954)
• The Miller's Beautiful Wife (1955)
• War and Peace (1956)
• Il ferroviere (1956)
• Guendalina (1957)
• The Black Orchid (1958)
• That Kind of Woman (1959)
• Heller in Pink Tights (1960)
• A Breath of Scandal (1960)
• Two Women (1960)
• Lola (1961)
• A Woman Is a Woman (1961)
• Léon Morin, prêtre (1961)
• Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962)
• Boccaccio '70 (1962)
• Le Doulos (1962)
• L'isola di Arturo (1962)
• Redhead (1962)
• The Empty Canvas (1963)
• Landru (1963)
• Les Carabiniers (1963)
• Contempt (1963)
• Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
• Marriage Italian Style (1964)
• Break Up (1965)
• Operation Crossbow (1965)
• The 10th Victim (1965)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• Closely Watched Trains (1965, uncredited)
• Blowup (1966)
• The Firemen's Ball (1967, uncredited)
• Smashing Time (1967, uncredited)
• La Ragazza e il Generale (1967)
• Ghosts – Italian Style (1968)
• Diamonds for Breakfast (1968)
• Zabriskie Point (1970)
• The Priest's Wife (1971)
• Oasis of Fear (1971)
• What? (1972)
• Giordano Bruno (1973)
• Torso (1973)
• Dirty Weekend (1973)
• Mr. Hercules Against Karate (1973)
• Flesh for Frankenstein (1973)
• Gawain and the Green Knight (1973)
• The Voyage (1974)
• The Passenger (1974)
• Sex Pot (1975)
• L'infermiera (1975)
• Brutti, sporchi e cattivi (1976)
• The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
• A Special Day (1977)