Visconti, Luchino, real name Count Don Luchino Visconti Di Morone 1906-76
Italian stage and film director

Born in Milan, an early interest in music and the theatre led him to stage designing and the production of opera (notably his stagings at La Scala for Maria Callas), and ballet. A short spell as assistant to Jean Renoir turned his attention to the cinema. His first film as director, Ossessione (1942, 'Obsession'), took Italy by storm, in spite of trouble from the Fascist censors. In that film, and in La Terra Trema (1947, The Earth Trembles) and Rocco e i suoi Fratelli (1960, Rocco and His Brothers), he showed the strict realism, formal beauty and concern with social problems which are the hallmarks of all his films. These include Il Gattopardo (1963, The Leopard), La Caduta degli Dei (1969, The Damned) and Morte a Venezia (1971, Death in Venice).