Dino Is Done

We were sorry to hear about the death yesterday of Italian-born film producer Dino De Laurentiis. At 91 years old, and with six decades of experience in the movie-making game, he boasted of an impressive résumé to show around--though, as The HMSS Weblog notes, De Laurentiis’ body of work “encompassed the schlocky and the serious.”

Included among his better-remembered works are Barbarella (1968), Serpico (1973), Death Wish (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Shootist (1976), King Kong (1976), Ragtime (1981), Conan the Barbarian (1982), The Bounty (1984), Manhunter (1986), Blue Velvet (1986), and Hannibal Rising (2006). De Laurentiis also produced the James Bondish Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966), which featured Mike Connors (later to star in the long-running Mannix TV series). His television ventures aren’t as well-remembered, but they included movies-of-the-week such as Solomon & Sheba (1995) and the short-running, 1976 crime drama Serpico, based on the earlier film.

De Laurentiis was the grandfather of chef, author, and TV personality Giada De Laurentiis. The Los Angeles Times has more on his career here.