Negroni, Baldassare

(1877-1948)

   Director. Descended from a noble Roman family and bearing the title of count, Negroni studied law and worked in finance until 1911 when he joined the Cines, first as cameraman and then as a scriptwriter. In 1912, together with Gioacchino Mecheri, he founded the Celio Film Company, for which he directed a series of elegant melodramas featuring Francesca Bertini, Alberto Collo, and Emilio Ghione. After making four films starring Hesperia, a diva with whom he would work extensively and then marry in 1923, he codirected (with Gustavo Serena) the much-acclaimed musical pantomime Histoire d'un Pierrot (Pierrot, the Prodigal, 1913). He subsequently transferred to Milano Film, where he directed Hesperia in another dozen films, including a version of La signora delle camelie (The Lady of the Camelias, 1915). After being part of the ill-fated trust the Unione Cinematografica Italiana (UCI) in the early 1920s, Negroni joined the Stefano Pittaluga company, for which he directed, among others, Il vetturale di Moncenisio (The Courier of Moncenisio, 1927) and Giuditta e Oloferne (Judith and Holofernes, 1928), both of which starred Bartolomeo Pagano (Maciste) in two of his last roles. From the early 1930s Negroni worked mostly as production manager, the last film he produced being Mario Mattoli's La vita ricomincia (Life Begins Anew, 1945).

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira