Cecchi D'Amico, Suso

(1914-)

(Born Giovanna Cecchi.) Screenwriter. Married to musicologist Fedele D'Amico, and daughter of scholar, writer, and sometime artistic director of the Cines studios, Emilio Cecchi, Suso Cecchi D'Amico is universally acknowledged as perhaps the greatest, and certainly the most prolific, screen-writer in postwar Italian cinema, having written or collaborated on the screenplays of over 100 films in a career that has spanned six decades.

   With a background in literature and translation, Cecchi D'Amico first came to screenwriting working with her father and with director Renato Castellani on Mio figlio professore (Professor, My Son, 1946). A year later her contribution to the script of Luigi Zampa's Vivere in Pace (To Live in Peace, 1946) attracted a shared Nastro d'argento for Best Story. Having thus quickly discovered a natural talent for writing for the cinema, she subsequently contributed to practically all of the key films of the major postwar directors, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), Michelangelo Antonioni's La signora senza camelie (The Lady without Camelias, 1953), Mario Monicelli's I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958), and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She developed a particularly long and fruitful partnership with Luchino Visconti, working with him on most of his films from the 1950s onward, including Bellissima (1951), Senso (The Wanton Countess, 1954), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (Rocco and His Brothers, 1960), and Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), while at the same time also collaborating with Zampa on Processo alla citta (The City Stands Trial, 1952), with Castellani on Eprimavera (It's Forever Springtime, 1952) and Nella citta l'inferno (Hell in the City, 1959), and with Luigi Comencini on La finestra sul Luna-Park (The Window to Luna Park, 1956). Her filmography also includes most of Alessandro Blasetti's postwar films, among them Fabiola (1949), Prima comunione (Father's Dilemma, 1950), Peccato che sia una canaglia (Too Bad She's Bad, 1955) and Io, io, io . . . e gli altri (Me, Me, Me . . . and the Others, 1966).

   Widely respected as the doyenne of Italian screenwriters, she has continued to work with both established and emerging directors. Most recently, while helping Mario Monicelli turn out more caustic social satires such as Panni sporchi (Dirty Linen, 1999), she also collaborated with Martin Scorsese on his epic documentary on Italian cinema, My Voyage to Italy (1999). In a brilliant career that has spanned six decades, she has received the Nastro d'argento eight times, the David di Donatello twice, the special Luchino Visconti Award, and, in 1994, a special David for lifetime achievement.

   Historical Dictionary of Italian Cinema by Alberto Mira