Furio Scarpelli, “father of Italian comedy” and screenwriter of over 120 films, died in Rome at the age of 90 yesterday.
Scarpelli enjoyed a working partnership with , known as “Age”, from the 1940s to the 1980s and together they wrote the screenplay for the Italian western , which was directed by and starred Clint Eastwood.
The two also wrote films for the comic and the screenplays for comedies starring and . One of their most famous films outside ý is “I soliti ignoti” [, 1958], a story about a group of rather inept thieves.
Scarpelli and “Age” were nominated for two Oscars as screenwriters, the first for “I Compagni” [“The Organizer”, 1963], about exploited textile workers in Turin at the beginning of the twentieth century, and the second for [1965].
After the pair went their separated ways Scarpelli was also nominated for the screenplay of [1994].
Scarpelli will be best remembered in ý for the comedies he wrote with “Age” about particularly Italian vices. His funeral will take place in Rome on Friday.
Have you seen any of Scarpelli’s fims?
