Offscreen Notes
Francesco Rosi, Anita Ekberg, RIP
Bad week for lovers of Italian cinema, with the deaths of the great director Francesco Rosi (at age 92 on Janaury 10, 2015) and Anita Ekberg, who died a day later at age 83 also in Italy. Ekberg was born in Sweden but chose to live in the country which gave the most to her acting career, Italy, where her appearance as Marcello’s angelic muse/fantasy in the Trevi Fountain in La Dolce Vita is arguably one of the most famous moments in cinema history. My personal favorite of her roles is as the uptight conservative Dr. Antonio Mazzuolo’s 50 foot fantasy terror billboard woman come to life in Fellini’s contribution to the omnibus film Boccaccio 70. Rosi was a writer/director of several key films of the 1960s, mixing a neo neo-realist aesthetic with contemporary social issues in such classics as Salvatore Giuliano (a huge influence on Martin Scorsese and the gangster/crime genres), Hands Over the City, The Mattei Affair, Lucky Luciano and Christ Stopped at Eboli.
