Furio Scarpelli, “father of 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 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 Italy 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 Italy for the comedies he wrote with “Age” about particularly vices. His funeral will take place in Rome on Friday.
Have you seen any of Scarpelli’s fims?
