Delli Colli, Tonino

(1923-2005)

   Cinematographer. Delli Colli began his long career at Cinecitta in 1938, initially working as cameraman and assistant to Ubaldo Arata and Anchise Brizzi. His first film as director of photography was Finalmente si (Finally Yes, 1944), a Titanus production in the line of the so-called white telephone films, directed by Laszlo Kish.

   In the postwar period he photographed a number of otherwise unremarkable films before shooting the first Italian color film, Totb a colori (Totb in Color, 1952), directed by Steno and Marie Monicelli. After a host of undistinguished Italian-American productions, Delli Colli was recruited by Pier Paolo Pasolini for his first film, Accattone (Accattone! 1961). He subsequently served as director of photography on all of Pasolini's major films (12 in all) while at the same time also working with Sergio Leone on Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, 1966), Cera una volta il West (Once upon a Time in the West, 1968) and Cera una volta in America (Once upon a Time in America, 1982); with Federico Fellini on Intervista (Interview, 1986), Ginger e Fred (Ginger and Fred, 1985), and Le voci della luna (The Voices of the Moon, 1989); with Lina Wertmiiller on Pasqualino Settebellezze (Seven Beauties, 1975); with Mario Monicelli on I nuovi mostri (The New Monsters, 1977); and with Marco Ferreri on Storie di ordinaria follia (Tales of Ordinary Madness, 1981). In 1994 he photographed Roberto Benigni's Oscar-winning international success, La vita e bella (Life Is Beautiful, 1994). He also collaborated with many distinguished foreign directors, photographing Luis Malle's Lacombe Lucien (1974), Roman Polanski's Bitter Moon (1992) and Death and the Maiden (1994), and Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose (1986).

   In a career that spanned more than 60 years, Delli Colli won four David di Donatello and six Nastro d'argento awards. In 2005, in recognition of his international standing, the American Society of Cinematographers also gave him their International Life Achievement Award.