Writing

Suso Cecchi d'Amico

Born July 21, 1914 · Rome, Lazio, Italy

Died July 30, 2010 · aged 96

Suso Cecchi D'Amico (1914–2010) was an Italian screenwriter and actress. The Italian screenwriter collaborated on the scripts of more than 100 films, including Vittorio De Sica's Ladri di Biciclette (Bicycle Thieves, 1948), William Wyler's Roman Holiday (1953), Mario Monicelli's I Soliti Ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street, 1958) and Francesco Rosi's Salvatore Giuliano (1962). She also worked with…

Known For

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday · 1953

MovieRomanceComedy

Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.

Bicycle Thieves

Bicycle Thieves · 1948

Bicycle Thieves

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

The Leopard

The Leopard · 1963

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life.

White Nights

White Nights · 1957

MovieDramaRomance

A middle-aged man meets a young woman who is waiting on a canal bridge for her lover's return.

It Started in Naples

It Started in Naples · 1960

It Started in Naples

MovieComedyRomance

Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, comes to Naples to settle the estate of his long estranged "black sheep" brother. Once there, he discovers that the deceased has left an 8 year old boy who is being raised by Michael's sister-in-law Lucia Curcio. To complicate matters, Lucia happens to be a sexy nightclub performer.

Rocco and His Brothers

Rocco and His Brothers · 1960

Rocco and His Brothers

MovieDramaRomance

When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.

Welcome to Collinwood

Welcome to Collinwood · 2002

Welcome to Collinwood

MovieComedyCrime

Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew · 1967

The Taming of the Shrew

MovieComedyRomance

Italy, 16th century. Petruchio, a choleric, lying and poor rural landowner from Verona, arrives in Padua in search of fortune and a wife, while Baptista, a wealthy merchant, announces that he will not allow Bianca, his youngest daughter, to marry until the temperamental and unruly Katherina, his eldest daughter, does.

Filmography

Sort

Roman Holiday

Roman Holiday · 1953

MovieRomanceComedy

Overwhelmed by her suffocating schedule, touring European princess Ann takes off for a night while in Rome. When a sedative she took from her doctor kicks in, however, she falls asleep on a park bench and is found by an American reporter, Joe Bradley, who takes her back to his apartment for safety. At work the next morning, Joe finds out Ann's regal identity and bets his editor he can get exclusive interview with her, but romance soon gets in the way.

Script Editor

Bicycle Thieves

Bicycle Thieves · 1948

Bicycle Thieves

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

Screenplay

The Leopard

The Leopard · 1963

As Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian family grudgingly adapts to the sweeping social changes undermining their way of life.

Screenplay

White Nights

White Nights · 1957

MovieDramaRomance

A middle-aged man meets a young woman who is waiting on a canal bridge for her lover's return.

Story

It Started in Naples

It Started in Naples · 1960

It Started in Naples

MovieComedyRomance

Mike Hamilton, a Philadelphia lawyer, comes to Naples to settle the estate of his long estranged "black sheep" brother. Once there, he discovers that the deceased has left an 8 year old boy who is being raised by Michael's sister-in-law Lucia Curcio. To complicate matters, Lucia happens to be a sexy nightclub performer.

Screenplay

Rocco and His Brothers

Rocco and His Brothers · 1960

Rocco and His Brothers

MovieDramaRomance

When a impoverished widow’s family moves to the big city, two of her five sons become romantic rivals with deadly results.

Dialogue

Welcome to Collinwood

Welcome to Collinwood · 2002

Welcome to Collinwood

MovieComedyCrime

Five hapless inner-city low-lifes attempt to burgle a pawnbroker's safe, but end up being plagued by bad luck.

Original Film Writer

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew · 1967

The Taming of the Shrew

MovieComedyRomance

Italy, 16th century. Petruchio, a choleric, lying and poor rural landowner from Verona, arrives in Padua in search of fortune and a wife, while Baptista, a wealthy merchant, announces that he will not allow Bianca, his youngest daughter, to marry until the temperamental and unruly Katherina, his eldest daughter, does.

Screenplay

Boccaccio '70

Boccaccio '70 · 1962

MovieComedyRomance

An anthology of four comic moral tales about the hypocrisies surrounding sex in 1960s Italy: frothy young love and office politics in the big city; milk advertisements that begin to haunt an aging prude; a trophy wife enduring her husband's very public affairs; a lucky ticket-holder at a small town fair.

Screenplay

Ludwig

MovieDramaHistory

Historical evocation of Ludwig, king of Bavaria, from his crowning in 1864 until his death in 1886, as a romantic hero. Fan of Richard Wagner, betrayed by him, in love with his cousin Elisabeth of Austria, abandoned by her, tormented by his homosexuality, he will little by little slip towards madness.

Screenplay

Big Deal on Madonna Street

Big Deal on Madonna Street · 1958

Big Deal on Madonna Street

MovieComedyCrime

Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.

Screenplay

Caravaggio

Caravaggio · 1986

MovieDramaHistory

A retelling of the life of the celebrated 17th-century Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio through his brilliant, nearly blasphemous paintings and his flirtations with the underworld.

Additional Writing

The Innocent

The Innocent · 1976

MovieDramaRomance

Tullio Hermil is a chauvinist aristocrat who flaunts his mistress to his wife, but when he believes she has been unfaithful he becomes enamored of her again.

Screenplay

The Queens

The Queens · 1966

Four comedic shorts explore quirky relationships and misadventures: a teenage girl's journey home, a self-serving babysitter, a husband confronting infidelity, and a wealthy woman's drunken escapades with her butler.

Screenplay

Senso

MovieRomanceDrama

A troubled and neurotic Italian Countess betrays her entire country for a self-destructive love affair with an Austrian Lieutenant.

Screenplay

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Brother Sun, Sister Moon · 1972

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

MovieDramaHistory

In his delirium from his return from war, Francesco Bernardone goes back in his memories to the days when he lived for parties and carnal pleasures. He slowly recovers, but after the illness he is no longer the Francesco that everybody knew. Instead of spending hours in taverns, he meditates on the beauty of God's creatures, soon renouncing his riches and his family with plans to rebuild an abandoned church and his life.

Screenplay

The Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio · 1972

The Adventures of Pinocchio

MovieFantasyDrama

Mastro Geppetto is a poor carpenter with no wife and no children. The man is very lonely, and after trading a piece of wood with his colleague Mastro Ciliegia, decides to build himself a puppet to keep him company.

Screenplay

Miracle in Milan

Miracle in Milan · 1951

Miracle in Milan

MovieComedyFantasy

Once upon a time a wise and kind old woman discovers a baby in her cabbage patch. She brings up the child and, when she dies, the boy, Totò, enters an orphanage. Totò leaves the orphanage a happy young man, and looks for work in post-war Milan. He ends up with the homeless and organizes them to build a shanty town in a vacant lot. But when greedy developers threaten the community’s land, Totò will need all the help he can get in order to find an impossible way out.

Co-Writer

The Stranger

The Stranger · 1967

Meursault is a man who feels utterly isolated from everyone and everything around him. This alienation results in sudden, inexplicable bursts of violence, culminating in murder.

Screenplay

The Final Inquiry

The Final Inquiry · 2007

The Final Inquiry

MovieDramaHistory

In 35 A.D., a Roman tribune is sent to Palestine to investigate the death and possible resurrection of a certain Jesus from Nazareth.

Original Story

Conversation Piece

Conversation Piece · 1974

Conversation Piece

MovieDramaRomance

A retired professor of American origin lives a solitary life in a luxurious palazzo in Rome. He is confronted by a vulgar Italian marchesa and her lover, her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend, and forced to rent to them an apartment on the upper floor of his palazzo. From this point on his quiet routine is turned into chaos by his tenants' machinations, and everybody's life takes an unexpected but inevitable turn.

Screenplay

Too Bad She's Bad

Too Bad She's Bad · 1954

Too Bad She's Bad

MovieRomanceComedy

When young and attractive Lina Stroppiani, a thief like the rest of her family, tries to steal the taxi of Paolo, together with two accomplices, she can't possibly know that this will have far reaching consequences.

Story

Why

Writer

I picari

I picari · 1987

The adventures of a couple of scoundrels in the Spain of the 16th century.

Story

Jesus of Nazareth

Jesus of Nazareth · 1977

Jesus of Nazareth

Dramatizes the Birth, Life, Ministry, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, largely according to the Holy Bible's New Testament Gospels.

Writer

The Adventures of Pinocchio

The Adventures of Pinocchio · 1972

The Adventures of Pinocchio

SeriesComedyFamily

Mastro Geppetto is a poor carpenter with no wife and no children. The man is very lonely, and when trading a piece of wood with his colleague Mastero Cherry, he decides to build himself a puppet to make him company.

Screenplay

History

History · 1986

SeriesDramaWar & Politics

The story of the half-Jewish Ida Raimundo and her two sons Antonio and Giuseppe in Rome, during and immediately after the Second World War.

Writer

Vita di Antonio Gramsci

Vita di Antonio Gramsci · 1981

Vita di Antonio Gramsci

SeriesWar & Politics

The life and times of Antonio Gramsci from the establishment of L'Ordine Nuovo newspaper in 1919 to his untimely death in 1937, encompassing the birth of the Italian Communist Party (PCd'I), Gramsci's visits to Moscow where he met his future spouse, his election to Parliament, anti-fascism, trial and conviction.

Teleplay

Cuore

Enrico Bottini, an engineering student, prepares to serve as an officer when Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary. At the train station, he meets Garrone, an old friend from elementary school, and begins to reminisce on the values instilled to him by both school and his father.

Screenplay