Birthday:
04-28-1919
Deathday:
06-05-2000 (81 years)
Birthplace:
Florence, Tuscany, Italy
Biography
Franco Rossi (19 April 1919, Florence – 5 June 2000, Rome) was an Italian film screenwriter and director, mainly known for having directed the six-hour Italian-German-British-Swiss TV mini-series Quo Vadis? in 1985.
Rossi was born in Florence, Italy. He studied law and then began to work on theatre. He was assistant director of Mario Camerini, Luis Trenker, Renato Castellani, Aldo Vergano. Rossi made his debut as a director with the crime thriller I Falsari. He went on to have his first success with Il seduttore, starring by Alberto Sordi, and among Rossi's other films were The Woman in the Painting (Amici per la pelle, 1955), Odissea Nuda (1961), "Smog" (1962), Three Nights of Love (1964), an episode of Le bambole (1965), and Porgi l'altra guancia with Bud Spencer in (1974).
Rossi was one of the first established Italian film directors also doing work for television, being one of the three directors for the 1968 mini-series L'Odissea. His largest TV undertaking was directing the international co-production of the six-hour mini-series Quo Vadis? in 1985.
Rossi was born in Florence, Italy. He studied law and then began to work on theatre. He was assistant director of Mario Camerini, Luis Trenker, Renato Castellani, Aldo Vergano. Rossi made his debut as a director with the crime thriller I Falsari. He went on to have his first success with Il seduttore, starring by Alberto Sordi, and among Rossi's other films were The Woman in the Painting (Amici per la pelle, 1955), Odissea Nuda (1961), "Smog" (1962), Three Nights of Love (1964), an episode of Le bambole (1965), and Porgi l'altra guancia with Bud Spencer in (1974).
Rossi was one of the first established Italian film directors also doing work for television, being one of the three directors for the 1968 mini-series L'Odissea. His largest TV undertaking was directing the international co-production of the six-hour mini-series Quo Vadis? in 1985.
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The Two Missionaries
Screenplay
event1974 star_border 6.5
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Two missionaries come into conflict with the authorities when they turn their missionary into a parrot farm. The Bishop of Maracaibo calls them his 'black sheep' and the Monsignore has been called to check on their behavior. Like usual, our heroes help the poor to defend themselves and provoke some funny fist fights in the process.
The Witches
Director
event1967 star_border 6.1
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Five short stories loosely dealing with the roles of women in society. A superstar actress travels to a mountain resort, only to evoke jealousy from women and lust from men. A woman offers to take an injured man to the hospital. A widowed father and his son seek for a new wife/mother. A man seeks revenge for a woman's honor. A bored housewife tries to explain to her husband that he's not as romantic as he used to be.
Odissea
Director
event1968 star_border 7.7
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Odysseus' journey told in Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. After fighting in the Trojan War, Odysseus spends years trying to return home to Itaka.
Solo per te Lucia
Director
event1952
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A young mother tries to hide her son from the man who is in love with her.
High Infidelity
Director
event1964 star_border 5.3
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Four different directors present lighthearted stories about married Italian couples and their dilemmas with jealousy, sex and love.
The Counterfeiters
Director
event1951
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Producers of phony currency become the object of a crackdown by law enforcement agencies.
The Dolls
Director
event1965 star_border 5.7
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This semi-amusing sex (romance) comedy has four separate stories: "The Telephone Call", written by Rodolfo Sonego, directed by Dino Risi. "A Treatise on Eugenics", written by Tullio Pinelli from a story by Luciano Salce and Steno, directed by Luigi Comencini. "The Soup", written by Rodolfo Sonego and Luigi Magni, directed by Franco Rossi. "Monsignor Cupid", written by Leo Benvenuti and Piero de Bernardi from a story by Boccaccio, directed by Mauro Bolognini.
The Seducer
Director
event1954 star_border 6.4
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Alberto is forced to face his wife and his two lovers at the same time.
Complexes
Director
event1965 star_border 7
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In the first episode, Quirino tries to conquer co-worker Gabriella. In the second episode, Prof. Beozi ends up in a raid of the police in a local for homosexuals when trying to avoid a scandal. In the third episode, Guglielmo passes all tests in order to become reader of the television news brilliantly, although the commission works with all subtleness's to exclude him.
Smog
Story
event1962 star_border 5.6
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An ambitious Italian attorney has his flight delayed in Los Angeles. The vapid lawyer goes to some parties with some Italians living there and has a brief affair with a beautiful Italian expatriate.
Calypso
Writer
event1957
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CALYPSO (1958) was entirely shot on location in the Antilles archipelago with mostly non-professional actors and was released in colour and Cinemascope. It was a kind of follow-up to the previous Italian exotic documentary films from the 1950s and especially to L´ULTIMO PARADISO.
Friends for Life
Director
event1955 star_border 6.2
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Mario and the new kid Franco gradually become the best of friends, but their friendship is tested when one of them wins a competition.
Caprice Italian Style
Director
event1968 star_border 6.2
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The film consists of six short stories created by different directors, but all the stories share one thing: a warm irony to current events.
Odissea nuda
Director
event1961
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A director arrives in Tahiti to make a film, but soon he lets himself be captured by the exotic charm of the local places and beauties. with E. Salerno.
Three Nights of Love
Director
event1964 star_border 5.8
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Omnibus film with individual segments directed by Renato Castellani, Luigi Comencini and Franco Rossi; all of them starring the radiant Catherine Spaak as "out of place" women longing for love, in a Sicillian village, a monastery, and a modern Italian urban setting, respectively.
L'altra metà del cielo
Screenplay
event1977 star_border 6
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Don Vincenzo, a priest sent to a mining village in Australia, seeks to redeem the Sicilian Susanna.
Death of a Friend
Screenplay
event1960 star_border 6
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Two young people trickle, steal and exploit prostitutes.
Pure as a Lily
Director
event1976 star_border 2
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Anthony M. Wilson is an English gentleman. He has a string of restaurants in London plus a beautiful house decorated with all the trendy art he can get.
Everyone's in Love
Supervising Technical Director
event1959 star_border 5.3
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Giovanni is a young widower with a son who is attracted to the charming teen Allegra.
The Outlaws
First Assistant Director
event1950 star_border 6
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Turi, having returned to Sicily from abroad, learns that his sister Maruzza is the lover of Cosimo Barrese, a militant of the Movement for the Independence of Sicily, who, abandoned by everyone, has become a bandit. The two would like to get married, but life as an outlaw seems an insurmountable obstacle. Turi asks for revenge on the bandit who has dishonored the family and uses a shady and devious lawyer to drive him into a trap.
A Child Called Jesus
Director
event1987 star_border 6.6
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The film attempts to fill in the "missing years" of Jesus, from ages 3 through 12. When King Herod fearing that the Messiah has indeed been born, orders that all Hebrew male children under the age of three be slain, Joseph moves his family near Egypt. Here, Jesus, sensing His divinity, expresses a desire to return to Nazareth. Travelling homeward with His mother Mary, Jesus flashes forward to events that will unfold in his adult life.
A Rose for Everyone
Writer
event1967 star_border 4.5
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A vivacious woman tries to please all of her lovers but finds she can't handle the jealousy that erupts among them.
La cognatina
Production Supervisor
event1975 star_border 4
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After a few years in a boarding school for nuns, young and provocative Monica returns to the village, eager to win as many children as possible. All men lose their heads for her. Later her sister, Sabina who runs a pharmacy arrives with her new husband and she can't manage to keep her hands off her new brother-in-law. It succeeds so well that it reduces the entire local soccer team to its knees.
La passeggiata
Screenplay
event1953
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A meek and simple-minded boarding school teacher falls in love with a prostitute and gets the boot from school. He tries to have her change her way of living but she is very hard to convince. When she finally realizes he really loves her it is too late.
Controsesso
Director
event1964 star_border 6.4
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A vivid assortment consisted of three acts taken from the lives of modern 1960s Italians, always in orbit around the restless theme of sexual inhibition and the pursuit of pleasure in sex.
The Mighty Anselmo and His Squire
Production Supervisor
event1972 star_border 5.2
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After having challenged the German Ottone to single combat for the hand of Leonza, the bishop's niece, the valiant knight Anselmo da Montebello, leaves for Rome where he must deliver a precious relic to the Pope and obtain a sum of twenty-thousand crowns in order to participate in the third crusade in the Holy Land. He is accompanied by Gian Puccio, his sluggish squire, drawn by the money and by the charm of ... Leonzia.
Love at First Sight
Screenplay
event1958
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Love at First Sight is an Italian movie directed by Franco Rossi.
Ivanhoe, the Norman Swordsman
Production Secretary
event1971 star_border 4.5
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Year 1000. At the death of King Henry, Stefano Cunningam seized with the power of power making himself crowned king of England and Scotland. Ten years later, a young Norman, Ivanhoe, returning home from the Holy Land where he fought, finds the nation prey to the violence and cruelty of Stephen and his acolytes. Conducted in prison for his opposition to the usurper, Ivanhoe learns from York, former advisor to King Henry, also held prisoner, that the "Norman sword", symbol of the power of the king of England and Scotland is not in the hands of Stefano, but is guarded by a Scottish clan loyal to the dynasty of Henry.
Eneide
Director (7 ep.)
event1971 star_border 8.3
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A 7 part adaptation of the epic tale of Aeneas, written by Virgil as the Roman sequel to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.
Il giovane Garibaldi
Writer (6 ep.)
event1974
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Miniseries about the early life of Garibaldi.
Quo Vadis?
Director (6 ep.)
event1985 star_border 5.4
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Drama about love and intrigues in ancient Rome during the times of Nero.
The Odyssey
Director (8 ep.)
event1968 star_border 8.8
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Italian miniseries based on Homer's Odyssey.
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