Visconti, Luchino

Visconti, Luchino (1906-1976), Italian director of films, operas, plays, and ballets. Visconti was born into an aristocratic family in Milan. After military service in the cavalry, he spent the period from 1929 to 1936 breeding racehorses and travelling. He took part in the anti-Fascist resistance of 1943 and 1944, and in a number of left-wing political campaigns after World War II.

Visconti was assistant to the French director Jean Renoir on his film Une Partie de Campagne (1936; A Day in the Country). The first film he directed, Ossessione (1943), is often regarded as one of the first examples of Italian Neo-Realism (see Italian Cinema). His many other films include the opulent historical dramas Senso (1954; The Wanton Countess), La Caduta Degli Dei (1969; The Damned), and Ludwig (1973); other Neo-Realist films, such as Rocco e i suoi Fratelli (1960; Rocco and his Brothers); and literary adaptations such as Le Notti Bianche (1957; White Nights), from a story by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Il Gattopardo (1963; The Leopard), from Giuseppe di Lampedusa's novel, and Morte a Venezia (1971; Death in Venice), from a story by Thomas Mann.

From 1945 onward, Visconti also directed plays, ballets, and operas in a number of European cities. His production of the opera La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi, at La Scala opera house in Milan in 1955, was outstandingly successful with critics and audiences and was one of several starring the Greek soprano Maria Callas. Visconti died in Rome on March 17, 1976.