Carlo Ponti, 1912 - 2007.

Carlo Ponti, one of Italy's best known film producers and the husband of actress Sophia Loren, has died at the age of 94, his family said on Wednesday. In his 50-year career, Ponti produced more than 150 films, including La Strada in 1954 and Dr Zhivago in 1965. But he was equally famous for discovering a teenager Loren and turning her into one of the world's most glamorous stars.

Silvia Aloisi and Antonella Cinelli for Reuters.

Updated through 1/11.

Although he produced some light comedies in the early 1940s, Carlo Ponti's reputation as a producer fortuitously coincided with the rise of Italian neorealism from 1943 to 1950.... Many of Ponti's films made without Loren after 1960 were Franco-Italian films which were noted for big stars, large budgets, lush settings, and romantic sentimentality, but he also produced some remarkable films by major directors: Godard's political films and Antonioni's Blow-Up, Zabriskie Point and The Passenger. In addition, there were films by Agnès Varda, Claude Chabrol, De Sica and Polanski - there were few major directors who did not work with Ponti.

Thomas L Erskine, Screen International, November 22, 1975.

Updates, 1/11: "As a producer, it was not to Ponti's credit that in his early years, although he launched many directors as well as stars, he had failed to help Fellini to get started," clarifies John Francis Lane in an obit for the Guardian that takes Ponti's achievements and flaws alike into consideration.

"Although they made an incongruous, even comical, couple, with the statuesque Loren towering over the diminutive, balding and bespectacled Ponti, their partnership endured for more than 50 years, surviving not only the inevitable rumours of extra-marital dalliances on both sides, but also the condemnation of the Vatican and occasional brushes with the law," writes John Exshaw in the Independent. "When [De Sica] was diagnosed with lung cancer, Ponti insisted on paying his medical expenses and retaining him as director. The resulting film, Il viaggio (The Voyage, 1974), was an embarrassment for all concerned, but, when De Sica died at the end of the year, it was Ponti who paid for his funeral, an acknowledgement of his contribution to Loren's career, as well as his pivotal role in Italian cinema."

"In 1973 he was sued for calumny and received a six-month suspended sentence following his film Massacre in Rome, which claimed that Pope Pius XII did nothing about the execution of Italian hostages by the Germans," notes the Telegraph. "The charges were eventually dropped on appeal."

Douglas Martin in the New York Times: "'They told me there is this underground cave where the sea throws up great waves right through the fortress floor - you can see them exploding beneath you,' he said. 'I think Sophia would like that. Such power! Such emotion!'"

Time's Richard Corliss: "They faced plenty of obstacles: the rude public merriment at their pairing; all the misery the Vatican-cowed Italian government tried to bring to their joint political, financial and personal life; the stories of his infidelities and of the movie stars (Cary Grant, Peter Sellers) utterly smitten by her allure. Yet Ponti and Loren persevered, becoming a metaphor for the lasting attraction of opposites."

Glenn Kenny (more on his new blog soon): "To say that his work toggled between schlock and art is a little facile, given that I know a fair number of folks who would sooner sit down with The 10th Victim for the tenth time than Dr Zhivago for the second. But the filmography is stunning over all, not just for the number of great and/or entertaining films on it but for all the great directors with whom he had succesful multi-film relationships."

Posted by dwhudson at January 10, 2007 6:04 AM