Thursday, March 28, 2024

Bernardo Bertolucci, Famed Oscar Winning Director of “The Last Emperor,” and “Last Tango in Paris,” Dies at Age 77

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Bernardo Bertolucci, famed director of “The Last Emperor,” and “Last Tango in Paris.” among others, is dead in Paris at age 77.

He’d been ill for years and was confined to a wheelchair. But I was lucky to meet him in Cannes a few years ago, and it was very exciting. As controversial as “Last Tango” was — and is even today — “The Last Emperor” is one of the greatest movies of all time. It won 9 Oscars in 1988 and is a zenith in movie making. If you’ve never seen it, you must.

Bertolucci also made some other wonderful films including “Stealing Beauty,” “The Sheltering Sky,” and “The Non Conformist.” His movies were lavish, sumptuous, and brimming with excess. He also collaborated on the greatest “spaghetti Western” of all time, Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

Bertolucci’s death comes on the heels of another great director’s demise. Nicholas Roeg died last week, director “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “Don’t Look Now,” and “Performance,” among others. He as 90.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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