Giulio Petroni (21 September 1917 – 31 January 2010) was an Italian director, writer, and screenwriter, best known for his spaghetti westerns ''

Death Rides a Horse ''Death Rides a Horse'' ( it, Da uomo a uomo, lit=As man to man) is a 1967 Italian Spaghetti Western directed by Giulio Petroni, written by Luciano Vincenzoni and starring Lee Van Cleef and John Phillip Law. Plot Bill ( John Phillip Law), a boy ...

'' (1967), with

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of Italian Spaghetti Westerns, parti ...

in one of his first starring roles, '' A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof'' (1968), and ''

Tepepa ''Tepepa'', also known as ''Blood and Guns'', is an Italian epic Spaghetti Western film starring Tomas Milian and Orson Welles. The film was directed by Giulio Petroni. It was co-produced with Spain, where the film was released with the title ''T ...

'' (1969), with

Orson Welles George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985) was an American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter, known for his innovative work in film, radio and theatre. He is considered to be among the greatest and most influential f ...

and

Tomas Milian Tomas Milian (born Tomás Quintín Rodríguez-Varona Milián Salinas de la Fé y Álvarez de la Campa; 3 March 1933 – 22 March 2017) was a Cuban-born actor and singer with American and Italian citizenship, known for the emotional intensity and ...

. Occasionally Petroni has been listed under the pseudonym ''Jeremy Scott''.

Life

Giulio Petroni was born in Rome on 21 September 1917. After graduating in literature, Giulio Petroni began working as a director making a short film for the INCOM newsreel, entitled Goethe in Rome. He also worked as a columnist for various newspapers. After the Second World War - Petroni had participated as a partisan supporter of the

communists Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and

anti-fascists Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

- he went to Ceylon, where he headed the local film department and made documentaries; on his return he continued this with a series of political documentaries. Political topics can also be discovered in his feature films - the revolutionary western

in particular offers a wealth of material for political analysis. He debuted as a director in 1959 with the comedy film '' La cento chilometri'', followed by two other feature films on the same year. Then he worked for the

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

broadcasting company until he found his way back to the big screen in 1966 and was particularly successful in the spaghetti western genre. From 1967 Petroni directed five spaghetti westerns, generally considered among the most important in its genre. In addition to those mentioned, titles include ''

La notte dei serpenti LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

'' (1969) and ''

Life Is Tough, Eh Providence? ''Life Is Tough, Eh Providence?'' ( it, La vita a volte è molto dura, vero Provvidenza?, also known as ''Sometimes Life Is Hard - Right, Providence?'') is a 1972 Italian-Spanish Spaghetti Western comedy film directed by Giulio Petroni. The film w ...

'' (1972), with Tomas Milian as Provvidenza. After withdrawing from the film business at the end of the 1970s, Petroni turned to writing as a novelist and essayist. In 1986, he won the Dessì Prize for fiction.

Literary works

*''La città calda'', G. Feltrinelli, Milano 1961 *''Il rivale'', Marsilio, Venezia 1980 *''Le speranze e gli inganni'', Dalia, Roma 1986 *''Il rancore'', Dalia, Roma 1989 *''La strega di Colobraro'', Dalia, Roma 1992 *''Se questa è una patria'', Dalia, Roma 1995 *''Le ceneri del cinema italiano'', Dalia, Roma 2001 *''La quadrupla verità'', Roma, Dalia, stampa 2001 *''Lore Blum'', Dalia, Roma 2002 *''Sgarbo a Sgarbi e la sua band'', S.l. Dalia, 2002 *''Le passeggiate nelle sabbie mobili'', Dalia, Roma 2004 *''Trash'', Dalia, Roma 2004

Filmography

Director and Screenwriter

* ''La cento chilometri'' (1959) * '' A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof'' (aka ''Ciel de plomb'' or ''E per tetto un cielo di stelle'')(1968) * ''

'' (''Trois pour un massacre'') (1969) * ''La notte dei serpenti'' (1969) * ''Non commettere atti impuri'' (1971) * ''

'' (''On m'appelle Providence'' and/or ''La vita, a volto, è molto dura vero provvidenza?'')(1972) * ''

Labbra di lurido blu ''Lips of Lurid Blue'' ( it, Labbra di lurido blu, also known as ''With Lips of Lurid Blue'' and ''With Lips of Filthy Blue'') is a 1975 erotic drama film written and directed by Giulio Petroni. Plot Traumatised when they were children - she by ...

'' (1975) * ''L'osceno desiderio'' (1977) (under ''"Jeremy Scott"''sito "''Imdb.it''
Giulio Petroni - IMDb
/ref>) * ''Il rivale'' (1987)

Director

* ''

I piaceri dello scapolo ''I piaceri dello scapolo'' is a 1960 Italian film directed by Giulio Petroni and starring Sylva Koscina and Mario Carotenuto. Plot Two bachelors who are no longer young rent a garçonnière. Their enthusiasm lasts very little, however, as all ...

'' (1960) * ''I soliti rapinatori a Milano'' (1963) * ''Una domenica d'estate'' (1966) * ''

'' (also known as ''La mort était au rendez-vous'', ''D'homme à homme'' and/or ''Da uomo a uomo'' in Italian)(1967) * '' A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof'' (''...e per tetto un cielo di stelle'') (1968)(under ''"Giulio Petrony"'') * ''Crescete e moltiplicatevi'' (1973)

References

External links

*
Biography
(In Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Petroni, Giulio 1917 births Writers from Rome 2010 deaths Italian film directors Italian male writers Spaghetti Western directors