Vittorio De Sica (7 July 1901 – 13 November 1974) was an Italian director and actor, a leading figure in the neorealist movement.
Four of the films he directed won Academy Awards: Sciuscià and Bicycle Thieves (honorary), while Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow and Il giardino dei Finzi Contini won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Indeed, the great critical success of Sciuscià (the first foreign film to be so recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) and Bicycle Thieves helped establish the permanent Best Foreign Film Award. These two films are considered part of the canon of classic cinema. Bicycle Thieves was cited by Turner Classic Movies as one of the 15 most influential films in cinema history.
De Sica was also nominated for the 1957 Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing Major Rinaldi in American director Charles Vidor's 1957 adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms, a movie that was panned by critics and proved a box office flop. De Sica's acting was considered the highlight of the film.
Cannes Film Festival
Palme d'Or
National Board of Review Awards
Best Director
Known For
Bicycle Thieves
(1948)
Director
Marriage Italian Style
(1964)
Director
Two Women
(1960)
Director
Umberto D.
(1952)
Director
Sunflower
(1970)
Director
Shoeshine
(1946)
Director
Indiscretion of an American Wife
(1953)
Director
Boccaccio '70
(1962)
Director
The Witches
(1967)
Director
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(1963)
Director
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
(1970)
Director
A Place for Lovers
(1968)
Director
Miracle in Milan
(1951)
Director
After the Fox
(1966)
Director
The Voyage
(1974)
Director
The Boom
(1963)
Director
Full Filmography
Directing
Maddalena... zero in condotta
(1940)
Director
Red Roses
(1940)
Director
Teresa Venerdì
(1941)
Director
A Garibaldian in the Convent
(1942)
Director
The Children Are Watching Us
(1944)
Director
The Gate of Heaven
(1945)
Director
Shoeshine
(1946)
Director
Bicycle Thieves
(1948)
Director
Miracle in Milan
(1951)
Director
Umberto D.
(1952)
Director
Indiscretion of an American Wife
(1953)
Director
The Gold of Naples
(1954)
Director
The Roof
(1956)
Director
Two Women
(1960)
Director
The Last Judgment
(1961)
Director
Boccaccio '70
(1962)
Director
The Condemned of Altona
(1962)
Director
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(1963)
Director
The Boom
(1963)
Director
Marriage Italian Style
(1964)
Director
After the Fox
(1966)
Director
Un monde nouveau
(1966)
Director
The Witches
(1967)
Director
Woman Times Seven
(1967)
Director
A Place for Lovers
(1968)
Director
Sunflower
(1970)
Director
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
(1970)
Director
The Couples
(1970)
Director
We'll Call Him Andrea
(1972)
Director
A Brief Vacation
(1973)
Director
The Voyage
(1974)
Director
Acting
The Clemenceau Affair
(1917)
Pierre Clémenceau bambino
La bellezza del mondo
(1927)
La compagnia dei matti
(1928)
Prof. Rosolillo
What Scoundrels Men Are!
(1932)
Bruno
Two Happy Hearts
(1932)
Mr. Brown
The secretary for everyone
(1932)
The Old Lady
(1932)
Fine dicitore
Das Lied der Sonne
(1933)
Dr. Giuseppe Paladino
Un cattivo soggetto
(1933)
Willy
Lisetta
(1933)
Full Speed
(1934)
Il professore Giacomo Banti
La canzone del sole
(1934)
Paladino, l'avvocato
I'll Give a Million
(1935)
Gold
Amo te sola
(1935)
Giovanni
But It's Nothing Serious
(1936)
Memmo Speranza
I Don't Know You Anymore
(1936)
Il dottore Alberto Spinelli
Lohengrin
(1936)
Alfredo
The Man Who Smiles
(1937)
Pio Fardella
Mister Max
(1937)
Gianni / Max Varaldo
Questi ragazzi
(1937)
Vincenzo
Hanno rapito un uomo
(1938)
L'attore cinematografico
La mazurka di papà
(1938)
Stefano San Mauro / Il figlio di San Mauro
The Cuckoo Clock
(1938)
Le due madri
(1938)
Salvatore
Napoli d'altri tempi
(1938)
Mario Esposito
Castles in the Air
(1939)
Riccardo Pietramola
Department Store
(1939)
Bruno Zacchi
It Always Ends That Way
(1939)
Alberto Milnar
Ai vostri ordini, signora...
(1939)
Pietro Haguet
Napoli che non muore
(1939)
Maddalena... zero in condotta
(1940)
Alfredo Hartman
The Sinner
(1940)
Pietro Bandelli
Red Roses
(1940)
Alberto Verani
Manon Lescaut
(1940)
Renato Des Grieux
Pazza di gioia
(1940)
Conte Corrado Valli
Teresa Venerdì
(1941)
Dott. Pietro Vignali
The Adventuress from the Floor Above
(1941)
Fabrizio Marchini
A Garibaldian in the Convent
(1942)
Nino Bixio
If I Was Honest
(1942)
Pietro Kovach
Our Dreams
(1943)
Leo
Lo sbaglio di essere vivo
(1945)
Adriano Lari
No One Comes Back
(1945)
Maurizio
Il mondo vuole così
(1946)
Paolo Morelli
Peddlin' in Society
(1946)
Il conte Ghirani
Rome: Free City
(1946)
Il signore distinto
Sperduti nel buio
(1947)
Christmas at Camp 119
(1947)
Don Vicenzino
Unkown Men of San Marino
(1948)
Leo, l'ateo
Heart
(1948)
Master Perboni
Tomorrow Is Too Late
(1950)
Professor Landi
Position Wanted
(1951)
Leonardo Leonardi
Times Gone By
(1952)
Defense Advocate (segment "Il processo di Frine")
Hello Elephant
(1952)
Carlo Caretti
The Earrings of Madame de...
(1953)
Baron Fabrizio Donati
Bread, Love and Dreams
(1953)
Maresciallo Carotenuto
It Happened in the Park
(1953)
Arturo Cavazzuti - the lawyer (segment: Incidente a Villa Borghese)
Too Bad She's Bad
(1954)
Vittorio Stroppiani
Gran varietà
(1954)
Veneziani
The Gold of Naples
(1954)
Il conte Prospero B. (segment "I giocatori")
Frisky
(1954)
Maresciallo Carotenuto
The Anatomy of Love
(1954)
Conte Ferdinando / Don Corradino Scognamiglio
100 Years of Love
(1954)
Duke Giovanni del Bagno aka Signor Pallini (segment "Pendolin")
Il matrimonio
(1954)
Gregory Stefanovich Smirnov
The Cheerful Squadron
(1954)
Il generale
Modern Virgin
(1954)
Antonio Valli
The Secrets of the Bed
(1954)
Roberto
The Miller's Beautiful Wife
(1955)
Don Teofilo - governatore
Scandal in Sorrento
(1955)
Maresciallo Carotenuto
The Sign of Venus
(1955)
Alessio Spano
It Happens in Roma
(1955)
Carlo Reani
Roman Tales
(1955)
Mazzoni Baralla - the lawyer
Nero's Mistress
(1956)
Seneca
Noi siamo le colonne
(1956)
Alfredo Celimontani, il guitto squattrinato
The Monte Carlo Story
(1956)
Count Dino della Fiaba
I giorni più belli
(1956)
Time of Vacation
(1956)
Aristide Rossi
The Bigamist
(1956)
Honorable Prince / Attorney Prince
Il conte Max
(1957)
Conte Max Orsini Varaldo
Totò, Vittorio and the Doctor
(1957)
Marchese Vittorio De Vittti
A Farewell to Arms
(1957)
Major Rinaldi
Doctor and the Healer
(1957)
Antonio Locoratolo
La donna che venne dal mare
(1957)
Console Bordogin
It Happened in Rome
(1957)
The Count
Holiday Island
(1957)
Engineer Occhipinti
Paris Casino
(1957)
Alexander Gordy
The Guilty
(1957)
Giorgio
Fathers and Sons
(1957)
Vincenzo Corallo
Bread, Love and Andalucia
(1958)
Tonino
Domenica è sempre domenica
(1958)
Il 'comandante' Gastaldi
Cannon Serenade
(1958)
Ernesto de Rossi, Kapitän
Love and Chatter
(1958)
Avvocato Bonelli
Fast and Sexy
(1958)
Don Luigi
The Inveterate Bachelor
(1958)
Il professore
The Girl of San Pietro Square
(1958)
Armando Conforti
Orson Welles at Large: Portrait of Gina
(1958)
Self
The Moralist
(1959)
O.I.M.P. President
Il nemico di mia moglie
(1959)
professor Ottavio Tornabuoni
Ferdinand I King of Naples
(1959)
Seccano
Winter Holidays
(1959)
Maurizio
Il mondo dei miracoli
(1959)
Director Pietro Giordani
Venetian Honeymoon
(1959)
Alfredo
Nel blu dipinto di blu
(1959)
Spartaco
General Della Rovere
(1959)
Bardone AKA 'Grimaldi'
Policarpo, ufficiale di scrittura
(1959)
Il prestigiatore con il piccione (uncredited)
Men and Noblemen
(1959)
marchese Nicola Peccoli Macinelli di Afragola
The Millionairess
(1960)
Joe
The Traffic Policeman
(1960)
Il sindaco
It Started in Naples
(1960)
Mario Vitale
The Battle of Austerlitz
(1960)
le pape Pie VII
Love in Rome
(1960)
le réalisateur
The Angel Wore Red
(1960)
General Clave
Gastone
(1960)
The Prince
Le pillole di Ercole
(1960)
Colonel Piero Cuocolo
Three Etc.'s and the Colonel
(1960)
Colonel Belalcazar
The Two Marshals
(1961)
Maresciallo Vittorio Cotone
The Last Judgment
(1961)
Defense lawyer
The Wonders of Aladdin
(1961)
Genie
The Orderly
(1961)
Colonnello Filippo Bitossi
Long Live Henry IV... Long Live Love!
(1961)
L'ambassadeur d'Espagne
L'onorata società
(1961)
Salvatore il 'Capintesta'
Lafayette
(1962)
Bancroft
Eva
(1962)
(uncredited)
Sophia Loren in Rome
(1964)
The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders
(1965)
der Graf
Max Ophuls ou Le Plaisir de tourner
(1965)
Self
Me, Me, Me... and the Others
(1966)
Commendator Trepossi
Gli altri, gli altri e noi
(1966)
Retired
After the Fox
(1966)
Himself
Man of Three Worlds: Luchino Visconti
(1966)
Interviewee
An Italian in America
(1967)
Lando Marossi
Cinéma et Réalité
(1967)
Self
The Shoes of the Fisherman
(1968)
Cardinal Rinaldi
The Biggest Bundle of Them All
(1968)
Cesare Celli
Dear Caroline
(1968)
Le comte de Bièvre
Twelve Plus One
(1969)
Di Seta
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
(1969)
Shoemaker
Cose di Cosa Nostra
(1971)
Don Michele
Trastevere
(1971)
Enrico Formichi
I Don't See, You Don't Speak, He Doesn't Hear
(1971)
Player in Venice casino
We Are All in Temporary Liberty
(1971)
Snow Job
(1972)
Enrico Dolphi
Hector the Mighty
(1972)
Giove
Scandal Man
(1972)
The Assassination of Matteotti
(1973)
Mauro Del Giudice
Storia de fratelli e de cortelli
(1973)
Maresciallo Cenciarelli
Blood for Dracula
(1974)
Marquis Di Fiore
Un sorriso, uno schiaffo, un bacio in bocca
(1975)
(archive footage)
My Name Is Anna Magnani
(1980)
Self (archive footage)
Bellissimo: Images of the Italian Cinema
(1985)
Self
That's Life: Vittorio De Sica
(2001)
Self (archive footage)
Cesare Zavattini
(2003)
Self (archive footage)
How We Got the Italian Movie Business Into Trouble: The True Story of Franco and Ciccio
(2004)
(archive footage)
Filmmakers vs. Tycoons
(2005)
Self (archive footage)
Working with De Sica
(2007)
Self (archive footage)
Vittorio D.
(2009)
Self (archive footage)
1960
(2010)
Self (archive footage)
Sophia Loren, une destinée particulière
(2019)
Self (archive footage)
Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita
(2021)
Self (archive footage)
We Are Cinema
(2021)
Self (archive footage)
The Garden That Doesn't Exist
(2022)
Self (archive footage)
Writing
Teresa Venerdì
(1941)
Screenplay
A Garibaldian in the Convent
(1942)
Screenplay
If I Was Honest
(1942)
Screenplay
Our Dreams
(1943)
Screenplay
The Children Are Watching Us
(1944)
Screenplay
The Gate of Heaven
(1945)
Screenplay
Christmas at Camp 119
(1947)
Screenplay
Sperduti nel buio
(1947)
Screenplay
Bicycle Thieves
(1948)
Screenplay
Miracle in Milan
(1951)
Screenplay
The Gold of Naples
(1954)
Screenplay
Production
Bicycle Thieves
(1948)
Producer
Miracle in Milan
(1951)
Producer
Mamma mia, che impressione!
(1951)
Producer
Umberto D.
(1952)
Producer
Hello Elephant
(1952)
Producer
Indiscretion of an American Wife
(1953)
Producer
The Roof
(1956)
Producer
Bread, Love and Andalucia
(1958)
Producer
Io e Dio
(1970)
Producer
Sound
Fast and Sexy
(1958)
Original Music Composer
Bread, Love and Andalucia
(1958)
Original Music Composer
Crew