Pietro Germi was a renowned Italian actor, screenwriter, and director, born on September 14, 1914, in Genoa, Liguria, to a humble lower-middle-class family. Growing up, he worked as a messenger and briefly attended nautical school before deciding to pursue a career in acting.
Germi's journey in the film industry began at Rome's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, where he studied acting and directing. To support himself during his time in school, he worked as an extra, bit actor, assistant director, and even a writer. His directorial debut came in 1945 with the film Il testimone, which marked the beginning of his career.
In his early work, Germi was heavily influenced by the Italian Neorealist style, often incorporating social dramas that tackled contemporary issues affecting people of Sicilian heritage. However, as the years passed, he shifted his focus towards satirical comedies while still maintaining his connection to the Sicilian people.
Germi's success reached a global scale in the 1960s, thanks to films like Divorce, Italian Style, Seduced and Abandoned, and Signore e Signori. The latter, also known as The Birds, the Bees and the Italians, earned him nominations for Academy Awards in both directing and writing, and he ultimately won the award for writing. He also took home the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Signore e signori.
Throughout his career, Germi was a collaborative scriptwriter and appeared as an actor in a few of his films. Unfortunately, his life was cut short when he passed away on December 5, 1974, in Rome due to complications from hepatitis.
