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Biography
Bernardo Bertolucci (16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris (Starring Marlon Brando, 1900, The Last Emperor (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers.
In recognition of his work, he was presented with the inaugural Honorary Palme d'Or Award at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
From 1979 until his death in 2018, he was married to screenwriter Clare Peploe.
Bertolucci was born in the Italian city of Parma, in the region of Emilia-Romagna. He was the elder son of Ninetta Giovanardi (1912-2005), a teacher, and Attilio Bertolucci, who was a poet, a reputed art historian, anthologist and film critic. His mother was born in Australia, to an Italian father and an Irish mother.
Bertolucci himself said: "My mother was born in Australia, in Sydney, and that is why I think I have a quarter of my blood which is Australian Irish. My grandmother was called Mulligan and I am very proud of it. I say always I am Italian/Irish. And she [my mother] came to Italy and her father was Italian. She came to Italy when she was very little in fact, six. She is a kind of silent reassuring muse for my father, who was a very good Italian poet; always being next to him, with the candle shade, but of course with a great power with him. They were the most amazing couple…"
Bernardo’s paternal grandparents were Bernardo Bertolucci and Maria Rossetti.
Bernardo’s maternal grandparents were Giuseppe Giovanardi and Evelyn Mulligan.
