Piero Portalupi

Piero Portalupi (born October 19, 1913 in Arquata Scrivia , Italy , † June 28, 1971 in Genoa , Italy) was an Italian cameraman .

Live and act

Portalupi was born near Genoa and grew up there. He trained as an engineer in the 1930s and trained as a cameraman at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome . Portalupi began his active film work on the eve of the Second World War , and since the first winter of the war in 1939/40 he was responsible as chief cameraman. As a result of the American landing in Italy in 1943 Portalupi could no longer work as a cameraman and only took in 1946 his film activities again about three years. Shortly afterwards (1948) he received the Silver Ribbon for his camera work for the 1947 film Preludio d'amore . A year later, Portalupi briefly accompanied the actor Aldo Fabrizi on filming in Argentina. With his photography of Luchino Viscontis Bellissima starring Anna Magnani , who is overflowing with temperament , Portalupi was involved in one of the most famous films in his country of the 1950s. The Genoese's second, now predominantly English-speaking career began the following year.

As one of the few Italian filmmakers who were able to speak English in the early post-war period, Piero Portalupi was also asked several times for Hollywood productions made in Italy and Cinecittà . In ambitious large-scale productions such as A Heart and a Crown , Ben Hur , Cleopatra , The Cardinal and Michelangelo - Inferno and Ecstasy , he served either as a simple cameraman or as a second-unit chief photographer, for a few US films, including In Another Country , Francis of Assisi , The Platinum Gang and Every House of Cards Broke , he was even involved as a (co-) chief cameraman. In 1968 Portalupi was behind the camera in the internationally cast adventure film The Dirty Heroes of Yucca, shot by Jean Negulesco in Iran, and a few years later in the internationally produced adventure film comedy A Guy for Stealing Horses with Yul Brynner in the title role. This was to be Portalupi's last movie. The cameraman died after shooting the romance film Magic Carpet for US television at the age of 57.

Filmography (selection)

Only as head cameraman:

1940: Incanto di mezzanotte
1940: Leggenda azzurra
1942: Luisa Sanfelice
1946: Montecassino
1946: Storms of Passion (Furia)
1947: Gente del Po (documentary film)
1947: Preludio d'amore
1948: emigrants
1949: Rondini in volo
1949: Altura
1950: No peace under the olive trees (Non c'è pace tra gli ulivi)
1950: Toselli Serenade (Romanzo d'amore)
1951: Bellissima
1952: Girls without morals (Fanciulle di lusso)
1953: Aida
1954: Carousel Naples (Carosello napoletano)
1955: Faithful to death (Andrea Chénier)
1956: Women and Wolves (Uomini e lupi)
1957: In Another Land (A Farewell to Arms)
1959: Carthage in flames (Cartagine in fiamme)
1960: uprising of the legions (Salambò)
1960: Il relitto
1960: Francis of Assisi (Francis of Assisi)
1961: Jessica (La Sage-femme, le curé et le bon Dieu)
1965: John XXIII. : And there came a person ( E venne un uomo , documentary)
1966: The Biggest Bundle of Them All
1967: Every house of cards falls apart (House of Cards)
1968: The Dirty Heroes of Yucca (The Invincible Six)
1969: Storia di una donna
1970: The Statue
1971: A guy to steal horses (Il romanzo di un ladro di cavalli)
1971: Magic Capet (TV movie)

literature

International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) (ed.): Direttori di Fotografia, Scenografi i Costumisti del Cinema Italiano. Vol. 7: Italia. KG Saur, Munich-New York-London-Paris 1988, p. 306 f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Portalupi, Piero
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Italian cameraman
DATE OF BIRTH	October 19, 1913
PLACE OF BIRTH	Arquata Scrivia , Italy
DATE OF DEATH	June 28, 1971
Place of death	Genoa , Italy