Franco Rossi
Franco Rossi Franco Rossi (19 April 1919, Florence – 5 June 2000, Rome) was an Italian film screenwriter and director, mainly known for having directed the six-hour Italian-German-British-Swiss TV mini-series Quo Vadis? In 1985.
Franco Rossi

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- Born
- 1919 · Florence.
- Died
- 2000 · Rome.
- Nationality
- Italy · Kingdom of Italy
- Occupation
- film producer · screenwriter · director
- Fields
- film direction · film screenwriting
- Honours
- David di Donatello Award for Lifetime Achievement
- Languages
- Italian
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Documentary summary
Franco Rossi Franco Rossi (19 April 1919, Florence – 5 June 2000, Rome) was an Italian film screenwriter and director, mainly known for having directed the six-hour Italian-German-British-Swiss TV mini-series Quo Vadis? In 1985.
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wikidata · Q1040240
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is Italian. The field of work recorded is film direction and film screenwriting. Places of work recorded in the authority are Rome. Residence is recorded at Florence. Employment is recorded with Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Distinctions recorded are David di Donatello Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Rossi was born in Florence, Italy. He studied law and then began to work on theatre. He was assistant director of Mario Camerini, Luis Trenker, Renato Castellani, Aldo Vergano. Rossi made his debut as a director with the crime thriller I Falsari. He went on to have his first success with Il seduttore, starring by Alberto Sordi, and among Rossi's other films were The Woman in the Painting (Amici per la pelle, 1955), Odissea Nuda (1961), "Smog" (1962), Three Nights of Love (1964), an episode of Le bambole (1965), and Porgi l'altra guancia with Bud Spencer (1974). Rossi was one of the first established Italian film directors also doing work for television, being one of the three directors for the 1968 mini-series L'Odissea. His largest TV undertaking was directing the international co-production of the six-hour mini-series Quo Vadis? in 1985.
Filmography
Filmography
Rossi was involved in the direction of 33 feature films or TV films/TV mini-series between 1951 and 1994, according to the Internet Movie Database. • 1951: The Counterfeiters • 1952: Solo per te Lucia • 1953: The Counterfeiters • 1954: Il seduttore • 1955: Friends for Life • 1958: Amore a prima vista • 1958: Calypso • 1959: Death of a Friend • 1959: Everyone's in Love (supervisor) • 1961: Nude Odyssey • 1962: Smog • 1964: Countersex (segment "Cocaina di domenica") • 1964: High Infidelity (segment "Scandaloso") • 1964: Three Nights of Love (segment "La moglie bambina") • 1965: I complessi (segment "Il complesso della schiava nubiana") • 1965: Le bambole (segment "La minestra") • 1966: Make Love, Not War • 1967: The Witches (segment "La siciliana") • 1967: A Rose for Everyone • 1968: Caprice Italian Style (segment "Viaggio di lavoro") • 1968: The Odyssey (TV mini-series) • 1969: Youth March • 1971: Eneide (TV serial) • 1974: Il giovane Garibaldi (TV mini-series) • 1974: Two Missionaries / Turn the Other Cheek • 1976: Pure as a Lily • 1977: L'altra metà del cielo • 1982: Storia d'amore e d'amicizia (TV series) • 1985: Quo Vadis? (TV mini-series) • 1987: Lo scialo (TV mini-series) • 1987: Un bambino di nome Gesù (TV movie) • 1994: Michele va alla guerra (TV movie)
Preservation
Preservation
Smog was preserved and restored by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna and the UCLA Film & Television Archive in collaboration with Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. from the 35mm original picture negative, a 35mm composite fine grain master positive and a 35mm optical track negative. Restoration funding was provided by the Golden Globe Foundation. The restoration had its Los Angeles premiere at the 2024 UCLA Festival of Preservation.
Identity
Identity
Franco Rossi worked in film direction and film screenwriting.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1968
L’ ODYSSEE⁄ THE ODYSSEY (Franco Rossi, 1968), [English Subtitles] is digitised and catalogued by Internet Archive.
2000
Franco Rossi died at Rome.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Florence
Named but not plotted · 1
Rome.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Franco Rossi. Il mondo dei doppiatori.
- 2.Scena del film "Amici per la pelle" - Regia Franco Rossi - 1955 - Gli attori Luigi Tosi e Geronimo Meynier a letto, Non identificato; Rossi, Franco – Fotografie – Lombardia Beni Culturali.
- 3.Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia - Storie d'amore e d'amicizia. Il cinema di Franco Rossi.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
37,604 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Franco MerliPerson
- Franco NeroPerson
- Franco ProsperiPerson
- Franco RossettiPerson
- Franco RossoPerson
- Franco SacchiPerson
- Franco ScepiPerson
- Franco SolinasPerson
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