Dino De Laurentiis, Prolific Italian Film Producer, Dies at 91

Italian film producer Dino De Laurentiisdied in Los Angeles on Friday, The New York Times reports. He was 91.

"Cinema has lost one of its greats," Walter Veltroni, former mayor of Rome and the founder of the Rome Film Festival, said in a statement. "The name of Dino De Laurentiis is tied to the history of cinema."

De Laurentiis got his start in 1940 on the film L'ultimo Combattimento and in 1946 started his company, the Dino De Laurentiis Cinemotografica. He went on to produce more than 500 films and won an Academy Award in 1956 for Federico Fellini's La Strada and in 1957 for Nights of Cabiria. It was on his 1949 film Bitter Rice that he met his first wife, actress Silvana Mangano.

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In the 1970s, De Laurentiis moved to the United States, where he produced, among other films, Serpico, Death Wish, Three Days of the Condorand a 1976 remake of King Kong. Other films include the Conan the Barbarian and Hannibal Lecter series, including 2001's Hannibal. Other business endeavors, including a hotel in Bora Bora, an upscale deli in New York City and a studio complex in North Carolina, were less successful for De Laurentiis.

De Laurentiis had four children with Mangano, who died in 1989: Veronica, Raffaella, Federico and Francesca. He later married producer Martha Schumacher, with whom he had two daughters, Carolyna and Dina. One of his granddaughters is the Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis, who said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter: "My grandfather was a true inspiration. He was my biggest champion in life and a constant source for wisdom and advice. I will miss him dearly."