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Pietro Germi (September 14, 1914 - December 5, 1974) was an Italian actor, screenwriter, and director. Germi was born in Genoa, Liguria, Italy to a lower-middle class family. He was a messenger and briefly attended nautical school before deciding on a career in acting.

He studied acting and directing at Rome's Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia. During his time in school, Germi supported himself by working as an extra, bit actor, assistant director, and, on occasion, writer. Germi made his directorial debut in 1945 with the film Il Testimone. His early work, this film included, were very much in the Italian Neorealist style; many were social dramas that dealt with contemporary issues pertaining to people of Sicilian heritage.

Through the years, Germi shifted away from social drama towards satirical comedies, but retained his loved element of the Sicilian people. In the 1960s, Germi received worldwide success with the films Divorce, Italian Style, Seduced and Abandoned, and Signore e Signori. The latter is better known in the English-speaking world as The Birds the Bees and the Italians. He was nominated for Academy Awards in both directing and writing for Divorce, Italian Style, and, subsequently, won in the writing category. He also won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for Signore e Signori.

Germi collaborated on the scripts for all the films he directed and appeared as an actor in a few of them. He died in Rome of hepatitis on December 5, 1974.

• 1945 Il testimone
• 1947 Gioventù perduta
• 1948 In nome della legge
• 1950 Il cammino della speranza
• 1951 La città si difende
• 1952 La presidentessa
• 1952 Il brigante di Tacca del Lupo
• 1953 Gelosia
• 1953 Amori di mezzo secolo - (II episodio)
• 1955 Il ferroviere
• 1957 L'uomo di paglia
• 1959 Un maledetto imbroglio
• 1961 Divorzio all'italiana
• 1963 Sedotta e abbandonata
• 1965 Signore e Signori
• 1966 L'immorale
• 1968 Serafino
• 1970 Le castagne sono buone
• 1972 Alfredo Alfredo

• Pietro Germi at the Internet Movie Database

• The Film Encyclopedia by Ephraim Katz - 1993 edition

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