Born July 7, 1901, in Sora; died Nov. 13, 1974, in Paris. Italian film actor and director.

De Sica began appearing in films in the 1930’s and began directing in 1940. The film The Children Are Watching Us (1943) marked the beginning of De Sica’s collaboration with the scenario writer C. Zavattini. Developing the artistic principles of neorealism, a school of which he was one of the founders, De Sica made the films Shoe shine (1946), The Bicycle Thief (1948), Umberto D. (1951), Miracle in Milan (1951), and The Roof (1956). His work was extremely social and humanistic, imbued with protest against the injustices and cruelty of bourgeois society and against fascism and war. De Sica’s acting and directing was marked by high skill and fine artistic taste. His works were distinguished by a variety of genres, a combination of psychological depth and sharp satire, and elegant, subtle humor. The role of Bertone in the film General Delia Rovere (1959) was one of his best acting roles. He directed the films La Ciociara (1960, after the novel of A. Moravia), The Last Judgment (1961), The Condemned ofAltona (1962, after the play of J. P. Sartre), Yesterday, Today , and Tomorrow (1963), Boom (1963), Marriage, Italian -Style (1964, after the play of De Filippo, Filumena Marturano), The Sunflowers (1970, a joint Italian-French production with the collaboration of the Mosfil’m Film Studio), and The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1971, after the novel of G. Bassani).