The couple was married in 1943 Fellini later called Giulietta the single greatest influence on his work. The following year, he met future wife, Giulietta Masina, in the studio office of a public radio station, where he landed a job to avoid being drafted into the war. After making his radio debut as a gag writer for on-air comedian Macario in 1940, Fellini worked as an uncredited screenwriter on "Documento Z 3" (1941). Also during this time, Fellini began trying his hand at writing screenplays, which led to working on his first film "Lo Vedi com soi.lo vedi come sea!" (1939), as well as a gag writing for a traveling vaudeville troupe. It was at Marc Aurelio that Fellini finally found success after years of struggling and almost plunging into poverty, thanks to his regular column "Will You Listen to What I Have to Say?" The column allowed him to interact with a number of film writers, which eventually opened the doors for him to the cinema. Instead, he used his student status to avoid conscription while selling stories and cartoons to the weekly magazine, Marc Aurelio. In 1938, with war looming on the horizon, Fellini enrolled at the University of Rome Law School, but did not attend classes.
After writing for the satirical magazine, Il 420 in Florence and also working as a proofreader, Fellini went to Rome, where he worked on the newspaper Il Popolo di Roma. When was older, Fellini was forced into mandatory conscription with the Avanguardista Giovanile Fascista, a Fascist youth organization headed by Benito Mussolini. Meanwhile, his Catholic education profoundly affected his later work, which - while critical of the church - was infused with strong spiritual dimensions. While being educated at religious boarding schools as a child, Fellini developed a love for drawing and staging puppet shows, while also becoming fascinated with the circuses and vaudeville performers his town attracted. 20, 1920 in Rimini, Italy, a resort city on the Adriatic Sea, Fellini was raised by his father, Urbano, a baker who became a coffee and specialty groceries salesman, and his mother, Ida, who came from a prominent family that disapproved of her marriage.
Despite slipping into mediocrity later in life, Fellini nonetheless remained a filmmaking giant whose influence crossed generations all over the world.īorn on Jan. He had one final brush with greatness in directing "Amarcord" (1974), his most accessible film, before struggling for the rest of his career to find financial backing for his movies. But as time passed and his films became more surreal, Fellini was tagged as being self-indulgent and saw his stature diminish, particularly after the explicit "Fellini Satyricon" (1969), which polarized critics and audiences.
Fellini hit a third master stroke with the highly personal "8 1/2" (1963), a seamless blend of artifice and autobiography that put on full display the extent of his profound artistry. Following a pair of lesser works, Fellini reached the height of his talents and popularity with "La Dolce Vita" (1960), a wild satirical look at decadent Italian life that raised the ire of those it parodied while earning the adulation of critics, filmmakers and art house filmgoers. In a few short years, he directed his first masterpiece, "La Strada" (1954), a tragically poignant tale that earned him international acclaim and award recognition. As an emerging figure of the Italian Neorealism movement, Fellini started as a screenwriter before making his feature debut with the bittersweet "Variety Lights" (1950). Often called the most influential director of the 20th century, Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini was a master of the surreal, using striking images, autobiographical detail and disjointed narratives to create poetic films that impressed audiences across the world.