Biography
Carlo Ponti (11 December 1912 – 10 January 2007) was an Italian film producer. Born in Magenta, Lombardy, he studied law at the University of Milan before entering the film industry in the late 1930s. He produced more than 140 films over a career spanning five decades.
Ponti is best known for his work with directors including Federico Fellini, Vittorio De Sica, Michelangelo Antonioni and David Lean. His credits include La Strada (1954), Two Women (1960), Contempt (1963), Marriage Italian Style (1964), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Blow-Up (1966) and The Passenger (1975). He formed a notable early partnership with Dino De Laurentiis and later produced many international co-productions.
He was married to actress Sophia Loren, whose career he helped promote. Ponti won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for La Strada and received a Best Picture nomination for Doctor Zhivago. In 1996 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
