Biography
Sergio Amidei was an Italian screenwriter. He was born in Trieste on 30 October 1904 and died in Rome on 14 April 1981. He began his career in the 1930s writing screenplays and working as an assistant director on historical films.
Amidei became a key figure in the Italian neorealist movement after the Second World War. He contributed the story and screenplay to Rome, Open City (1945), directed by Roberto Rossellini, and collaborated with Rossellini on Paisan (1946) and Germany, Year Zero (1948). He also worked with Vittorio De Sica on Shoeshine (1946).
Amidei received four Academy Award nominations for screenwriting, for Rome, Open City, Shoeshine, Paisan and General Della Rovere (1959). He wrote for numerous other directors including Luigi Zampa and Ettore Scola, and founded the production company Colonna Film in 1949.
