Birth Anniversary: Luchino Visconti — November 2, 1906

Luchino Visconti was born in Milan on 2 November 1906, into the Visconti di Modrone family. His first film as a director was Ossessione, shot in 1942 and released in 1943, drawn from James M. Cain’s The Postman Always Rings Twice — a debt the credits did not declare, because in the last months of the regime an American novel with that view of life was not something a production could admit to.

A note on this date. Treccani's Enciclopedia del Cinema gives 1903 as the year of birth. Two independent records — the Italian Ministry of Culture's archival authority file and the Library of Congress — give 1906, and we have followed them. We publish it with the warning rather than leave the page out, and if you can point us to a register or an archive that carries it we will confirm or correct it.

Dates verified on the archival authority record of the Italian Ministry of Culture (SAN / SIUSA) and the Library of Congress Name Authority File, which both give 1906–1976; Treccani, Enciclopedia del Cinema, for the days and for Ossessione.