Carlo Ponti

**Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti Sr.**  (11 December 1912 – 10 January 2007) was an Italian movie producer. He made over 140 movies. He and Dino De Laurentiis were important in making Italian cinema popular again after World War II. He made some of the most important and successful Italian movies in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ponti worked with many important Italian directors in the era. He worked with Federico Fellini, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Vittorio De Sica. He also worked with international directors like Agnès Varda and David Lean. He helped his wife's career, Sophia Loren.

Ponti won the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film for _La Strada_ (1954). He was nominated for Best Picture for producing _Doctor Zhivago_ (1965). In 1996, he became a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

## Early life

Ponti was born in Magenta, Lombardy. His grandfather was the mayor of Magenta. Ponti studied law at the University of Milan. He then joined his father's law firm in Milan. He negotiated many contracts in the movie business.

## Movies

- _Piccolo mondo antico_ (1940)
- _Giacomo the Idealist_ (1943)
- _A Yank in Rome_ (1946)
- _To Live in Peace_ (1947)
- _The White Primrose_ (1947)
- _Prelude to Madness_ (1948)
- _Hey Boy_ (1948)
- _Alarm Bells_ (1949)
- _The White Line_ (1950)
- _Her Favourite Husband_ (1950)
- _Figaro Here, Figaro There_ (1950)
- _A Dog's Life_ (1950)
- _The Knight Has Arrived!_ (1950)
- _Toto the Third Man_ (1951)
- _The Steamship Owner_ (1951)
- _Europa '51_ (1952)
- _Brothers of Italy_ (1952)
- _The Piano Tuner Has Arrived_ (1952)
- _Toto in Color_ (1952)
- _Lieutenant Giorgio_ (1952)
- _Easy Years_ (1953)
- _Le infedeli_ (1953)
- _Carosello napoletano_ (1954)
- _La strada_ (1954)
- _The Doctor of the Mad_ (1954)
- _Mambo_ (1954)
- _Un americano a Roma_ (1954)
- _L'oro di Napoli_ (1954)
- _Attila_ (1954)
- _The Miller's Beautiful Wife_ (1955)
- _War and Peace_ (1956)
- _Il ferroviere_ (1956)
- _Guendalina_ (1957)
- _The Black Orchid_ (1958)
- _That Kind of Woman_ (1959)
- _Heller in Pink Tights_ (1960)
- _A Breath of Scandal_ (1960)
- _Two Women_ (1960)
- _Lola_ (1961)
- _A Woman Is a Woman_ (1961)
- _Léon Morin, prêtre_ (1961)
- _Cléo from 5 to 7_ (1962)
- _Boccaccio '70_ (1962)
- _Le Doulos_ (1962)
- _L'isola di Arturo_ (1962)
- _Redhead_ (1962)
- _The Empty Canvas_ (1963)
- _Landru_ (1963)
- _Les Carabiniers_ (1963)
- _Contempt_ (1963)
- _Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow_ (1963)
- _Marriage Italian Style_ (1964)
- _Break Up_ (1965)
- _Operation Crossbow_ (1965)
- _The 10th Victim_ (1965)
- _Doctor Zhivago_ (1965)
- _Closely Watched Trains_ (1965, uncredited)
- _Blowup_ (1966)
- _The Firemen's Ball_ (1967, uncredited)
- _Smashing Time_ (1967, uncredited)
- _La Ragazza e il Generale_ (1967)
- _Ghosts – Italian Style_ (1968)
- _Diamonds for Breakfast_ (1968)
- _Zabriskie Point_ (1970)
- _The Priest's Wife_ (1971)
- _Oasis of Fear_ (1971)
- _What?_ (1972)
- _Giordano Bruno_ (1973)
- _Torso_ (1973)
- _Dirty Weekend_ (1973)
- _Mr. Hercules Against Karate_ (1973)
- _Flesh for Frankenstein_ (1973)
- _Gawain and the Green Knight_ (1973)
- _The Voyage_ (1974)
- _The Passenger_ (1974)
- _Sex Pot_ (1975)
- _L'infermiera_ (1975)
- _Brutti, sporchi e cattivi_ (1976)
- _The Cassandra Crossing_ (1976)
- _A Special Day_ (1977)

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Carlo Ponti
- **image**: Carlo Ponti 1951.jpg
- **caption**: Ponti in 1951
- **birthname**: Carlo Fortunato Pietro Ponti
- **birth place**: Magenta, Lombardy, Kingdom of Italy
- **death place**: Geneva, Switzerland
- **alma mater**: University of Milan
- **children**: 4; including Carlo Ponti (conductor), Carlo Jr. and Edoardo Ponti, Edoardo
- **honours**: Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1st Class)