Luciano De Crescenzo
Luciano De Crescenzo (; 18 August 1928 – 18 July 2019) was an Italian writer, film actor, director and engineer. Biography. Born in Naples, he grew up with actor Bud Spencer. De Crescenzo graduated in engineering and worked for IBM Italy until 1976, when he published the bestseller "Così parlò Bellavista" ("Thus spoke Bellavista"), a collection of facts and anecdotes about his city which sold 600,000 copies in Italy and was translated into numerous languages. Over the years De Crescenzo became an internationally successful author. In 1980 he debuted as actor in "Il pap'occhio", under the direction of his  friend Renzo Arbore, together with Roberto Benigni. In 1981 he made his TV debut alongside Renzo Arbore and Lory Del Santo in successful and innovative show "Tagli, ritagli e frattaglie". In 1984 he directed the successful movie adaptation of "Così parlò Bellavista" (in which he also played the protagonist), followed by "Il mistero di Bellavista" in 1985. In 1995 he wrote and directed "Croce e delizia", featuring Teo Teocoli and Isabella Rossellini. In the meantime he published a long series of books, including novels and popularizations of philosophy. For his work in the field of Greek philosophy he received honorary  citizenship of Athens in 1994. Between 1977 and 2019, he published a total of fifty books, selling 18 million copies worldwide, of which 7 million in Italy. His works have been translated into 19 languages and published in 25 countries. He was hospitalized in Rome in July 2019. De Crescenzo died several days later on July 19 at the age of 90.