Background
Luigi Zampa was born on January 2, 1905 in Rome, Italy.
Luigi Zampa was born on January 2, 1905 in Rome, Italy.
Zampa attended Experimental Film Center (Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia) for three years from 1935.
Zampa's status of a film-maker probably reached its peak among American filmgoers with To Live in Peace, a neorealist drama about an Italian family sheltering two prisoners during World War II. Another of Zampa’s better-known works in the United States is Angelina, which featured actress Anna Magnani as a woman beset with personal and political issues while living in a Roman slum.
Although Zampa is probably best known outside Italy for his neorealist dramas, he was also an accomplished comic filmmaker. Among his many works in the comedy genre is A Girl in Australia, in which an Italian immigrant in Australia becomes involved with a prostitute who presents herself to him as a virgin. In addition to his film work, Zampa published novels, including II succeso, and wrote productions for the stage.
He directed several Italian neorealism films in the 1940s.
During the 1950s and 1960s Zampa served as a director of several successful films belonging to the Commedia all'italiana genre, some starring Alberto Sordi.
Zampa had two sons and one daughter.