Bernardo Bertolucci, in 2007, is dead at 77
(Image credit: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, most famous for his controversial 1972 hit Last Tango in Paris and his Oscar-winning 1987 epic The Last Emperor, died Monday at his home in Rome. His wife, Clare Peploe, confirmed his death, but did not give a cause. He was 77.

Bertolucci was born and grew up in Parma, the son of noted Italian poet Atillio Bertolucci and a literature teacher, the former Ninetta Giovanardi. After the family moved to Rome, Bernardo Bertolucci began shooting short films, and he dropped his early and acclaimed embrace of poetry for filmmaking after working with fellow poet-turned-filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini in 1961. A year later, Bertolucci debuted his first feature film, The Grim Reaper, about the murder of a prostitute in a park in Roma.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.