Italian director Tinto Brass, director of Caligula, dies at 93 — The Guardian

Italian director, screenwriter and editor Tinto Brass, best known for the erotic films «Salon Kitty» and «Caligula», has died at the age of 93. The Guardian reported the filmmaker's death. Brass was born on March 26, 1933, in Milan and grew up in Venice.

The director's real name was Giovanni Brass. His grandfather, the Venetian artist Italico Brass, called his grandson Tintoretto, and the nickname was later shortened to Tinto. Brass studied law at the universities of Padua and Ferrara and graduated in 1957. He then went to the Cinémathèque Française in Paris, and after returning to Italy worked as Roberto Rossellini's assistant on two films.

Beginning of his career

In the early 1960s, Brass was considered one of the interesting directors of the new generation. His first feature-length work was the 1963 film «To the Ends of the Earth». Censors demanded that the film be shortened because of anti-Catholic themes, but the director refused, so it was not released for several years.

Brass directed two episodes of the 1964 film anthology «My Wife», as well as the western «Yankee». After moving to London, he made the psychedelic films «Deadly Sweet», «Nerosubianco», «The Howl» and «Dropout». In 1972, after the success of the pornographic film «Deep Throat» in wide release, the director began focusing on erotic cinema.

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«Caligula» and later works

One of Brass's best-known films was the 1979 «Caligula», starring Malcolm McDowell, as well as Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud and Helen Mirren. The original screenplay was written by Gore Vidal, but co-producer Bob Guccione added new scenes and re-edited part of the material. After that, Brass and Vidal demanded that their names be removed from the credits.

In 2023, a 178-minute version, «Caligula: The Ultimate Cut», was released. Art historian Thomas Negovan edited it from 96 hours of footage, removing Guccione's material and using alternative takes to bring the film closer to Vidal's original screenplay.

Other works by the director include «The Key», «Miranda», «Così Fan Tutte», «The Voyeur», «Frivolous Lola», «Cheeky» and «Black Angel». Brass's first wife, writer and assistant director Carla Cipriani, died in 2006. He is survived by his son Bonifacio, daughter Beatrice and second wife, actress Caterina Varzi, whom he married in 2017.