Bernardo Bertolucci , 1940-, Italian film director and screenwriter, b. Parma. The son of poet Attilio Bertolucci and himself a published poet, he began his film career in 1961 as an assistant to director Pier Paolo Pasolini . Bertolucci made his first feature-length film the following year and scored a modest success with Before the Revolution (1964). After directing several documentaries, he returned to features with two tales of Italian fascism, The Spider's Stratagem and The Conformist (both: 1970), his first mature works. Last Tango in Paris (1972) brought him international fame. The story of an affair between a middle-aged American and a young Frenchwoman that featured a riveting performance by Marlon Brando , it was alternately praised and damned for its open and sometimes violent portrayal of sexuality. The Last Emperor (1987), which examined the tumultuous life of Chinese emperor Pu Yi , won Bertolucci Academy Awards for directing and screenwriting; the film also garnered seven additional Oscars. His other films include 1900 (1977), Little Buddha (1994), Stealing Beauty (1996), Besieged (1999), and The Dreamers (2003).
