Oscar honors costume designer Piero Tosi
A veteran of luminous films by such directors as Luchino Visconti, Vittorio De Sica and Franco Zeffirelli, Tosi earned five Academy Award nominations during his career for designs that brought elegance, artistry, passion and humor to neo-realist dramas, historical romances and farcical comedies, including "Death in Venice," "The Damned," and "La Cage Aux Folles."
The designer will be honored with a lifetime achievement Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, at the 5th annual Governors Awards, on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2013.
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan
In April 2013 Tosi told Port Magazine that his film career started with a bit of luck, accepting early assignments as an assistant in costume departments working for Luchino Visconti and Franco Zeffirelli. In his early 20s, he was asked to design costumes for Visconti's 1952 film, "Bellissima," starring Anna Magnani. It would be the first of at least 60 motion picture and TV credits.
Left: Anita Ekberg (who played herself) with director Federico Fellini.
"You need a special character to do this job," Tosi said in a 2007 Italian documentary, "The Dress and the Face: Portrait of Piero Tosi." "And you need love, a great love of faces … You can read marvelous things into faces. Faces lead me to makes thousands of conjectures."
Left: Ingrid Thulin and Dirk Bogarde. Costumes by Piero Tosi.
Left: Romy Schneider as Empress Elisabeth, in "Ludwig."
The Governors Awards for lifetime achievement, to Steve Martin, actress Angela Lansbury, and costume designer Piero Tosi, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, to Angelina Jolie, will be presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences on Saturday, November 16, 2013, at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland Center in Los Angeles, Calif.
For more info:
Angelina Jolie, Angela Lansbury, Steve Martin, Piero Tosi to receive Academy honors
oscars.org
Governors Awards (AMPAS)
By CBSNews.com senior producer David Morgan