RIP Furio Scarpelli

Screenwriter of Classic Italian Comedies Dies

Italian screenwriter Scarpelli, father of Italian-style comedies, is dead at 90.

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter Furio Scarpelli, who co-wrote "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and other classics of Italian cinema, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 90. Scarpelli died in his home in Rome shortly after midnight, his son, Matteo Scarpelli, told The Associated Press. He had long suffered heart problems.

During a decades-long, prolific partnership with Age, Scarpelli co-wrote some of Italy's finest postwar movies, including "Big Deal on Madonna Street." Their sense of humor and an unforgiving display of the vices of Italian people became the pair's trademark, and made for memorable roles and lines for actors such as Marcello Mastroianni and Vittorio Gassman.

Age, whose real name was Agenore Incrocci, died in 2005.

The pair's "Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo" ("The Good, the Bad and the Ugly") is a spaghetti-western classic directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood. Age and Scarpelli received two Oscar nominations for best screenwriting in the 1960s. Scarpelli also received another nomination for "Il Postino" ("The Postman") in 1996.

Scarpelli is survived by his wife and two sons. A funeral will be held Friday in Rome, his son said.