Giorgio Simonelli

{{Infobox person

| name = Giorgio Simonelli

| image = Giorgio C. Simonelli.jpg

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth-date|14 November 1901}}

| birth_place = Rome, Italy

| death_date = {{death-date and age|3 October 1966|14 November 1901}}

| death_place = Rome, Italy

| resting_place =

| spouse =

| children =

| years_active =

| occupation = Director, screenwriter

}}Giorgio Simonelli (14 November 1901{{cite web|url=http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/v/Archivio+di+Stato+di+Roma/Stato+civile+italiano/Roma/Nati/1901/n+5372-5968+Vol+10+Parte+1+Serie+A/007659511_01172.jpg.html?g2_imageViewsIndex=0 |title=Immagine 143 / Image 143 [ Birth certificate no 5782 serial A ] |date= 19 November 1901 |access-date= 27 December 2016 |publisher=Archivio di Stato di Roma / States Archives in Rome > Antenati: Gli Archivi per la Ricerca Anagrafica / Ancestors: Archives for Research Registry |language=it}} Birth name: Giorgio Simonelli. – 3 October 1966), was an Italian film director, editor, screenwriter and journalist.

Life and career

Born in Rome, Simonelli got a high school diploma in business studies, and then started working as a journalist and as a film critic for the weekly magazines Avvenimento and Gente nostra.{{cite book|last=Roberto Poppi|title=I registi: dal 1930 ai giorni nostri|year=2002|publisher=Gremese Editore, 2002|isbn=8884401712|pages=402–403}} In 1928, at 22, he made his directorial debut co-directing with Nicola Fausto Neroni Maratona, and two years later he was among the screenwriters of the first Italian talking film, The Song of Love by Gennaro Righelli. From 1934 Simonelli mainly devoted himself to film editing, then, from 1940, he resumed his activity as a director specialising in commercially successful comedy films, in which he directed some of the most popular actors of the period, notably Totò, Eduardo and Peppino De Filippo, Nino Taranto, Renato Rascel, Walter Chiari, Ugo Tognazzi, Macario, Alberto Sordi and Aldo Fabrizi. He ended his career by filming many successful works interpreted by the comedy duo Franco and Ciccio. His last film was the western-parody Two Sons of Ringo, in which shortly before the end of filming he was replaced by Giuliano Carnimeo for health reasons.{{cite book|last=Marco Giusti|title=Dizionario del western all'italiana|year=2007|publisher=Mondadori, 2007|isbn=978-8804572770|pages=164–165}}