Trivia

He died on the same day as Ingmar Bergman.

The great Italian director is noted in Oscar history for delivering the shortest acceptance speech when he received his Honorary Award in 1995: "Grazie".

In 1985 he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on his right side and virtually unable to speak. He communicated through drawings (learning with his left hand), a few words and body language. He was unable to finish any film project until 1995, when he released Beyond the Clouds (1995), co-directed by German director Wim Wenders.

Burglars stole an Oscar, awarded for career achievement, from his Rome apartment during the Christmas holidays. (December 1996)

Film historian Virginia Wright Wexman once described Antonioni's perspective on the world as that of a "post-religious Marxist and existentialist intellectual.".

Foresaw in the 80s that all the rules of filmmaking would change, that film was going to disappear and be replaced by something else, and that all our living conditions would change as well.

After his death, Antonioni's body lay in state at the City Hall in Rome. His funeral was held in the cathedral of San Giorgio in his home town of Ferrara. He is buried next to his parents in the Certosa cemetary in Ferrara.

Was fluent in French.

He was made a Fellow of the British Film Institute, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to film culture.

Considered himself a Marxist intellectual.

Was invited by the Mao government of the People's Republic of China to visit the country after which he made the documentary Chung Kuo: China (1972).

In 1940, he worked as an editorial secretary for "Cinema", an entertainment magazine published by the Fascist Entertainment Guild, and edited by the son of Benito Mussolini.

Member of a circle that revolved around the magazine "Cinema", who developed the Italian neorealism, reflecting the changes in Italian everyday life during the postwar period.

Was good friends with Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray .

President of the 'Official Competition' jury at the 41st Venice International Film Festival in 1984.

One of seven Italians to have been nominated for the Best Director Oscar. The others are Pietro Germi, Federico Fellini, Gillo Pontecorvo, Bernardo Bertolucci, Lina Wertmüller and Roberto Benigni.

The statuette of his Honorary Academy Award was stolen by burglars and had to be replaced.

Son of Elisabetta and Carlo Antonioni.

Biography in: John Wakeman, editor. "World Film Directors, Volume Two, 1945-1985". Pages 59-69. New York: The H.W. Wilson Company, 1988.