The Italian Job screenwriter dies at 77

Troy Kennedy Martin, the British screenwriter whose credits include "The Italian Job", died of cancer on September 15 at age 77. Martin first started writing plays at the BBC in 1958, later creating "Storyboard". His most famous TV creation was Liverpool-based police drama "Z-Cars", which subsequently ran for 15 years.

His film credits include "The Italian Job", which starred Noel Coward and Michael Caine, "Kelly’s Heroes", "The Jerusalem File" and "Sweeney 2", from the TV series, "The Sweeney, created by his brother Ian Kennedy Martin". He also co-wrote the screenplay for "Red Heat" with director Walter Hill in 1988 and "Red Dust", directed by Tom Hooper, in 2004.

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RIP: Tullio Pinelli, writer of "La Dolce Vita"

Tullio Pinelli, writer of the screenplay of "La Dolce Vita" and "8 1/2", died in Rome on March 7. Pinelli, who was 100 years old, wrote more than a dozen of Fellini's films as well as working with other "maestros". Although nominated four times, he never won an Oscar, but did pick up numerous other awards, the most recent being the David Di Donatelo screenplay award for "Speriamo che sia femmina/Let's Hope It's a Girl" in 1986. A script of his, "Voyage to Tulum", is currently in production.

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