Eduardo De Santis (September 7, 1929 - March 25 2019) was a former
actor, film producer, writer and philanthropist best known as the
founder and Chairman of Gold Mercury International Award a think tank
and global governance award organisation founded in 1961.Following a
few initial jobs as a salesman in Italy, Eduardo De Santis, motivated
by the glamour of Hollywood productions being shot in Rome in the 40s
and 50s, decides to start a career as an actor. During that time he
befriended many Hollywood stars that had fallen in love with Rome and
were shooting in the 'Citta Eterna' (Eternal City) films like Quo
Vadis? (1951), Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), Roman Holiday
(1953), Spartacus (1960), Ben Hur (1959), Cleopatra (1963). His first
movie breakthrough was in 1953 in the film The Ship of Condemned
Women, where he played the role of a sailor. He then went to act in
ten more movies including Giuseppe Verdi (1953) and Guai ai Vinti
(1955).Following his acting career he moved into production and
scriptwriting working in Italy and the US. In the 1970s he witnessed
the growth of Home Video in the US. Seeing the potential of the
technology coming to Europe, he started buying the rights to movie
libraries for Home Video in preparation for home video arriving in
Europe.Attracted by social issues, he developed the story and
co-produced the El Espontaneo (The Rash One) in 1964. Directed by
Jorge Grau and starring Fernando Rey and Luis Ferrin, the movie is a
drama with a strong social message about inequality and poverty in
cities. The movie is about Paco a young bellboy working in a luxury
hotel in Madrid during Franco's dictatorship in Spain. As a side job,
Paco re-sells tickets to tourists to go watch bullfights. After Paco
unfairly loses his job, due to a rich client complaint, he is unable
to find a new job. Without a job, his friends and family turn their
backs on him. Desperate, with his working mother becoming ill, his
last chance to make it is to jump in the bullfighting arena as a
'spontaneous' bullfighter to demonstrate his skills and win the chance
to strike it rich. The movie is shot in Black and White (the world of
Paco). The movie switches to colour in the last scenes as Paco arrives
in the colour rich 'fiesta' bullfighting arena, jumps in with the bull
and is tragically killed. The message of the movie is that we are all
'Espontaneos' like Paco, trying to make it in the difficult going ons
of life.
actor, film producer, writer and philanthropist best known as the
founder and Chairman of Gold Mercury International Award a think tank
and global governance award organisation founded in 1961.Following a
few initial jobs as a salesman in Italy, Eduardo De Santis, motivated
by the glamour of Hollywood productions being shot in Rome in the 40s
and 50s, decides to start a career as an actor. During that time he
befriended many Hollywood stars that had fallen in love with Rome and
were shooting in the 'Citta Eterna' (Eternal City) films like Quo
Vadis? (1951), Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), Roman Holiday
(1953), Spartacus (1960), Ben Hur (1959), Cleopatra (1963). His first
movie breakthrough was in 1953 in the film The Ship of Condemned
Women, where he played the role of a sailor. He then went to act in
ten more movies including Giuseppe Verdi (1953) and Guai ai Vinti
(1955).Following his acting career he moved into production and
scriptwriting working in Italy and the US. In the 1970s he witnessed
the growth of Home Video in the US. Seeing the potential of the
technology coming to Europe, he started buying the rights to movie
libraries for Home Video in preparation for home video arriving in
Europe.Attracted by social issues, he developed the story and
co-produced the El Espontaneo (The Rash One) in 1964. Directed by
Jorge Grau and starring Fernando Rey and Luis Ferrin, the movie is a
drama with a strong social message about inequality and poverty in
cities. The movie is about Paco a young bellboy working in a luxury
hotel in Madrid during Franco's dictatorship in Spain. As a side job,
Paco re-sells tickets to tourists to go watch bullfights. After Paco
unfairly loses his job, due to a rich client complaint, he is unable
to find a new job. Without a job, his friends and family turn their
backs on him. Desperate, with his working mother becoming ill, his
last chance to make it is to jump in the bullfighting arena as a
'spontaneous' bullfighter to demonstrate his skills and win the chance
to strike it rich. The movie is shot in Black and White (the world of
Paco). The movie switches to colour in the last scenes as Paco arrives
in the colour rich 'fiesta' bullfighting arena, jumps in with the bull
and is tragically killed. The message of the movie is that we are all
'Espontaneos' like Paco, trying to make it in the difficult going ons
of life.
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