Look up Luna or luna in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Luna most often refers to:

• The Latin name for the Moon, Earth's only natural satellite
• Luna, the Roman incarnation of Selene, a goddess and the personified Moon in Greek mythology
• Luna (name), a given name and surname (includes a list of people and characters with the name Luna)

Luna may also refer to:

Organizations[link]

• Luna (XM), XM Radio channel 95
• KLNN or Luna radio, a U.S. FM radio station
• RTV Luna, a television and radio company in Montenegro
• Radio Luna, a radio station in Montenegro
• Luna Publications, a literary publishing company in Toronto, Canada
• Luna Innovations, a company based in Virginia, USA
• Luna Park, various amusement parks
• Luna Lounge, a bar formerly at Ludlow Street, Manhattan, now located at Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Science and technology[link]

• Luna programme, a series of Soviet unmanned space missions
• FROG-7 or Luna, a Soviet artillery rocket
• Luna X 2000, a German unmanned aerial vehicle
• Nokia 8600 Luna, a mobile phone
• Luna a personal robot made by RoboDynamics

Computers[link]

• LUNA, a computer product line of OMRON Tateishi Electric
• Luna (theme), the codename for the default theme of Windows XP

Biology[link]

• Luna (tree), a California Redwood tree
• Luna (killer whale) (1999–2006), Orca who lived in Nootka Sound between 2001 and 2006
• Luna moth or Actias luna, a lime-green North American silk moth

Places[link]

Europe[link]

• Luna (Etruria), a city in ancient Etruria (now Italy) destroyed by the Arabs in 1016
• Luna, Cluj, a commune in Cluj County, Romania
• Luna, a village in Negreşti-Oaş town, Satu Mare County, Romania
• Luna River or Lonea River, Romania
• Luna, Zaragoza, a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, Spain
• Roverè della Luna, Italy
• Luna forest, a forest on the north bank of the Danube according to Ptolemy

United States and Canada[link]

• Luna, New Mexico, in Catron County
• Luna County, New Mexico
• Luna Peak (disambiguation), two North American mountains
• Luna Island, an island in New York that is adjacent to the Niagara Falls
• Luna Lake, Arizona, a natural body of water
• Luna Pier, Michigan, a small city

Philippines[link]

• Luna, Apayao
• Luna, Isabela
• Luna, La Union

Others[link]

• Luna, Rajasthan, India

Music[link]

• Luna (band), a New York based alternative rock band
• Luna (Boston band), a 1970s rock and roll band from Boston, Massachusetts
• Luna (Serbian band), a 1980s post/punk/gothic rock band from Novi Sad, Serbia
• Luna (Serbian pop group), a male/female pop group from Serbia
• Luna (singer) (born 1993), member of a South Korean girl group
• Luna, bass guitarist in Chrome Division
• Luna Guitars, a guitar manufacturer
• Luna (National Product album), 2007
• Luna (The Aliens album), 2008
• Luna (Ana Gabriel album), 1993
• Luna, a 2004 album by Claudia Acuña
• Luna, a 2008 album by Tomasz Budzyński
• "Luna" (song), a 2008 song by Eddy Lover from Perdóname
• "Luna", a song by Juanes from Un Día Normal
• "Luna", a song by Arisa Mizuki from Arisa
• "Luna", a song by Moonspell from Memorial
• "Luna", a song by Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers from their self titled debut album
• "Luna", a song by The Smashing Pumpkins from Siamese Dream
• "Luna", a song by Don Omar
• "Luna", a song by Omnia
• "Luna", a song by Alessandro Safina
• "Luna", a song by Zoé from their album Reptilectric

Transportation[link]

• Luna (vehicle), a moped produced in India
• MV Luna a passenger ship of the Neptun Line, Germany built in 1938
• Luna (tugboat), a historic tugboat in Boston, Massachusetts
• Luna (rocket), carrier rockets used by the Soviet Union

Other uses[link]

• Luna, a small vessel which holds the Host in a monstrance
• Luna Gotra, a sub-tribe of the Chadhar clan, located in Punjab, Pakistan
• LUNA bar, an energy bar marketed to women by Clif Bar & Co
• Luna (footballer) (born 1971), Spanish former professional footballer

Fiction[link]

• Luna (TV series), a 1983-84 UK children's TV show
• Luna (novel), a 2004 novel by Julie Anne Peters
• Luna (Odier novel), a 1979 novel by Delacorta
• Luna, a 1995 Spanish film by Alejandro Amenábar
• Luna class starship, a type of starship in Star Trek: Titan
• Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete
• Luna City, fictional Moon colony in novels by Robert A. Heinlein and others
• Princess Luna, a character in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

See also[link]

• La Lunatica, in the Marvel Comics universe
• Lunamaria Hawke from the Gundam Seed Destiny series
• Lunawebs, a web agency in Salt Lake City, Utah
• Lunae
• Lunatic
• Luna Park (disambiguation)
• La Luna (disambiguation)
• Lunas (disambiguation)
• Lune (disambiguation)
• Lunacy (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Carlisle in 2010
Background information
Birth name	Belinda Jo Carlisle
Also known as	Belinda, Dottie Danger, Belinda Jo Kurczeski
Born	(1958-08-17) August 17, 1958 (age 53)
Origin	Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Genres	Pop rock, pop
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, author
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1978–present
Labels	I.R.S. (1986) MCA (1987–1991) Virgin (1987–1999) Chrysalis (1996) Rykodisc (2007–present)
Associated acts	The Go-Go's The Germs Black Randy and the Metrosquad
Website	www.belindacarlisle.tv

Belinda Jo Carlisle (born August 17, 1958) is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands of all time and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments.^[1] Topping the Billboard charts with the Go-Go's, she sold more than seven million albums^[2] in just three years and later went on to a successful solo career with hits "Mad About You", "Summer Rain", "I Get Weak", "Circle in the Sand", "Leave a Light On" and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" among others, which were major successes in the United States and United Kingdom as well as internationally. Her autobiography, Lips Unsealed, published in June 2010, reached No. 27 on the The New York Times Best Seller list and received favorable reviews.^[3] On August 11, 2011, she received, as a member of the Go-Go's, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Early life[link]

Belinda Carlisle was born in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles to Harold, a travelling salesman (he sold vacuum cleaners) and his wife Joanne, who raised the children at home. The first of seven siblings, with three brothers and three sisters, she was five years old when her father abandoned the family and upon her mother's second marriage, did not have a close relationship with her stepfather, Duke Kurczeski. Growing up in Ventura County's Thousand Oaks, a part of the Greater Los Angeles Area, she was a cheerleader at Newbury Park High School and, at the age of 19, left home.^[4][5]

Early career and The Go-Gos[link]

Carlisle live with The Go-Go's in 2008

Carlisle's first venture into music was a brief stint as drummer for the punk band The Germs, under the name Dottie Danger. Around this time Carlisle did some back-up singing for the Black Randy and the Metrosquad. Soon after leaving The Germs, she co-founded The Go-Gos (originally named The Misfits), with friends and fellow musicians Margot Olaverria, Elissa Bello, and Jane Wiedlin. Olaverria and Bello were soon out of the group and the new line-up included bassist-turned-guitarist Charlotte Caffey, guitarist-turned-bassist Kathy Valentine, and drummer Gina Schock. The Go-Go's became one of the most successful American bands of the 1980s, helping usher New Wave music into popular American radio, and becoming the first all-female band, who wrote their own music and played their own instruments, to ever achieve a #1 album. The Go-Gos recorded two more studio albums on I.R.S. Records, including 1982 Vacation, which went gold. "Head over Heels", from their 1984 album Talk Show, made it to #11, but they never repeated the success of their 1981 multi-platinum debut, Beauty and the Beat, which featured the hits "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed".

In 1984, Carlisle made a foray into acting in the movie Swing Shift starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and performed backing vocals for the Don Henley recording of "She's on the Zoom" from the Vision Quest soundtrack.

Solo career[link]

The Go-Go's disbanded in 1985 and Carlisle embarked on a solo career, although she continued to work with fellow Go-Go Charlotte Caffey.

[edit] 1986–1987: Belinda

Carlisle's first solo album Belinda was released in 1986, also on I.R.S. Records. This album was successful in North America and was certified Gold in the US and Platinum in Canada. Her summer hit "Mad About You" peaked at No. 3 in the US, topped the Canadian Singles Chart, and charted in the top 10 in Australia. "Mad About You" was followed by the Motown-influenced single "I Feel the Magic", and by a cover version of the Freda Payne song "Band of Gold". All three songs were included on her debut album. The single "Since You've Gone", co-written by Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, was used only for promotion. Susanna Hoffs co-wrote the single "I Need a Disguise". Duran Duran's Andy Taylor played guitar on some album tracks and appeared in her "Mad About You" video clip.

During this time, Carlisle also had songs featured on movie soundtracks, notably "In My Wildest Dreams" from the movie Mannequin "Shot in the Dark" from the Anthony Michael Hall thriller, Out of Bounds, as well as "Dancing in the City" from the Whoopi Goldberg movie Burglar.

[edit] 1987–1989: Heaven on Earth

Carlisle changed again her hairstyle significantly for her second solo album, giving up her California Girl blonde bob for a long auburn style for 1987's Heaven on Earth. The musical style eschewed the 1960s-influenced pop of Carlisle's first album in favor of slickly produced 1980s power-pop, and was released in the United States through MCA, and in the United Kingdom through Virgin. The album became a Top 5 bestseller in the UK and Australia, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. The album's producer, Rick Nowels, previously worked with Stevie Nicks, and would later collaborate with Kim Wilde, Jennifer Rush and Madonna. Michelle Phillips of The Mamas and The Papas, Chynna Phillips and Carnie Wilson sang backup for the album. Thomas Dolby played the keyboards on some album tracks.

The first release from Heaven on Earth was "Heaven Is a Place on Earth", which topped the single charts, not only in the US, but also in the UK and in several other countries (the dance mix of the song also topped the dance chart). The radio-ready song was further propelled by a video, directed by Academy Award-winning American actress Diane Keaton. The second single from the album was the Diane Warren-penned "I Get Weak", which peaked at #2 in the US and #10 in the UK. The third single from the album was "Circle in the Sand", another Top 10 hit in the US, the UK, and Germany. "World Without You" was another British hit, followed by 1988 low-charting ballad "Love Never Dies", making this her fifth single from the album in the UK. In the US, the fourth and last single, "I Feel Free", a cover of the Cream classic, failed to reach the Top 40.

After the release of the Heaven on Earth album, Carlisle embarked on the 'Good Heavens' world tour during which she sold out Wembley Arena in London.

In 2009, a remastered edition of the album was released with extra tracks, remixes, and a bonus DVD containing a complete live concert from 1988 (available for the first time on DVD).

[edit] 1989–1991: Runaway Horses

Carlisle's follow-up to the success of Heaven on Earth was Runaway Horses, released on October 23, 1989. The album hit the Top 5 in both Australia and the UK, certified double platinum in Australia and platinum in the UK and in Canada, but failed to reach similar success in the US The first release, "Leave a Light On", peaked at #11 in the US, and became another Top 5 smash in the UK, Australia and Canada. The song features a slide guitar solo by George Harrison; he also played on the song Deep Deep Ocean. The second US single, "Summer Rain", reached #30 in early 1990. The song, which Carlisle noted was the most difficult song she had ever sung up to that point,^{[citation needed]} peaked successfully at #6 in Australia, where it has maintained popularity, and the tune saw a cover version, in 2004, by the Australian group Slinkee Minx. It was the final release from Runaway Horses in the UK where it was released as the album's sixth single in December 1990, peaking at #23 in January 1991. Whereas in the US Carlisle's success was decreasing, her popularity remained big in Europe and Australia. In 1990, further singles from the Runaway Horses album were successful as well: the title track, the summer mood influenced "La Luna", a Top 10 in Switzerland and top 20 hit in Germany and Australia, and "(We Want) The Same Thing", remixed from a country-styled release into a massive Pop hit, reaching #6 in the UK. Bryan Adams contributed backup vocals for the track "Whatever It Takes".

In the late autumn of 1990, the Go-Go's reunited for a tour to support their first best-of album, Greatest, including a new recording of the cover song "Cool Jerk" (Go-Go's original cover was featured on their 1980 European EP, with a second version being released in 1982). A notable feature of the tour was an anti-fur campaign, where the band members supported People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA, an animal rights organization. That same year, Carlisle joined with The Smithereens lead singer Pat Dinizio on his group's ballad "Blue Period" and also performed backing vocals on Then Jerico's album The Big Area on the track "What Does It Take?".

[edit] 1991–1992: Live Your Life Be Free

In 1991, Carlisle released her fourth solo album, Live Your Life Be Free. The album marked somewhat of a return to 1960s-influenced music for Carlisle and included songs mainly written and produced by Rick Nowels but also two songs co-written by Carlisle. The single "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" was accompanied by a tongue-in-cheek video, inspired by the B-movie Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. The title track, "Live Your Life Be Free", released as first single outside the US, was a Top 20 hit single in many countries reaching number 12 in the UK and #13 in Australia. Subsequent releases "Half the World" and "Little Black Book" (co-written by Marcella Detroit of the Shakespears Sister under her real name Marcy Levy) were also hits outside the US, and although Live Your Life Be Free as an album flopped in the US, it was a success in Europe (Top 10 in the UK and Gold certification). To date, "Do You Feel Like I Feel?" is Carlisle's final single to enter in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #73.

[edit] 1992: The Best of Belinda, Volume 1

Still active in Europe and Australia with a record contract at Virgin Records, her 1992 greatest hits album The Best of Belinda, Volume 1 reached #1, and was certified double platinum in the UK and platinum in Australia. This first greatest hits album included all the hits taken from the Heaven on Earth, Runaway Horses, and Live Your Life Be Free albums. It neglected the ballad "Love Never Dies", and the three I.R.S. singles from her first album Belinda, as this only received a limited UK release and produced no hit singles there. Also, no movie-soundtrack songs appear on the collection. The US version of the album was named Her Greatest Hits and also included songs from the first album Belinda.

[edit] 1993–1994: Real

Carlisle's fifth solo album, Real, was released in 1993 on the Virgin label in the US and in Europe. Produced without Nowels, the disc was a departure from Carlisle's polished pop music formula. Even the album's cover photograph featured her with little or no make-up. Carlisle co-produced and co-wrote much of the disc, collaborating heavily with friend and ex-Go-Go Charlotte Caffey. The album was Carlisle's fifth consecutive to reach the UK Top 10 peaking at number #9. Real peaked also at number #23 in Sweden. Its first single, "Big Scary Animal", peaked at #12 in the UK. The second single from Real was "Lay Down Your Arms", which made the Top 30 in the UK. Gregg Alexander of the New Radicals co-wrote the single "Here Comes My Baby".

At this time, Carlisle also recorded "One by One", on the soundtrack for the 1993 movie The Harvest and sang on The Lemonheads' Come On Feel The Lemonheads album on the track "I'll Do It Anyway".

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Carlisle and her family moved to Europe. The Go-Gos reunited again later that year to support the retrospective double-CD Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's, their second collection, which featured three new songs, including the single "The Whole World Lost Its Head". However, the band broke up again, soon after the promotional tour. Carlisle has since lived in France and England.

[edit] 1996–1997: A Woman and a Man

Carlisle returned to the recording studio, and resumed working again with Rick Nowels. In 1996 she released in the UK and Australia her sixth solo album, A Woman and a Man, on the Chrysalis Records label. This album, consisting of mostly relaxed adult pop, revitalized her solo career in Europe, and included several hits. The leadoff single, "In Too Deep", returned Carlisle to the UK Top 10, for the first time in six years, reaching #6. "Always Breaking My Heart", written and produced by Roxette's Per Gessle, also made the UK Top 10, peaking at #8. The album spawned two more smaller hits in UK: "Love in the Key of C", and "California", which featured arrangement and back-up vocals by Brian Wilson. The album reached #12 in the UK, and was certified gold. As a result of A Woman and A Man's UK success, the album was released in the US during the summer of 1997 on the small Ark21 label. Despite the recent successful comeback in Europe, and the promotional appearances Carlisle made on American television and radio, the album did not enjoy similar success in North America selling only 17,000 copies.

In 1996, Carlisle recorded "I Wouldn't Be Here (If I Didn't Love You)" for the Two If by Sea official movie soundtrack. In 1997, she recorded "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" from Walt Disney Animation Studios's Hercules as part of that movie's standard distribution in Europe, and was released as a single exclusively in France and Germany. Neither of these tracks has been released on compilation albums.

[edit] 1999–2000: A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits

In 1999, Carlisle released a greatest hits album in the UK, a double-disc on the Virgin label, collectively entitled A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits. Carlisle recorded three new tracks for the album's first disc, properly called The Greatest Hits, including the single "All God's Children", and the songs "A Prayer for Everyone" and "Feels Like I've Known You Forever". The second disc of the album entitled A Place on Earth, contained previously released remixes of some of her hits, plus a couple of B-sides which were previously unreleased. Some of the remixes were by William Orbit, who also worked with Madonna on her 1998 Ray of Light album. A Place on Earth: The Greatest Hits was certified Gold in the UK and went on to sell an excess of one million copies worldwide.

[edit] 2001: Go-Go's Reunion

In 2001, the Go-Go's reunited again and released an album of new material, God Bless The Go-Go's. Green Day's lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong co-wrote the only released single "Unforgiven". God Bless The Go-Go's received mixed reviews from critics. Rolling Stone wrote "Every bit as Go-Go's, that is, as their non-hits and less remarkable material. While the Go-Go's sound is intact, there is not a "We Got the Beat" or a "Head Over Heels" to be found. It is feasible that in this age of pop rebirth, the Go-Go's decided it was now or never". Allmusic wrote "The album doesn't attempt to update the band's sound with hip-hop moves or electronic frippery, for which God should bless 'em, indeed. The girls' hold on the current pop world remains so strong that Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong co-writes a song ("Unforgiven") in impeccable Go-Go's drag".

The album sold fewer copies than the previous Go-Go's studio albums but still managed to chart in the US Billboard 200, peaking at number #57.

Around the time of the Go-Go's definitive reunion tour, Carlisle appeared nude for the cover feature and a full pictorial of the August 2001 edition of Playboy.^[6]

[edit] 2007: Voila

In 2007, the singer released her seventh album Voila, which was her first full-length, solo studio album in more than ten years. The album was produced by John Reynolds and included Brian Eno on the keyboard. Consisting of a mix of French pop tunes and chanson standards, including covers of Françoise Hardy and Édith Piaf classics. Voila was released via Rykodisc in the UK on February 5, and in the US the following day, February 6, 2007. Carlisle was originally approached to make another pop rock album, but she declined immediately, in favor of recording this collection of songs, the style of which, she'd "absolutely fallen in love with",^{[citation needed]} since moving to France in the early 1990s.

2008–2010[link]

She recently toured as part of the Regeneration tour in the US, and the Here and Now tour in the UK and Ireland in 2008 and summer of 2009. The line up included Carlisle, as well as other acts such as The Human League, Bananarama, Boy George, Howard Jones, Paul Young, Naked Eyes, ABC, T'Pau, and Cutting Crew.

She took over the role of Velma Von Tussle in London's West End production of Hairspray on October 28, 2009 at the Shaftesbury Theatre.^[7] She remained with the show till late January 2010 and was replaced by Siobhan McCarthy.

Carlisle announced a Go-Go's farewell tour planned for July 2010, which was then cancelled due to a leg injury suffered by guitarist Jane Wiedlin.^[8]

Belinda Carlisle performed at Manchester Pride on August 27, 2010. This being her second appearance at this event, with the first being in 2007.

In October 2010, tickets went on sale for a concert tour of Germany in January 2011.

2011-2012[link]

Carlisle played dates around Australia, commencing on February 4, 2011 in Melbourne. She appeared as part of the "Here and Now, 10th Anniversary Tour" at the Meydan Racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on the 7th of April 2011. Carlisle also toured the US with The Go-Go's, including playing to a packed house at the iconic Greek Theatre in Los Angeles in August 2011. On October 10, 2011, Carlisle performed at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Philippines together with The Human League and Howard Jones. In February 2012

Television appearances[link]

Outside of appearances on tour with The Go-Go's, Carlisle continued her string of TV appearances.

In 2004, Carlisle was the first star to be voted off the UK reality TV show Hell's Kitchen.^[9]

In 2005, Belinda appeared on both UK and USA versions of Hit Me Baby One More Time in which participants had to perform their biggest hit as well as a contemporary cover. Belinda sang Heaven is a place on Earth and Coldplay's The Scientist. She lost out in her show to Shakin' Stevens who went on to win the final.

In 2006, she appeared on the Simon Cowell-produced Celebrity Duets, a Fox network reality competition, pairing celebrities not famous for singing (like Lucy Lawless and Cheech Marin) with actual singers like Carlisle, Michael Bolton, Jon Secada, Taylor Dayne and Macy Gray. Carlisle sang "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" and "I Get Weak" with Lea Thompson on the September 7 episode.

In 2008 she appeared as a judge on the MTV reality show Rock the Cradle, a competition reality show featuring aspiring musicians who were also the children of famous musicians.

In 2009 Carlisle was on the 8th season of Dancing with the Stars, paired with Jonathan Roberts. She was the first star to be eliminated from the competition, on March 17.^[10]

In 2011 Carlisle performed on "Good Morning America", Friday June 3 in an appearance for the show's "Summer Concert Series", in New York City's Central Park.

Personal life[link]

In 1986, Carlisle married Morgan Mason, film producer and former Special Assistant to the President of the United States, as well as the son of British actor James Mason. Mason made appearances in Carlisle's videos "Mad About You" and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth". They have a son, James Duke Mason, born on April 27, 1992.

She has been reported as being "deeply into Buddhism" and chants Nam Myoho Renge Kyo daily.^[11] In an interview, printed on March 7, 2007, the singer stated that: "I was wondering about happiness and started reading a lot of books by the Dalai Lama, and slowly embraced Buddhism" (published by Newindpress, India). She told the Sydney Morning Herald: "I don't smoke any more, I don't drink any more and I don't do drugs any more. I am very much into my Buddhism. I found turning 40 a real passage in time for me."

In January 2009, it was announced that Carlisle was appointed the new spokesperson for NutriSystem.^[12]

Discography[link]

See also[link]

• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
• List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
• List of RPM number-one singles of 1986

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Belinda Carlisle

• Official website
• Carlisle-Mason Website
• A Place On Earth - Belinda Carlisle Website
• The Go-Go's Official Site
• Belinda Carlisle at the Internet Movie Database
• Music Videos
• Belinda Carlisle at Tv.com

Articles[link]

• Audio interview with SYN 907 Melbourne

v t e The Go-Go's Charlotte Caffey Belinda Carlisle Gina Schock Kathy Valentine Jane Wiedlin Elissa Bello Paula Jean Brown Margot Olaverra Vicki Peterson Albums Beauty and the Beat Vacation Talk Show God Bless The Go-Go's Compilation albums Greatest Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's VH1 Behind the Music: Go-Go's Collection Singles "Our Lips Are Sealed" "We Got the Beat" "Vacation" "Get Up and Go" "He's So Strange" "Head over Heels" "Turn to You" "Yes or No" "Cool Jerk" "The Whole World Lost Its Head" "Unforgiven" Related articles Discography Book:The Go-Go's

Bernardo Bertolucci (Italian pronunciation: [berˈnardo bertoˈluttʃi]; born 16 March 1941) is an Italian film director and screenwriter, whose films include The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris, 1900, The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky and The Dreamers. In recognition of his work, he was presented with the inaugural Honorary Palme d'Or Award at the opening ceremony of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.^[1]

Biography[link]

Origins[link]

Bertolucci was born in the Italian city of Parma, in the region of Emilia Romagna. He is the elder son of Ninetta, a teacher, and Attilio Bertolucci, who was a poet, a reputed art historian, anthologist and film critic.^[2] Having been raised in such an environment, Bertolucci began writing at the age of fifteen, and soon after received several prestigious literary prizes including the Premio Viareggio for his first book. His father's background helped his career: the elder Bertolucci had helped the Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini publish his first novel, and Pasolini reciprocated by hiring Bertolucci as first assistant in Rome on Accattone (1961), where he met his first wife, Adriana Asti.

Bertolucci has one brother, the theatre director and playwright Giuseppe (b. 27 February 1947). His cousin was the film producer Giovanni Bertolucci (24 June 1940 – 17 February 2005), with whom he has worked on a number of films.

Bertolucci's first wife, Adriana Asti, starred in his early film Prima della rivoluzione. In 1978, he married Clare Peploe, a British screenwriter who has since directed a few films as well.

Starting out with Pasolini[link]

Bertolucci initially wished to become a poet like his father. With this goal in mind, he attended the Faculty of Modern Literature of the University of Rome from 1958 to 1961. As noted above, this is where his film career as an assistant director to Pasolini began. Shortly after, Bertolucci left the University without graduating. In 1962, at the age of 22, he directed his first feature film, produced by Tonino Cervi with a screenplay by Pier Paolo Pasolini, called La commare secca (1962). The film is a murder mystery, following a prostitute's homicide. Bertolucci uses flashbacks to piece together the crime and the person who committed it. The film which shortly followed was his acclaimed Before the Revolution (Prima della rivoluzione, 1964).

The boom of Italian cinema, which gave Bertolucci his start, slowed in the 1970s as directors were forced to co-produce their films with several of the American, Swedish, French, and German companies and actors due to the effects of the global economic recession on the Italian film industry. It has been speculated^{[citation needed]} that this is the point in its history at which Italian cinema began to depend upon the international market.

A poetic personality[link]

Bertolucci soon left Pasolini's poetic ideas behind in order to follow his own personal idea about cinema based more or less on the individuality of people who find themselves having to deal with sudden changes in their lives, both on an existential as well as political level, yet they have no clear cut solution, nor are they looking for one in many cases.

[edit] Prima della rivoluzione

The above theme is present in almost all of Bertolucci's works, starting with his second film, Prima della rivoluzione (1964), where this theme is very clear in the story of a young upper-middle agrarian class boy from Parma (Francesco Barilli), who, incapable of dealing with his best friend's suicide, throws himself into a relationship with a much older distant relative from Milan (played by Adriana Asti). Both of them know the relationship can never last, and when she leaves, the young man has no choice but to marry his previous girlfriend, who he does not love, but who comes from a wealthy family of high standing, so the marriage makes his family happy.

[edit] The scandal of Last Tango in Paris

Bertolucci became infamous in 1972, with the controversial film Last Tango in Paris, with Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider, Jean-Pierre Léaud and Massimo Girotti, when a scene featuring the anal rape of character Jeane by character Paul using butter as a lubricant, among other depictions of the young Schneider that were thought to be exploitative, caused serious concern due to its representation of women. Though some choose to view the act as "anal sex", it is clear the scene depicts a rape by definition because Jeane was screaming, crying hysterically, fighting him off and yelling the clear-cut "no". There was nothing preceding the act nor during the act to indicate consent, and indeed her actions represent the pure opposite of consent - physical, verbal, and emotional resistance to the best of her ability. Many believe that Paul's untimely end at Jeane's hands was the result of her character's trauma and was considered by many to be retribution for the rape. Many also took issue with the fact that Schneider was completely naked much of the film, while Brando was fully clothed. Bertolucci answered this by saying he too much identified with Brando's character to humiliate him in such a way. What this implied for his treatment of Schneider fueled the storm of controversy. Because of the exploitative nature of Bertolucci's depiction of Jeane, the film can easily be seen as a sexist, masculinist rape fantasy, especially given that Bertolucci himself openly admits that the film was inspired by his own sexual fantasies, though many critics dismissed the concerns as moralistic.

The ethical dilema, and controversy, did not stop at the level of pure representation. During filming, the 20-year-old Schneider was not aware of the scene and, in fact, was only told her character was to be raped moments before the scene was filmed. This, and the ultimate portrayal of her character, caused her great emotional trauma, and to her death on 3 February 2011, she still had not forgiven Bertolucci for what she considered an emotional rape of her being and identity. During the actual scene, she has also said she was crying real tears as she felt humiliated and violated by both Brando and Bertolucci. As a direct result, she became a women's rights advocate, especially fighting for more female film directors, more respect for female actors, and better representation of females in film and media.

Brando too felt raped by Bertolucci, and did not speak to him for many years as a result of the trauma of being involved with the film. He has publicly said what he ultimately saw on screen horrified and traumatized him, and he felt manipulated and emotionally raped by the director. He felt it was a violation of his craft, specifically his use of the Method acting technique, for Bertolucci to cause him to inhabit such a vile character.

Last Tango in Paris presents Brando's character Paul as he uses an anonymous affair to cope with the violent death of his wife by emotionally and physically dominating a young woman. The film caused criminal proceedings to be brought against Bertolucci in Italy for the anal rape scene, and the film was sequestered by the censorship commission and all copies were ordered to be destroyed. An Italian court revoked Bertolucci's civil rights for five years and gave him a four-month suspended prison sentence. Many years after, when the censorship commission had been abolished, the film reappeared (because Bertolucci had kept a clandestine copy) and was projected in a slightly censored version.

The original copy, and the copies that had been preserved abroad, were used to make the DVD.

Becoming World Famous[link]

Bertolucci's star on Walk of Fame

Bertolucci increased his fame with his next few films, from Novecento (1976), an epic depiction of the struggles of farmers in Emilia-Romagna from the beginning of the 20th century up to World War II with an impressive international cast (Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, Donald Sutherland, Sterling Hayden, Burt Lancaster, Dominique Sanda) to La Luna, set in Rome and in Emilia-Romagna, in which Bertolucci deals with the thorny issue of drugs and incest, and finally La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo (1981), with Ugo Tognazzi.

[edit] Red Harvest

During the making of Last Tango in Paris, Bertolucci toyed with the idea of adapting Dashiell Hammett's book Red Harvest into a feature film. That material had formed the basis for Kurasawa's Yojimbo, which in turn was the basis for Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari), countless others have used its premise since. The reason for this was his wanting to branch out into other forms of cinema. Bertolucci wrote two screenplays, the first draft was written almost entirely as a political film, from which emerged a story inspired by socialist syndicalism of the late 1920s in America. The second draft was more faithful to Hammett's original story and changed the setting to 1934. Actors considered for the role The Continental Op were Robert Redford, Clint Eastwood and Jack Nicholson. In Rome, Bertolucci and Warren Beatty talked in great detail about the film, and in 1982 Bertolucci left Europe for Los Angeles, where he was to shoot Red Harvest, but five years went by and the film was never made.

[edit] Academy Awards with The Last Emperor

In 1987, Bertolucci directed the epic The Last Emperor, a biographical film telling the life story of Aisin-Gioro Puyi, the last Emperor of China. The film was independently produced by noted British producer Jeremy Thomas, who became Bertolucci's preferred producer. Bertolucci has worked almost exclusively with Thomas from then on. The film was independently financed and three years in the making. Bertolucci won the Academy Award for Best Director. Bertolucci co-wrote the film with Mark Peploe. The Last Emperor uses Puyi's life as a mirror that reflects China's passage from feudalism through revolution to its current state.

At the 60th Academy Awards, The Last Emperor won all nine Oscars for which it was nominated: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Music, Original Score and Best Sound

The Last Emperor was the first feature film ever authorized by the government of the People's Republic of China to film in the Forbidden City. Bertolucci had proposed the film to the Chinese government as one of two possible projects. The other film was La Condition Humaine by André Malraux. The Chinese government preferred The Last Emperor, and made no restrictions on the content. The Last Emperor became the first western film made in China and about the country to be produced with full Chinese government cooperation since 1949.

His latest films[link]

After The Last Emperor, the director went back to Italy to film, as well as to his old themes with varying results from both critics and the public. He filmed Stealing Beauty in 1996, then The Dreamers in 2003, which describes the political passions and sexual revolutions of two siblings in Paris in 1968.

In 2007 he received the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for his life's work, and in 2011 he also received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. ^{[3][dead link]}

In 2012, his latest film Me and You was screened out of competition at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[4][5]

As a screenwriter, producer and actor[link]

Bertolucci has also written many screenplays, both for his own films as well as for films directed by others, two of which he also produced.

His only experience as an actor was in the film Golem-The Spirit of Exile directed by Amos Gitai in 1992. After his divorce from Adriana Asti, Bertolucci married Clare Peploe, screenwriter and director with Mark Peploe of Professione Reporter, and who had already collaborated with Michelangelo Antonioni.

Upcoming projects[link]

Bertolucci is said to be working on a historical romance centering on 16th-century classical musician (and murderer) Carlo Gesualdo.^[6]

Bertolucci's next feature film will be an adaptation of Niccolò Ammaniti's young-adult's book Io e te (You and Me), originally set to be filmed in 3D. The screenplay for the movie was written by Bertolucci himself, Umberto Contarello and Niccolò Ammaniti, and expected to release late 2012.^[7] Bertolucci later changed his mind about shooting in 3D, calling the idea "vulgarly commercial". ^[8]

Politics and personal beliefs[link]

Bertolucci is an atheist.^[9]

Bertolucci's films are often very political. He is a professed Marxist and like Visconti, who similarly employed many foreign artists during the late 1960s, Bertolucci uses his films to express his political views; hence they are often autobiographical as well as highly controversial. His political films were preceded by others re-evaluating history. The Conformist (1970) criticised Fascist ideology, touched upon the relationship between nationhood and nationalism, as well as issues of popular taste and collective memory, all amid an international plot by Mussolini to assassinate a politically active leftist professor of philosophy in Paris. 1900 also analyses the struggle of Left and Right. The 1987 epic The Last Emperor (recently re-released at an extended 219 minutes) allowed Bertolucci to influence politics both through his characters and through the act of making the film itself. He was granted unprecedented permission to film in the Forbidden City of Beijing, and the film's central character Puyi undergoes a decade-long communist re-education under Mao which takes him from the peacock colors of the palace to the grey suit worn by his contemporaries to live out his life as a gardener.

On 27 September 2009, Bertolucci was one of the signers of the appeal to the Swiss government to release Roman Polanski, who was being held while waiting to be extradited to the United States.^[10]

Awards[link]

Cinematographic awards[link]

• 1971: National Society of Film Critics Award for best director
• 1973: Nastro d'argento for best director
• 1988: Academy Award for Best Director
• 1988: Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
• 1988: Golden Globe Award for Best Director
• 1988: Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay
• 1988: David di Donatello for Best Director
• 1988: David di Donatello for best screenplay
• 1988: Nastro d'argento for best director
• 1988: Directors Guild of America Award for best director
• 1997: Honorable Mention at the Locarno Film Festival
• 1997: Award special visual sensitivity in directing at the Camerimage
• 1997: Award for collaborating director – director of photography (Vittorio Storaro) at Camerimage
• 1998: Recognition for free expression by the National Board of Review
• 2007: Leone d'oro for his career at the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica Venice
• 2011: Honorary Palma d'oro at Festival di Cannes

Filmography[link]

• La commare secca (1962)
• Prima della rivoluzione (1964)
• La via del petrolio (1965)
• Il canale (1966)
• Partner (1968)
• Amore e rabbia (1969, segment Agonia)
• Il conformista (1970)
• Strategia del ragno (1970)
• La salute è malata (1971)
• 12 dicembre (1971)
• Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972)
• Novecento (1976)
• La luna (1979)
• La tragedia di un uomo ridicolo (1981)
• L'addio a Enrico Berlinguer (1984)
• The Last Emperor (1987)
• 12 registi per 12 città (1989, segment Bologna)
• The Sheltering Sky (1990)
• Little Buddha (1993)
• Stealing Beauty (1996)
• Besieged (1999)
• Ten Minutes Older: The Cello (2002, segment Histoire d'eaux)
• The Dreamers (2003)
• Me and You (2012)

See also[link]

• "La Lega"
• Amos Gitai

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bernardo Bertolucci at the Internet Movie Database
• Ebiri, Bilge (September 2004). "Bernardo Bertolucci". Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database. http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/04/bertolucci.html. 
• Jeremy Isaacs, "Face to Face: Bernardo Bertolucci", BBC interview, September 1989.
• Roger Ebert, review, The Last Emperor, Chicago Sun-Times, December 9, 1987.