Bernardo Bertolucci was born in Rome, Italy, in 1945. He was a student at the University of Rome from 1962-65. He made his directorial debut at age twenty-five with The Spider's Stratagem (1968), a film about the relationship between a master criminal and his son. In 1969, he made his first film outside of Italy, The Train (1969)
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His next film, Last Tango in Paris (1972), which he co-wrote with Franco Solinas, marked a new departure in Bertolucci's work in that it was a realistic drama rather than a character study or a political statement. Following the success of Last Tango in Paris, Bertolucci directed several other films including: Love in the Shadows (1973), La Luna (1976), 1900 (1976), and The Last Emperor (1987). In 1984, Bertolucci made The Accidental Tourist, which he also wrote.
In 1986, he directed Last Tango in Paris for American audiences. In 1988, he directed The Days of Sodom and Gomorrah for French television. Bertolucci is currently working on a film about the life of Leonardo da Vinci called The Dreamers.