
Person
Dario Argento
Directing · Born 1940-09-07 · Rome, Lazio, Italy
Biography
Dario Argento was born on September 7, 1940, in Rome, Italy, the first-born son of famed Italian producer Salvatore Argento and Brazilian fashion model Elda Luxardo. Argento recalls getting his ideas for filmmaking from his close-knit family from Italian folk tales told by his parents and other family members, including an aunt who told him frighting bedtime stories. Argento based most of his thriller movies on childhood trauma, yet his own--according to him--was a normal one. Along with tales spun by his aunt, Argento was impressed by stories from The Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allan Poe. Argento started his career writing for various film journal magazines while still in his teens attending a Catholic high school. After graduation, instead of going to college, Argento took a job as a columnist for the Rome daily newspaper "Paese Sera". Inspired by the movies, he later found work as a screenwriter and wrote several screenplays for a number of films, but the most important were his western collaborations, which included Cimitero senza croci (1969) and the Sergio Leone masterpiece C'era una volta il West (1968). He is known in italy as Master of Horror.
Known for

Once Upon a Time in the West
Story

Masters of Horror
Director

Domenica In
Self

Ennio
Self

Dawn of the Dead
Script Consultant

Leçon de Cinéma
Self

Suspiria
Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

Suspiria
Original Film Writer

Jenifer
Director

Deep Red
Murderer's Hands (uncredited)
Filmography
- 2025La nostra magnifica ossessione - Bernardo Bertolucci e la sua generazione
- 2025The Dark FantasticSelf
- 2024Titanus 1904Self
- 2024Dario Argento: PanicoSelf
- 2023Deep Argento
- 2023CVLTDario Argento
- 2023Dario Argento in conversation at the DFF自己
- 2023Call My Agent: ItalyDario Argento
- 2022Il museo degli orrori di Dario Argentoself
- 2022DARIO ARGENTO - The ExhibitSelf
- 2022Tripping The Dark FantasticHimself
- 2022Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented AmericaSelf
- 2022She WillProducer
- 2022Dark GlassesScreenplay
- 2022EnnioSelf
- 2021We Are CinemaSelf (archive footage)
- 2021VortexLui
- 2021Alida Valli: In Her Own WordsSelf
- 2021Lui è peggio di me
- 2020Tales of the UncannySelf (archive footage)
- 2020The Last Movie PainterSelf
- 2019The Grand OpeningSelf
- 2019Boia, maschere e segreti: l’horror italiano degli anni sessantaSelf
- 2019Dario Argento : soupirs dans un corridor lointain
- 2019All the Colors of GialloSelf - Director
- 2018Friedkin UncutSelf
- 2018SuspiriaOriginal Film Writer
- 2018BowieNext - Nascita di una galassia
- 2018Dogman's Rabies: UnderdogThanks
- 2017Cult of TerrorSelf - Filmmaker
- 2017Il mistero della cattedraleself
- 2017Dark Glamour: The Blood and Guts of Hammer ProductionsSelf - Filmmaker
- 2017Of Flies and Maggots
- 2016Viaggio nel cinema in 3D: Una storia vintage
- 2016Blood on Méliès' MoonSelf
- 2016Yellow Fever: The Rise and Fall of the GialloSelf
- 2015Nessuno siamo perfettiSelf
- 2015MacbethStage Director
- 2013Du sang sur la neigeSelf
- 2012Dracula 3DDirector
- 2012Horror Europa with Mark GatissSelf
- 2012Close UpSelf (archive footage)
- 2012Der Fall der vier FliegenHimself (Archive footage 2002)
- 2011MasksThanks
- 2011Fulci Flashbacks: Reflections on Italy's Premiere Paura ProtagonistSelf
- 2011Dario Argento's Monkey Business: The Making of PhenomenaSelf
- 2010L'ultimo gattopardo - Ritratto di Goffredo LombardoSelf
- 2010The Other Mother: Making 'The Black Cat'
- 2010GialloDirector
- 2009Fear at 400 Degrees: The Cine-Excess of Suspiria
- 2008The Making of 'Mother of Tears'Self
- 2008A Dark Fairy Talehimself
- 2007The Mother of TearsDirector
- 2007Linee d'ombraSelf
- 2007Director: Dario Argento
- 2007Hanging ShadowsSelf
- 2006PeltsDirector
- 2006Tempus fugit
- 2005JeniferDirector
- 2005Masters of HorrorDirector
- 2005Out of the Shadows
- 2005Ban the Sadist Videos!Self
- 2005Do You Like Hitchcock?Director
- 2004When There's no More Room in Hell
- 2004The Dead Will Walk: The Making of Dawn of the DeadHimself
- 2004Mario Bava: Operazione pauraSelf
- 2004Leçon de CinémaSelf
- 2004The Card PlayerDirector
- 2004Non risponde piùHimself
- 2004Western all'italiana
- 2003Two Masters' Eyes
- 2003Italian Kings Of BSelf
- 2002Masters of HorrorSelf
- 2001Sergio Leone: cinema, cinemaSelf - Filmmaker
- 2001Conducting Dario Argento's 'Opera'Self
- 2001Suspiria 25th AnniversarySelf
- 2001Tales Of The CatSelf
- 2001Dario Argento: An Eye for HorrorSelf
- 2001SleeplessDirector
- 2000Scarlet DivaProducer
- 1999Dario Argento: My CinemaSelf
- 1998The Phantom of the OperaDirector
- 1998Homo CinematographicusSelf
- 1997The Wax MaskProducer
- 1997The World of Dario Argento 3: Museum of HorrorsSelf
- 1996Bits & Pieces
- 1996The Stendhal SyndromeDirector
- 1994DeGenerazioneThanks
- 1993TraumaDirector
- 1992Innocent BloodParamedic
- 1991The King of AdsDirector
- 1991Fear in the DarkSelf
- 1991The SectWriter
- 1991Dario Argento: Master of HorrorSelf
- 1990Two Evil EyesScreenplay
- 1989The ChurchStory
- 1989Stephen King's World of HorrorSelf
- 1987OperaNarrator (Italian version) (voice) (uncredited)
- 1987Night ShiftProducer
- 1987Dario Argento’s NightmaresDirector
- 1986Demons 2Producer
- 1985DemonsScreenplay
- 1985PhenomenaProducer
- 1985Dario Argento's World of HorrorSelf
- 1985Bellissimo: Images of the Italian CinemaSelf
- 1982TenebreNarrator / Murderer's Hands (voice) (uncredited)
- 1980InfernoNarrator (voice) (uncredited)
- 1979The Cinema Machine
- 1978Dawn of the DeadScript Consultant
- 1977SuspiriaNarrator (voice) (uncredited)
- 1976Domenica InSelf
- 1975Deep RedMurderer's Hands (uncredited)
- 1973Door Into DarknessSelf - Host
- 1973The Five DaysBandaged Man with Tranzunto (uncredited)
- 1972Man Called AmenWriter
- 1971Four Flies on Grey VelvetScreenplay
- 1971The Cat o' Nine TailsStory
- 1970The Bird with the Crystal PlumageDirector
- 1969Season of the SensesWriter
- 1969The 5-Man ArmyScreenplay
- 1969Battle of the CommandosScreenplay
- 1969Possibility ZeroWriter
- 1969Love CircleScreenplay
- 1969Cemetery Without CrossesWriter
- 1968Once Upon a Time in the WestStory
- 1968The Sexual RevolutionScreenplay
- 1968CommandosScreenplay
- 1968Commandments for a GangsterWriter
- 1968Today We Kill, Tomorrow We Die!Writer
- 1967Every Man Is My EnemyAdditional Writing
- 1966Pardon, Are You for or Against?Priest (uncredited)
- —I Am Not God But I Am Michelangelo AntonioniSelf
- —The SandmanDirector
- —Bloodiest FilmDirector
- —Carne della mia carneScreenplay
- —The Girl with Crystal EyesWriter
- —The Black Velvet MaskWriter
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