Following the footsteps of his father, a poet and film critic, Bertolucci became a famous poet at the age of 22. He studied contemporary literature at the University in Rome but soon dropped out to begin working as a director’s assistant to Pier Paolo Pasolini on his debut Accattone (1961). In 1962, Bertolucci made his directing debut with the film The Grim Reaper (La commare secca). Afterwards he made Before the Revolution (Prima della rivoluzione, 1964), Partner (Il sosia, 1968) and Spider\'s Stratagem (Strategia del ragno, 1970), and achieved international acclaim with the film The Conformist (Il conformista, 1970), which was nominated for the Oscar in the category of Best Adapted Screenplay. Next he made his controversial film Last Tango in Paris (L\' ultimo tango a Parigi, 1972) starring Marlon Brando. He was forced to shorten his next film, the five-hour long epic 1900 (Novecento, 1976). In 1991, Paramount studio released the original version of this film. Afterwards, he made the film Luna (La luna, 1979), which was not well accepted either by the critics or the audience. He secured international prestige with the epic story The Last Emperor (1987) which won nine Oscars (among others Best film, director and adapted screenplay). This film is characterized by unique visual aesthetics, which became a symbol of Bertolucci’s films. He continued with Asian topics in his film Little Buddha (1993), and afterwards made The Sheltering Sky (1990), but neither of them achieved much success. His film Stealing Beauty (1996) made the actress Liv Tyler famous. His latest film is The Dreamers (2003) whose story takes place in Paris in 1960s.