Emile de Antonio

Emile Francisco de Antonio (May 14, 1919 – December 15, 1989) was an American director and producer of documentary films, usually detailing political, social, and counterculture events circa 1960s–1980s. Randolph Lewis referred to him as "...the most important political filmmaker in the United States during the Cold War."

Early life De Antonio was born in 1919 in the coal-mining town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. His father, Emilio de Antonio, an Italian immigrant, fostered the lifelong interests of Antonio by passing on his own love for philosophy, classical literature, history and the arts.

Career After serving in the military during World War II as a bomber pilot, de Antonio returned to the United States where he frequented the art crowd, often associating with such pop artists as Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, in whose film Drink de Antonio appears. Warhol was famously quoted praising de Antonio with the words, "Everything I learned about painting, I learned from De."

In 1959, de Antonio created G-String Productions in order to distribute the Beat Generation film Pull My Daisy, and it was at this time that de Antonio discovered filmmaking. His first film, Point of Order! (1964), was a compilation film covering Joseph McCarthy and the Army-McCarthy hearings. In 1968, de Antonio signed the "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War.

De Antonio chronicled this art scene in his documentary Painters Painting (1972). He did not actually begin creating films until the age of 43, after making significant contributions to the modern art world through his uncensored promotion of the work of his contemporaries.

Controversy De Antonio was the creator/producer of many politically-motivated films (including the 1969 Oscar-nominated In the Year of the Pig ), attracting a substantial amount of controversy, and was also known for aligning himself with Marxist thought. His films are critiques of various aspects of American culture or politics, on the whole reflecting a certain degree of political dissension. Over the course of his professional life, de Antonio was under surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. This surveillance resulted in a 10,000-page dossier on de Antonio, and is the subject of his "autobiographical swansong," Mr. Hoover and I.

Death On December 15, 1989, de Antonio died of a heart attack in front of his Lower East Side home.

In popular culture A still photograph used in the film In the Year of the Pig (1968) that displayed Marine Corporal Michael Wynn later was incorporated into the album cover for The Smiths' second album Meat Is Murder (1985). The writing on Wynn's helmet, "MAKE WAR NOT LOVE", was changed to "MEAT IS MURDER".

Filmography Point of Order (1964) McCarthy: Death of a Witch Hunter (1964) Rush to Judgment (1967) In the Year of the Pig (1968) Charge and Countercharge (1969) 1968: America Is Hard to See (1970) Millhouse: A White Comedy (1971) Painters Painting (1972) Underground (1976) In the King of Prussia (1982) Mr. Hoover and I (1989)

Discography Underground (1976) with Mary Lampson, and Haskell Wexler with the Weather Underground on Folkways Records Millhouse (Original Soundtrack of Film on Richard Nixon) (1979) on Folkways Records