own movies, like Count Max (which he acted in but did not direct) and The Gold of Naples, as well as in General Della Rovere, a film directed by Rossellini in which De Sica played the title role. In 1937 Vittorio De Sica married the actress Giuditta Rissone, who gave birth to their daughter, Emilia (Emi). In 1942, on the set of Un garibaldino al convento, he met Spanish actress María Mercader (cousin of Ramon Mercader, Leon Trotsky's assassin), with whom he started a relationship. After divorcing Rissone in France in 1954, he married Mercader in 1959 in Mexico, but this union was not considered valid under Italian law. In 1968 he obtained French citizenship and married Mercader in Paris. Meanwhile, he had already had two sons with her: Manuel, in 1949, a musician, and Christian, in 1951, who would follow his father's path as an actor and director. He was a Roman Catholic and a communist. Although divorced, De Sica never parted from his first family. He led a double family life, with double celebrations on holidays. It is said that, at Christmas and on New Year's Eve, he used to put back the clocks by two hours in Mercader's house so that he could make a toast at midnight with both families. His first wife agreed to keep up the facade of a marriage so as not to leave her daughter without a father. Vittorio De Sica died at 73 after surgery due to lung cancer at the Neuilly-sur-Seine hospital in Paris. Awards and nominations Vittorio De Sica was given the Interfilm Grand Prix in 1971 by the Berlin International Film Festival. Miracolo a Milano Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or Winner Umberto D. Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Stazione Termini Cannes Film Festival Official Selection L'oro di Napoli Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Il Tetto Cannes Film Festival OCIC Award Winner Anna di Brooklyn Berlin International Film Festival Official Selection La Ciociara Cannes Film Festival Official Selection Matrimonio all'italiana Moscow International Film Festival Official Selection Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini Berlin International Film Festival Golden Bear Winner Berlin International Film Festival Interfilm Award Winner – Otto Dibelius Film Award Nastro d'Argento for Best Director 1946 for Sciuscià Academy Award 1947 Honorary Award to the Italian production for Sciuscià (Shoeshine) Academy Award 1949 Special Foreign Language Film Award for Bicycle Thieves BAFTA (British Academy Award) 1950 Best film Bicycle Thieves