Dino De Laurentiis, 1919 – 2010
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?Dino de Laurentiis passed away this week at the age of 91. He was not a nerd, but if you are a nerd, you should take a moment to note his death — the legendary executive producer was responsible for bringing such films as Dune, Army of Darkness, the two Conan movies, Silver Bullet, Maximum Overdrive, Barbarella, Flash Gordon, and more to the silver screen as executive producer; he also produced such masterpieces as Serpico, Blue Velvet, La Strada, and more. He might not have specifically tried to be, but he was certainly a Friend to Nerds, and deserves our respect for all the good flicks he made possible. Thanks, Dino.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.