Fernando Ghia

Fernando Ghia (July 22, 1935 – June 1, 2005) was an Italian film and theatre producer and talent agent. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture and a BAFTA Award for Best Film for producing The Mission (1986).

Ghia was born in Rome in 1935. He trained as an actor at Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica Silvio D'Amico, and made his stage debut in 1956 for the company of Giorgio Albertazzi and Anna Proclemer. He took up theatre producing in 1959, overseeing productions of The Miracle Worker and Becket, Or, The Honor of God.

In the 1960s, Ghia had a stint working as an agent for the William Morris Agency, and was taught to speak English by Albert Finney (whom he represented). His other clients Anouk Aimée, Raf Vallone, Rossano Brazzi, Anita Ekberg, Vittorio Gassman, Annie Girardot, Stefania Sandrelli and Gian Maria Volonté. He was an assistant to producer Franco Cristaldi during the decade, later becoming his head of production.

In 1972 he read an article about the Jesuit order and political trouble in South America in Time magazine which generated a lifelong interest in it and formed the basis of several of the films he produced, including The Mission and the Anglo-Italian series Nostromo. He also produced Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), the only film directed by Robert Bolt. He spent over a decade in Hollywood, returning to his native Italy in the late 1980s and establishing Pixit Productions in Rome.

In the 1990s Ghia married actress Gaia De Laurentiis [it] (no relation to Dino). They had a son, Sebastian, in 1996. For several years, Ghia resided at a suite at The Dorchester in London.

At his funeral in June 2005, Ennio Morricone's stirring theme for The Mission was reportedly played.