Italian Producer Becomes U.S. Citizen : De Laurentiis Takes Private Oath

Italian film maker Dino De Laurentiis, who skipped a chance to join 6,000 new citizens at a mass naturalization ceremony Wednesday, took his oath of citizenship Friday in a private ceremony in Los Angeles Federal Court.

U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officials said De Laurentiis, 67, was originally scheduled to be part of Wednesday’s mass naturalization ceremony at the Universal Amphitheatre, but obtained permission for the private courtroom induction because of “his busy schedule.”

U.S. District Judge Mariana R. Pfaelzer performed the brief ceremony for the Italian-born movie producer, who has lived in the United States for the past 16 years and now resides in Bel-Air.

‘Creative Contribution’

“I am very pleased to have this opportunity,” she said. “Your long and creative contribution to the film industry makes you a valuable addition to this nation and the nation should be proud to have you as a citizen.”

De Laurentiis, whose films have included “Serpico,” “Three Days of the Condor” and “Death Wish,” carried a small American flag into the courtroom with him and waved it on the steps of the U.S. Courthouse after taking the oath of citizenship.

“I’ve been in the United States since 1970. I have worked here. I have lived here. I love America and I have a great respect for its people,” he said. “Getting my passport seems like a formality; I already feel I’m an American.”

De Laurentiis said he did not ask to be excluded from the earlier ceremony this week, but his aides said they requested the private ceremony because of a hectic schedule made busier this week with release of his new movie, “Blue Velvet.”

Routine Request

The request was made to Richard F. Janisch, director of courtroom operations at the U.S. Courthouse, who said individual naturalization ceremonies are routinely granted for a variety of personal reasons.

After swearing De Laurentiis in as a new citizen, Pfaelzer, the wife of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer President Frank Rothman, told him that her husband had asked her to relay his personal congratulations.

Janisch noted, however, that the naturalization ceremony was not assigned to Pfaelzer because of her movie link, but because she is the duty judge for naturalization cases this month.

INS immigration examiner Daniel Hesse, who proclaimed De Laurentiis a “person of good moral character” fit for citizenship, said outside the courtroom that only about 1% of the 100,000 new citizens sworn in this year in Los Angeles are naturalized in private ceremonies.

“We generally oppose it. It creates more work for us,” he said. “In this case, the request came from the court operations director.”