Leon Vitali

As he was growing up, Vitali became interested in drama and decided to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after his English teacher sent him a prospectus.^[3] Vitali guest-starred in a number of TV series in the early 1970s, appearing in Softly, Softly, Follyfoot, Roads to Freedom, Z Cars, Public Eye, The Fenn Street Gang, and Notorious Woman, among others. In 1973, he made his feature film debut in two movies: the Italian Super Bitch, directed by Massimo Dallamano, who had previously worked with Sergio Leone as a cinematographer in the first two of his Dollars Trilogy, and the television film Catholics, alongside Martin Sheen and Michael Gambon.

In 1974, Vitali met Stanley Kubrick, with whom he had a professional relationship for the rest of Kubrick's career. Vitali played Lord Bullingdon in Barry Lyndon, the title character's stepson.^[6] Kubrick and Vitali bonded during the shoot.^[7] As documented in Tony Zierra's 2017 film Filmworker, as the end of shooting approached, Vitali told Kubrick that he would be interested in working on the production side of filmmaking. Kubrick responded by encouraging Vitali to gain some relevant industry experience and to let him know when he had done so. Vitali subsequently starred in 1977's Terror of Frankenstein, during which he asked if he could sit in on the cutting room editing process, without pay. His request was granted and he wrote to Kubrick as promised. Shortly afterwards, Kubrick sent Vitali a copy of Stephen King's The Shining and asked him to join the production of his next film. Vitali is credited in The Shining (1980) as "personal assistant to director".^[2]

Vitali teamed up with Kubrick again for Full Metal Jacket (1987), where he served both as casting director and assistant to the director. Twelve years later, Vitali was credited with the same titles in Kubrick's last film, Eyes Wide Shut (1999), in which Vitali also played Red Cloak. In the film, the words "fashion designer Leon Vitali" appear in a newspaper article that Tom Cruise's character reads.

After Kubrick's death, Vitali oversaw the restoration of both picture and sound elements for most of Kubrick's films.^[8] In 2004, Vitali was honoured with the Cinema Audio Society's President's Award for this work.

In 2017, Vitali was the subject of a documentary, Filmworker,^[8] directed by Tony Zierra and produced by Elizabeth Yoffe which premiered at The Cannes Film Festival and screened at many U.S. and international film festivals including the London Film Festival in October 2017. In Filmworker, Vitali was interviewed at length about his work with Kubrick.^[9] The film was broadcast by Film4 in the UK on 7 March 2019, followed by a showing of Kubrick's The Killing (1956).

Leon Vitali died on 19 August 2022 in Los Angeles, as announced by his family,^[10] The official social media presence for the Kubrick estate announced Vitali's death citing the incorrect date of 20 August 2022.^[11][12]

Vitali worked with filmmaker Todd Field, with whom he appeared in Eyes Wide Shut. Vitali is credited as "technical consultant" on Field's In the Bedroom (2001), and as "associate producer" on Field's Little Children (2006), where he also made a cameo appearance as "The Oddly Familiar Man".

He played the apothecary in Carlo Carlei's Romeo & Juliet (2013).