Italy's Wertmuller, first woman to get Oscar director nomination, dies at 93

Writer- Director Lina Wertmuller (Photo: Courtesy)

Italian writer-director Lina Wertmuller, the first woman ever to be nominated for best director at the U.S. Academy Awards, has died at the age of 93, the culture ministry said on Thursday.

A filmmaker since the early 1960s, Wertmuller took world cinema by storm with her politically charged films of the 1970s, including "The Seduction of Mimi", "Love and Anarchy" and "Swept Away." Her Oscar nomination came in 1977 for "Seven Beauties".