Author, Poet, Screenwriter, Librettist
Ode Roman
Otelio Tortella d'Elea
Otelio Tortella d’Elea, known as Ode Roman, was born on March 19, 1934, in Teramo, a province of Abruzzo in Central Italy. He was a journalist, poet, screenwriter, and librettist. In 1972, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen and held dual Italian and American citizenship. At the age of 17, he wrote the classic tragedy Thisbe and was awarded as the youngest European dramatist play-writer. He was a prolific writer who authored 32 original screenplays, the lyrics for two Operas in English and Italian language, a choreography for a Symphonic ecological ballet and volumes of globally-oriented modern English and Italian rhymed poems in metrical form.
Ode Roman attended the University of Torino, where he studied Political Science, and worked as a political reporter at the Congress in Rome.
At the age of 27, he emigrated to Los Angeles, where he resided for 40 years.
In 1986, in Houston, Texas, he married Sofia Cristopoulos, a native of Athens, who graduated in History of Art.
Ode Roman continued to create poetry and screenplays until his untimely death on September 15, 2022. Clearly, he was a unique, deep, and flexible thinker, as well as a thoughtful and ethical human being.
Screenwritings
Books
Films & Awards
The gallery of a life
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Ode Roman with Harry Warren
Ode Roman with Jayne Mansfield
Ode Roman at NASA
Ode Roman with Marcel Marceau
Οde Roman, his wife Sofia & Kizette de Lempicka Foxwall
Part of Ode Roman’s Library









