Giulio Andreotti

Italian politician, prime minister seven times, high-ranking minister to most of Italy's 50-odd Cabinets since WW II, devout acquaintance of five Popes, and close acquaintance of American presidents from Eisenhower to Bush.

A law student in 1938, he became a research statistician before the war and first entered into public life in 1943 in the Democratic Christian party. He took his first government post in 1947 under Premier Alcide de Gasperi, the first president of Italy after the overthrow of Mussolini. In one form or another, he's been involved in almost every government since; undersecretary, foreign minister, minister of defense, minister of finance, and prime minister, weaving the skein of alliances and appointments that supported every coalition government. Intrigue, religion, scandal and violent death have swirled around him almost constantly. Known as the "Old Fox," he is famously imperturbable

He was indicted on 5 November 95 in the 1979 murder of a journalist, Mino Pecorelli, who was shot in his car in Rome allegedly for holding compromising secrets. He denies it, trial set for 2 February 1996.

He died at home in Rome on 6 May 2013. He was reported to have suffered heart and respiratory problems in recent years.