Biographie

A notorious playboy in his early years, the Italian journalist also maintained a lurid past. He once seduced an under aged gypsy girl despite the armed resistance of her gypsy tribe. He was also once sentenced to three months in a Hong Kong jail for for the abduction of two under aged Chinese girls.

While co-directing and co-writing the documentary Mondo cane (1962) [Women of the World] and filming in the States, he was in a car headed from Las Vegas to Los Angeles with fellow writer/director 'Paolo Cav. The speeding driver lost control, blew a tire, and the car flipped. Belinda Lee was instantly killed while the other suffered non-threatening injuries. Jacopetti was still hospitalized and did not attend Lee's funeral a week later.

During World War II, he helped Allied troops in the invasion of Italy.

Reportedly, he wanted to be buried next to the English actress Belinda Lee, a former girlfriend, who was killed in a car accident in 1961 when they were traveling together in the US. Jacopetti was injured in the crash.

According to an article written by director and journalist Ugo Gregoretti and published on 'L'Espresso' in December 1964, Jacopetti claimed to have filmed two real executions in Congo. He allegedly managed to have them postponed and moved to other locations, so that he could get "better footage." Jacopetti was subsequently charged with "conspiracy to murder committed abroad," and finally acquitted in December 1965 when he admitted that the executions were staged.