Vittorio Gassman

Vittorio Gassman

Vittorio Gassman (born September 1, 1922 in Genoa , † June 29, 2000 in Rome ) was one of the most important Italian actors of the post-war period. He also worked as a director .

Life

Gassman was the son of the German civil engineer Heinrich Gassmann, born in Karlsruhe, and his wife Luisa Ambron from Pisa. For his stage name Gassman put the second "n" of his family name off.

After graduating from the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica , Gassman gave its stage premiere in Milan in 1943 . Further stage appearances and collaboration with the theater group around Luchino Visconti followed .

His breakthrough as a film actor came in 1948 as the petty criminal lover Silvana Manganos in Bitter Rice (director: Giuseppe De Santis ). After a first, less successful trip to the American film industry in 1953/54, Gassman returned to Italy. There he played in the American-Italian large-scale production War and Peace (1956) alongside Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn . He enjoyed great success with films directed by Dino Risi such as In Love with Sharp Curves (1962) or The Scent of Women (1974). For the latter he received the Actor Award at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1975 . In love with sharp turns is considered the prototype of the road movie and is said to have provided the idea for the US film Easy Rider (1969). Also Scent of a Woman found in 1992 as a remake with Al Pacino in the lead role way into the American film history. Gassman himself appeared in American productions again in the late 1970s and early 1980s, directed by Robert Altman , among others .

In the early 1980s Gassman founded the drama school "Bottega teatrale" and published the biography "Un grande avvenire dietro le spalle". In 1990 the novel "Memorie del sottoscala" was published. In 1997 Gassman was awarded the prestigious Prince of Asturias Prize .

Vittorio Gassman died of a heart attack in Rome on June 29, 2000 . Gassman was married to the American actress Shelley Winters , among others . In his native Italy, he was considered a terrific Shakespeare actor. Because of his exceptional acting skills, he has often been referred to by critics as the "Italian Laurence Olivier ".

Filmography (selection)

As a performer

• 1946: Preludio d'amore
• 1947: Uprising in Siberia (La figlia del Capitano)
• 1947: L'ebreo errante
• 1947: Daniele Cortis
• 1947: The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio)
• 1948: The mysterious Chevaliere (Il Cavaliere misterioso)
• 1949: bitter rice (Riso amaro)
• 1949: Una voce nel tuo cuore
• 1949: Il tradimento
• 1949: With sword and mask (Lo Sparviero del Nilo)
• 1949: The Wolf of the Sila Mountains (Il Lupo della Sila)
• 1949: I was a sinner (Ho sognato il paradiso)
• 1950: The Lion of Amalfi (Il Leone di Amalfi)
• 1950: Giuliano - The rebel of Sicily (I fuorilegge)
• 1950: La Corona Negra
• 1951: Anna
• 1951: Zorro, the hero (Il sogno di Zorro)
• 1952: The Glass Wall
• 1952: Trafficking in girls (La tratta delle bianche)
• 1953: Cry Of The Hunted
• 1953: Sombrero
• 1954: Mambo
• 1954: Symphony of the Heart (Rhapsody)
• 1955: The most beautiful woman in the world (La donna più bella del mondo)
• 1956: war and peace
• 1956: The Black Knights of Borgoforte (Giovanni dalle Bande Nere)
• 1956: Your bad reputation (Difendo il mio amore)
• 1957: No closed season for blondes (La ragazza del Palio)
• 1958: Storm in the East (La tempesta)
• 1958: Thieves have a hard time (I soliti ignoti)
• 1959: The Madonna with the Two Faces (The Miracle)
• 1959: It was called the great war (La grande guerra)
• 1959: La cambiale
• 1959: Thieves are people too (Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti)
• 1959: The master crook (Il mattatore)
• 1960: The corpse is in the wrong suitcase (Crimen)
• 1961: The haunted castle in Via Veneto (Fantasmi a Roma)
• 1961: The Last Judgment does not take place (Il giudizio universale)
• 1961: Life is difficult (Una vita difficile)
• 1961: The Bandit of Naples (Briganti italiani)
• 1961: Barabbas
• 1962: Black Soul ( Anima nera )
• 1962: In love with sharp turns (Il sorpasso)
• 1962: La marcia su Roma
• 1962: Il giorno più corto
• 1962: Erotica (L'amore difficile)
• 1962: Marriage in Sicilian (La smania addosso)
• 1963: I mostri
• 1963: Il successo
• 1963: Crazy Summer (Frenesia dell'estate)
• 1964: Il Gaucho
• 1964: On a very crooked tour (La congiuntura)
• 1964: Frivolous Games (Se permettete parliamo di donne)
• 1965: Spies among themselves (La guerra segreta)
• 1965: A virgin for the prince (Una vergine per il Principe)
• 1965: Such a greyhound (slalom)
• 1965: Merry Nights (Le piacevoli notti)
• 1965: L'Arcidiavolo
• 1966: The incredible adventures of the laudable knight Branca Leone (L'armata Brancaleone)
• 1967: Woman lures seven times (Woman Times Seven)
• 1967: The Super Sensual (Questi fantasmi)
• 1967: Lo scatenato
• 1967: Il Tigre
• 1968: Romeo and Juliet (narrator)
• 1968: Il profeta
• 1968: A raven-black sheep (La pecora nera)
• 1968: Archangel (L'arcangelo)
• 1969: Why do you always run around naked? (Dove vai tutta nuda?)
• 1969: Twelve plus one (Una su tredici)
• 1970: Brancaleone on a crusade to the Holy Land (Brancaleone alle crociate)
• 1970: Il divorzio
• 1970: Contestazione generale
• 1971: The Audience (L'udienza)
• 1971: Scipione detto anche l'Africano
• 1971: Evening without an alibi (In nome del popolo italiano)
• 1972: Pray, Amigo! (Che c'entriamo noi con la rivoluzione?)
• 1973: La Tosca
• 1974: The fragrance of women (Profumo di donna)
• 1974: We were so in love (C'eravamo tanto amati)
• 1975: A louse in the fur (A mezzanotte va la ronda del piacere)
• 1976: Telefoni Bianchi
• 1976: Signore e signori, buonanotte
• 1976: The Tatar Desert (Il deserto dei Tartari)
• 1976: Greetings from Palermo (Come una rosa al naso)
• 1977: Anima persa
• 1977: Viva Italia (I nuovi mostri)
• 1978: a wedding
• 1979: quintet
• 1979: Caro papà
• 1979: Two fathers, a child and the beautiful Lucia (Due pezzi di pane)
• 1980: The Nude Bomb (The Nude Bomb)
• 1980: The terrace (La terrazza / La terrasse)
• 1980: Sono fotogenico
• 1981: Camera d'albergo
• 1981: Il turno
• 1981: Sharky and his pros (Sharky's Machine)
• 1982: The Count who can do everything (Il Conte Tacchia)
• 1982: The Tempest
• 1983: Life is a novel (La vie est un roman)
• 1983: The Anonymous Confession (Benvenuta)
• 1985: Thieves have a hard time ... Twenty years later (I soliti ignoti vent'anni dopo)
• 1985: Paradigm
• 1987: The family (La famiglia)
• 1987: vagabonds like us (I picari)
• 1988: My lustful uncle (Lo zio indegno)
• 1989: Long Live the Dead (Mortacci)
• 1989: Palermo forgotten (Dimenticare Palermo)
• 1990: Sheherazade - With 1001 HP into adventure (Shéhérazade - Les 1001 nuits)
• 1990: I divertimenti della vita privata
• 1990: Grandpa goes crazy (Tolgo il disturbo)
• 1991: Rossini! Rossini!
• 1991: El Largo Invierno
• 1991: Swingers (Quando eravamo repressi)
• 1993: The Bible - Abraham (Abramo - Part 1 / Part 2)
• 1994: Tutti gli anni una volta l'anno
• 1996: Sleepers
• 1997: Princess Amina - The Secret of a Love (Il Deserto di Fuoco) (TV series)
• 1997: Un homme digne de confiance
• 1998: La cena
• 1998: Asterix and Obelix against Caesar
• 1999: Luchino Visconti (documentation)
• 1999: La bomba

As a screenwriter and director

• 1956: Kean - genius and madness (Kean)
• 1969: L'Alibi
• 1972: Senza famiglia nullatenenti cercano affetto
• 1982: Di padre in figlio
• 1988: L'Altro enigma (director only)

Web links

Commons : Vittorio Gassman  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Vittorio Gassman in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Vittorio Gassman at prisma-online
• Vittorio Gassman biography at WHO'S WHO