Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director, and screenwriter.
He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions as well as dozens of divertissements.
Early life Gassman was born in Genoa to a German father, Heinrich Gassmann (an engineer from Karlsruhe), and an Italian Jewish mother, Luisa Ambron, born in Pisa. While still very young, he moved to Rome, where he studied at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Career Gassman's stage debut was in Milan, in 1942, with Alda Borelli in Niccodemi's La Nemica. He then moved to Rome and acted at the Teatro Eliseo joining Tino Carraro and Ernesto Calindri in a stage company that remained famous for some time; with them he acted in a range of plays from bourgeois comedy to sophisticated intellectual theatre. In 1946, he made his film debut in Preludio d'amore, while only one year later he appeared in five films. In 1948, he played in Bitter Rice.
It was with Luchino Visconti's company that Gassman achieved his mature successes, together with Paolo Stoppa, Rina Morelli and Paola Borboni. He played Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee Williams' Un tram che si chiama Desiderio (A Streetcar Named Desire), as well as in Come vi piace (As You Like It) by Shakespeare and Oreste (by Vittorio Alfieri). He joined the Teatro Nazionale with Tommaso Salvini, Massimo Girotti, Arnoldo Foà to create a successful Peer Gynt (by Henrik Ibsen). With Luigi Squarzina in 1952 he co-founded and co-directed the Teatro d'Arte Italiano, producing the first complete version of Hamlet in Italy, followed by rare works such as Seneca's Thyestes and Aeschylus's The Persians.
In 1956, Gassman played the title role in a production of Othello. He was so well received by his acting in the television series entitled that "Il Mattatore" became the nickname that accompanied him for the rest of his life. Gassman's debut in the commedia all'italiana genre was rather accidental, in Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958). The Istituto Italiano di Cultura in London describes the film as "considered among the masterpieces of Italian cinema … The careers of both Gassman and Mastroianni were considerably helped by the success of the film, Gassman in particular, since before this point he was not deemed suitable for comedic roles."
Subsequent acclaimed films featuring Gassman include: The Easy Life (1962), The Great War (1962), I mostri (1963), For Love and Gold (1966), Scent of a Woman (1974) and We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974).
He directed Adelchi, a lesser-known work by Alessandro Manzoni. Gassman brought this production to half a million spectators, crossing Italy with his Teatro Popolare Itinerante (a newer edition of the famous Carro di Tespi). His productions have included many of the famous authors and playwrights of the 20th century, with repeated returns to the classics of Shakespeare, Dostoyevsky and the Greek tragicians. He also founded a theatre school in Florence (Bottega Teatrale di Firenze), which educated many of the more talented actors of the current generation of Italian thespians.
In cinema, he worked frequently both in Italy and abroad. He met and fell in love with American actress Shelley Winters while she was touring Europe with fiancé Farley Granger. When Winters was forced to return to Hollywood to fulfil contractual obligations, he followed her there and married her. With his natural charisma and his fluency in English, he scored a number of roles in Hollywood, including Rhapsody with Elizabeth Taylor and The Glass Wall before returning to Italy and the theatre.
In the 1990s he took part in the popular Italian Rai 3 TV show Tunnel in which he very formally and "seriously"' recited documents such as utility bills, yellow pages and similar trivial texts, such as washing instructions for a wool sweater or cookies ingredients. He rendered them with the same professional skill that made him famous while reciting Dante's Divine Comedy.
In 1994, Gassman voiced Mufasa in the Italian dubbed version of The Lion King. Gassman's voice was redubbed in several of his films by historical Italian actors and dubbers which include Emilio Cigoli, Sandro Ruffini, Gualtiero De Angelis, Stefano Sibaldi, Enrico Maria Salerno and Pino Locchi.
Personal life Gassman married three times, all to actresses: Nora Ricci (with whom he had Paola, an actress and wife of Ugo Pagliai); Shelley Winters (mother of his daughter Vittoria); and (mother of his son Jacopo).
While rehearsing Hamlet, he began an affair with Anna Maria Ferrero, his 16-year-old Ophelia, which ended his marriage to Winters. He and Winters were forced to work together on Mambo just as their marriage was unraveling, providing fodder for tabloids all over the world.
From 1964 to 1968 he was the partner of French actress Juliette Mayniel (mother of his son Alessandro, also an actor). Through Alessandro, he is the grandfather of singer-songwriter Leo Gassmann.
Gassman suffered from bipolar disorder.
Death On 29 June 2000, Gassman died of a heart attack in his sleep at his home in Rome at the age of 77. He was buried at Campo Verano.
Filmography
Actor
Incontro con Laura (1945) The Captain's Daughter (1947) as Svabrin Love Prelude (Preludio d'amore, 1947) as Davide The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio, 1947) as The Green Fisherman Daniele Cortis (1947) as Daniele Cortis The Wandering Jew (L'ebreo errante, 1948) as Mathieu Nahum / Mathieu Blumenthal The Mysterious Rider (Il cavaliere misterioso, 1948) as Giacomo Casanova Bitter Rice (Riso amaro, 1949) as Walter Una voce nel tuo cuore (1949) as Paolo Baldini The Wolf of the Sila (Il lupo della Sila, 1949) as Pietro Campolo Streets of Sorrow (Ho sognato il paradiso, 1950) as Giorgio The Outlaws, (I fuorilegge, 1950) as Turi Hawk of the Nile (Lo sparviero del Nilo, 1950) as Yussuf The Lion of Amalfi (Il leone di Amalfi, 1950) as Mauro Double Cross (Il tradimento, 1951) as Renato Salvi The Black Crown (La corona negra, 1951) as Mauricio Anna (1951) as Vittorio The Dream of Zorro (Il sogno di Zorro, 1952) as Don Antonio / Juan Girls Marked Danger (La tratta delle bianche, 1952) as Michele The Glass Wall (1953) as Peter Kuban Sombrero (1953) as Alejandro Castillo Cry of the Hunted (1953) as Jory Rhapsody (1954) as Paul Bronte Mambo (1954) as Mario Rossi Beautiful but Dangerous (La donna più bella del mondo, 1955) as Prince Sergei The Violent Patriot (Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, 1956) as Giovanni delle Bande Nere War and Peace (1956) as Anatole Kuragin Difendo il mio amore (1956) as Giovanni Marchi Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (Kean - Genio e sregolatezza, 1957) as Edmund Kean Big Deal on Madonna Street (I soliti ignoti, 1958) as Peppe il pantera The Love Specialist (La ragazza del palio, 1958) as Piero di Montalcino Tempest (La tempesta, 1958) as Prosecutor The Great War (La grande guerra, 1959) as Giovanni Busacca The Miracle (1959) as Guido La cambiale (1959) as Michele Le sorprese dell'amore (1959) as The Schoolteacher (uncredited) Audace colpo dei soliti ignoti (aka Hold-up à la milanaise, 1959) as Peppe er pantera Love and Larceny (Il Mattatore, 1960) as Gerardo Latini Crimen (aka Killing in Monte Carlo, 1960) as Remo Capretti Ghosts of Rome (Fantasmi a Roma, 1961) as Giovanni Battista Villari, aka 'il Caparra' A Difficult Life (Una vita difficile, 1961) as himself (uncredited) The Last Judgment (Il giudizio universale, 1961) as Cimino The Italian Brigands (I briganti italiani, 1961) as O Caporale Barabbas (1961) as Sahak Anima nera (1962) as Adriano Zucchelli The Shortest Day (Il giorno più corto, 1962) The Easy Life (Il Sorpasso, 1962) as Bruno Cortona March on Rome (La Marcia su Roma, 1962) as Domenico Rocchetti Of Wayward Love (L'amore difficile, 1962) as L'avvocato (segment "L'avaro") The Eye of the Needle (La smania addosso, 1963) as Giorgio Mazzanò - lawyer Il Successo (1963) as Giulio Ceriani I Mostri (aka Opiate '67, 1963) as The Actor / Policeman / Production Assistant & Director / Nicola / Blonde Latin Lover / Lawyer D'Amore / Richetto / Roberto / Elisa / The Road Hog / The Friar / Artemio Altidori Shivers in Summer (Frenesia dell'estate, 1964) as Captain Mario Nardoni Let's Talk About Women (Se permettete parliamo di donne, 1964) as Stranger / Practical Joker / Client / Lover / Impatient Lover / Waiter / Timid Brother / Ragman / Prisoner Il Gaucho (1964) as Marco Ravicchio Hard Time for Princes (La Congiuntura, 1965) as Giuliano The Dirty Game (1965) as Perego / Ferrari (French) Slalom (1965) as Lucio Ridolfi A Maiden for a Prince (Una vergine per il principe, 1966) as Prince Don Vincenzo Gonzaga For Love and Gold (L'Armata Brancaleone, 1966) as Brancaleone da Norcia Pleasant Nights (Le piacevoli notti, 1966) as Bastiano da Sangallo The Devil in Love (L'arcidiavolo, 1966) as Belfagor The Tiger and the Pussycat (Il Tigre, 1967) as Francesco Vincenzini Woman Times Seven (Sette volte donna, 1967) as Cenci (segment "Two Against One") Ghosts – Italian Style (Questi fantasmi, 1968) as Pasquale Lojacono Catch as Catch Can (Lo scatenato, 1968) as Bob Chiaramonte Mr. Kinky (Il profeta, 1968) as Pietro Breccia The Black Sheep (La pecora nera, 1968) as Mario Agasti / Filippo Agasti Alibi (L'alibi, 1969) as Vittorio Where Are You Going All Naked? (Dove vai tutta nuda?, 1969) as Rufus Conforti The Thirteen Chairs (1969) as Mario Beretti The Archangel (L'arcangelo, 1969) as Furio Bertuccia Let's Have a Riot (Contestazione generale, 1970) as Riccardo The Divorce (Il divorzio, 1970) as Leonardo Nenci Brancaleone at the Crusades (Brancaleone alle Crociate, 1970) as Brancaleone da Norcia Scipio the African (Scipione detto anche l'africano, 1971) as Cato the Censor In the Name of the Italian People (In nome del popolo italiano, 1971) as Lorenzo Santenocito Without Family (Senza famiglia, nullatenenti cercano affetto, 1972) as Armando Zavanatti The Audience (L'udienza, 1972) as Prince Donati What Am I Doing in the Middle of a Revolution? (Che c'entriamo noi con la rivoluzione?, 1972) as Guido Guidi La Tosca (1973) as Scarpia Scent of a Woman (Profumo di donna, 1974) as Captain Fausto Consolo We All Loved Each Other So Much (C'eravamo tanto amati, 1974) as Gianni Perego The Immortal Bachelor (A mezzanotte va la ronda del piacere, 1975) as Andrea Sansoni The Career of a Chambermaid (Telefoni bianchi, 1976) as Franco Denza Pure as a Lily (Come una rosa al naso, 1976) as Anthony M. Wilson Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen (Signore e signori, buonanotte, 1976) as CIA Agent / Tuttumpezzo The Desert of the Tartars (Il deserto dei tartari, 1976) as Colonel Giovanbattista Filimore The Forbidden Room (Anima persa, 1977) as Fabio Stolz I nuovi mostri (aka Viva l'Italia!, 1977) as Cardinal / Waiter / Husband / Police Commissioner / Family Man A Wedding (1978) as Luigi Corelli Quintet (1979) as St. Christopher Dear Father (Caro papà, 1979) as Albino Millozza Happy Hobos (Due pezzi di pane, 1979) as Pippo Mifà I'm Photogenic (Sono fotogenico, 1980) as himself (uncredited) La terrazza (aka The Terrace, 1980) as Mario The Nude Bomb (1980) as Sauvage / Nino Salvatori Sebastiani Camera d'albergo (1981) as Achille Mengaroni Il turno (1981) as Ciro Coppa Sharky's Machine (1981) as Albert Scarelli / Victor D'Anton Di padre in figlio (1982) as himself Tempest (1982) as Alonzo Count Tacchia (Il Conte Tacchia, 1982) as Prince Torquato Terenzi Life Is a Bed of Roses (La Vie est un roman, 1983) as Walter Guarini Benvenuta (1983) as Livio Carpi Power of Evil (Paradigma, 1985) as Gottfried Big Deal After 20 Years (I Soliti ignoti vent'anni dopo, 1985) as Peppe il pantera The Family (La famiglia, 1987) as Carlo / Carlo's grandfather The Rogues (I Picari, 1987) as Marquis Felipe de Aragona