Personal Info

Birth date

1922-09-01 (103 Years)

Day of death

2000-06-29

Gender

Male

Known for

Acting

Place of birth

Genoa, Liguria, Italy

Also known as

Vittorio Gassmann

Витторио Гассман

Вітторіо Ґассман

Витторио Гасман

Vittorio Gassman

Biography

Vittorio Gassman Knight Grand Cross OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [vitˈtɔːrjo ˈɡazman]; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as Il Mattatore, 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.

Gassman's debut was in Milan, in 1942, with Alda Borelli in Niccodemi's La Nemica (theatre). He then moved to Rome and acted at the Teatro Eliseo joining Tino Carraro and Ernesto Calindri in a team 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 Riso amaro.

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 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 fulfill 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.

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.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Vittorio Gassman, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Filmography

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

7.5

Overview:

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Merv Griffin Show

6.2

Overview:

Champs-Elysées

6.3

Overview:

Apostrophes

8.5

Overview:

Apostrophes was a live, weekly, literary, prime-time, talk show on French television created and hosted by Bernard Pivot. It ran for fifteen years (724 episodes) from January 10, 1975, to June 22, 1990, and was one of the most watched shows on French television (around 6 million regular viewers). It was broadcast on Friday nights on the channel France 2 (which was called "Antenne 2" from 1975 to 1992). The hourlong show was devoted to books, authors and literature. The format varied between one-on-one interviews with a single author and open discussions between four or five authors.

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

6

Overview:

A talk show presented by Michel Drucker

Spécial cinéma

NYR

Overview:

Marcello Mastroianni, Isabelle Adjani, Alain Delon, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen... the biggest stars in cinema were welcomed by Christian Defaye on his show Spécial cinéma. Between intimate confessions from actors and immersion in the world of the greatest filmmakers, Christian Defaye took viewers on a journey into the fascinating world of cinema for nearly thirty years.

Le Grand Échiquier

8

Overview:

Samedi soir

6

Overview:

Rhapsody

6.7

Overview:

A rich, young beauty, Louise Durant, follows the man she loves and hopes to marry to Zurich where he studies violin at the conservatory. A piano student at the conservatory falls madly in love with Louise. The violinist loves his music first and Louise second. The pianist loves Louise first and his music second. Louise must ultimately choose which man she wants.

The Long Winter

5.2

Overview:

In 1939, Ramón was a young man, caught up in his Barcelona family's involvement on the Republic side in the brutal Spanish Civil War. He and his family fled into exile ahead of Franco's troops. Now it is many years later, and he has come back to see how his old homestead fared in the intervening years. The only person he can find who is able to remember those years clearly is his family's old butler Claudio.

Sleepers

7.6

Overview:

Two gangsters seek revenge on the state jail worker who during their stay at a youth prison sexually abused them. A sensational court hearing takes place to charge him for the crimes.

Il turno

NYR

Overview:

The Eye of the Needle

7.2

Overview:

Two young men in a village in Sicily raping a girl. In the end, two skilled lawyers will succeed in getting them to complete the trial, but one, who in the meantime has fallen in love with the victim.

War and Peace

6.7

Overview:

The love story of young Countess Natasha Rostova and Count Pierre Bezukhov is interwoven with the Great Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon's invading army.

1001 Nights

5.1

Overview:

Sheherazade has been married to a ruler who wants many wives, but only one at a time. Consequently, as soon as he has bedded them, he has them put to death. In most retellings, the girl staves off this unfortunate conclusion by putting off the connubial event for a thousand and one nights, telling irresistible stories instead. In this one, she gets hold of a magic lamp.

Il successo

6.3

Overview:

Giulio has a faithful wife and a true friend, but he is convinced that only with money can one be happy. So he devotes himself to dangerous real estate speculation in Sardinia, even though he does not have the capital to deal with it. To find the necessary money, he is willing to give up even his dignity. And slowly, he alienates his most beloved ones from himself....

La cambiale

6.6

Overview:

The Posalaquaglia cousins are two small scammers and make a living of expedients: Dante receives as recognition for Tommaso a bill of one hundred thousand lire from the famous financier Bruscatelli, who ends up in prison immediately afterwards.

The Desert of the Tartars

6.8

Overview:

Lieutenant Giovanni Drogo is assigned to the old Bastiani border fortress where he expects an imminent attack by nomadic fearsome Tartars.

I'll Be Going Now

6.1

Overview:

After eighteen years of psychiatric care, the former bank manager Augusto Scrivani returns home from his daughter-in-law Carla. Dino Risi directs a melancholy and scratchy Gassman.

Tempest

5.9

Overview:

A sobering mid-life crisis fuels dissatisfaction in Philip Dimitrius, to the extent where the successful architect trades his marriage and career in for a spiritual exile on a remote Greek island where he hopes to conjure meaning into his life - trying the patience of his new girlfriend and angst-ridden teenage daughter.

Kean: Genius or Scoundrel

6.8

Overview:

England, first half of the 19th century. Edmund Kean is a celebrated theatre actor, notorious for his tumultuous private life. He is in love with the beautiful countess Koefeld, wife of the Danish ambassador, to the consternation of his friend, the Prince of Wales. He is also hounded by Anna Damby, who wants to become an actress to escape a marriage to Lord Mewill.

Vittorio racconta Gassman: Una vita da mattatore

6.2

Overview:

The Great War

8.1

Overview:

Italy, 1916. Oreste Jacovacci and Giovanni Busacca are called, as all the Italian youths, to serve the army in the WWI. They both try in every way to avoid serving the army.

Abraham

7.043

Overview:

Rather than choosing a great leader or king, God chooses Abraham, an elderly shepherd from Mesopotamia, as the way to establish his Covenant with mankind... A man of great faith, Abraham continues to believe in God even when He seems to have abandoned him.

The Dinner

6.9

Overview:

An evening at an Italian restaurant. Hosted by tolerant and relaxed Flora, various parties of middle-class people come in -- large and small, young and old, regulars and tourists, married and single -- to dine, converse, argue, celebrate, make confessions; to overhear other people's discussions, to interrupt them, to sing, listen to music, and enjoy life. The camera, just like the people, moves constantly from table to table, into the kitchen and the back room to observe the staff's petty jealousies and frustrations -- until two hours later it's time for everybody to go home.

Amleto

7.8

Overview:

Kean - Genio e sregolatezza

NYR

Overview:

A Wedding

6.259

Overview:

Muffin's wedding to Dino Corelli is to be a big affair. Except the ageing priest isn't too sure of the ceremony, only the families actually turn up as the Corelli Italian connection is suspect, security guards watch the gifts rather over-zealously, and Dino's grandma expires in bed just as the reception starts. Could be quite an occasion.

The Audience

6.7

Overview:

Caustic satire on bureaucracy of the Vatican authority and a simple Italian who wants to achieve the audience with the Pope.

Ghosts of Rome

7.211

Overview:

An old prince lives in his ancient palace in Rome together with the ghosts of his ancestors. For years he has proudly rejected huge offers by a real estate group seeking to buy the palace and build a department store in its place, but when he suddenly dies his nephew signs the deal. The palace seems lost, but the ghosts forge a plan to save it from destruction.

Acting

2021We Are Cinema as Self (archive footage)

2021Django & Django: Sergio Corbucci Unchained as Self - Actor (archive footage)

2021Trintignant by Trintignant as Self (archive footage)

2021Cinecittà, de Mussolini à la Dolce Vita as Self (archive footage)

2018Sono Gassman! - Vittorio re della commedia as Self

2015Marcello Mastroianni, the Ideal Italian as Self (archive footage)

2015Còmics (1 Episode) as Self (archive footage)

2015Vittorio Gassman, le flamboyant as Self

2012Close Up as Self (archive footage)

2012Monicelli: La versione di Mario as Self (archive footage)

2010Vittorio racconta Gassman: Una vita da mattatore as Self (archive footage)

2007Dino Risi, le pessimiste joyeux de la comédie italienne as Self

2006Adolfo Celi, a Man for Two Worlds as Self (archive footage)

2002Luchino Visconti as Self (archive footage)

1999La bomba as Don Vito Bracalone

1998The Dinner as Maestro Pezzullo

1997Desert of Fire (3 Episodes) as Tareq

1997Desert of Fire as Tareq

1996Sleepers as King Benny

1994Once a Year, Every Year as Giuseppe

1994Abraham (2 Episodes) as Terah

1993Abraham as Terach

1992The Long Winter as Claudio, El Mayordomo

1992Quando eravamo repressi as The Sexologist

1991Rossini! Rossini! as Ludwig van Beethoven

1991I'll Be Going Now as Augusto Scribani

1990The Amusements of Private Life as Marquis

19901001 Nights as Sinbad

1990Les 1001 Nuits (Version intégrale) as Sinbad

1990The Palermo Connection as Il principe

1989The Sleazy Uncle as Zio Luca

1989Mortacci as Domenico

1988L'altro enigma as Il padre / Sofocle

1987I picari as Marquis Felipe de Aragona

1987The Family as Carlo as a man / Carlo's grandfather

1985Big Deal on Madonna Street 20 Years Later as Peppe

1985Power Of Evil as Gottfried

1985To Be Hamlet as Self

1985Cinecittà Cinecittà (5 Episodes) as Various

1983Benvenuta as Livio

1983Life Is a Bed of Roses as Walter Guarini

1982Count Tacchia as Prince Torquato Terenzi

1982Tempest as Alonzo

1982Champs-Elysées (2 Episodes) as Self

1982Di padre in figlio as Self

1981Sharky's Machine as Victor Scorelli

1981Il turno as Ciro Coppa

1981Hotel Room as Achille Mengaroni

1980The Nude Bomb as Sauvage / Nino Salvatori Sebastiani

1980I'm Photogenic as Vittorio Gassman (uncredited)

1980The Terrace as Mario Dorazio

1979Dear Father as Albino Millozza

1979Quintet as Saint Christopher

1979Two Pieces of Bread as Pippo Mifà

1978A Wedding as Luigi Corelli

1977The New Monsters as il cardinale/il cameriere/il marito/il commissario/il padre di famiglia

1977Edipo Re as Edipo

1977Lost Soul as Fabio Stolz

1976The Desert of the Tartars as Filimore

1976Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen as Ispettore Tuttunpezzo / Allievo

1976Pure as a Lily as Anthony M. Wilson

1976The Career of a Chambermaid as Franco Denza

1976The Apple of My Eye as film festival participant

1976Babau (1 Episode) as Unknown

1975E il Casanova di Fellini? as Self

1975Midnight Pleasures as Andrea Sansoni

1975Les Rendez-vous du dimanche (3 Episodes) as Self

1975Apostrophes (1 Episode) as Self

1974We All Loved Each Other So Much as Gianni Perego

1974Scent of a Woman as Fausto Consolo

1974Spécial cinéma (2 Episodes) as Self

1973La Tosca as Scarpia

1972What Am I Doing in the Middle of the Revolution? as Guido Guidi

1972The Audience as Principe Donati

1972Without Family as Armando Zavanatti

1972Le Grand Échiquier (1 Episode) as Self

1971In the Name of the Italian People as Lorenzo Santenocito

1971Scipio the African as Catone il Censore

1971Samedi soir (1 Episode) as Self

1970Brancaleone at the Crusades as Brancaleone Da Norcia

1970Il divorzio as Leonardo Nenci

1970Let's Have a Riot as Riccardo

1970The Man with the Flower in His Mouth as L'uomo dal fiore in bocca

1969Twelve Plus One as Mario Beretti

1969Where Are You Going All Naked? as Rufus Conforti

1969The Archangel as Furio Bertuccia

1969Alibi as Vittorio

1968The Black Sheep as Mario Agasti / Filippo Agasti

1968The Prophet as Pietro Breccia

1967Ghosts, Italian Style as Pasquale Lojacono

1967Catch As Catch Can as Bob Chiaramonte

1967Woman Times Seven as Cenci

1967The Tiger and the Pussycat as Francesco Vincenzini

1966The Devil in Love as Belfagor

1966Pleasant Nights as Bastiano da Sangallo

1966For Love and Gold as Brancaleone da Norcia

1965I Knew Her Well as Vittorio Gassman - in Film Clip (archive footage) (uncredited)

1965A Maiden for the Prince as Principe Vincenzo Gonzaga

1965Snow Job as Lucio Ridolfi

1965The Dirty Game as Perego / Ferrari

1964One Million Dollars as Giuliano

1964Il gaucho as Marco Ravicchio

1964Let's Talk About Women as Straniero / Practical Joker / Cliente / Amante / Amante impaziente / Cameriere / Fratello timido / Rigattiere / Prigioniero

1964Summer Frenzy as Cap. Nardoni

1963The Monsters as The Actor (segment "La Raccomandazione") / Policeman (segment "Il Mostro") / Production Assistant & Movie Director (segment "Presa dalla Vita") / Nicola (segment "Che Vitaccia!") / Blonde Latin Lover (segment "Latin Lovers-Amanti latini") / Defence Layer D'Amore (segment "Testimone volontario") / Richetto (segment "I due Orfanelli") / Roberto (segment "Il Sacrificato") / Elisa (segment "La Musa") / The Road Hog (segment "La Strada è di Tutti") / The Friar (segment "Il Testamento di Francesco") / Artemio Altidori (segment "La nobile Arte")

1963Il successo as Giulio Ceriani

1963The Eye of the Needle as Giorgio Mazzanò, lawyer

1962Sex Can Be Difficult as L'avvocato (segment "L'avaro")

1962March on Rome as Domenico Rocchetti

1962Il Sorpasso as Bruno Cortona

1962The Merv Griffin Show (1 Episode) as Self

1962The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1 Episode) as Self

1962Dark Soul as Adriano Zucchelli

1961Barabbas as Sahak

1961A Difficult Life as Self

1961Seduction Of The South as O Caporale

1961The Last Judgment as Cimino