Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura (14 July 1919 – 22 October 1987), known asLino Ventura, was an Italian-born actor and philanthropist, who lived and worked for most of his life inFrance. He was considered one of the greatestleading men of French cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, known for his portrayal of tough characters on both sides of the law incrime dramas.
After one of his four children, a daughter, was born handicapped, he and his wife founded a charityPerce-Neige (Snowdrop) which aids disabled children and their parents. Though a lifelong resident andpop cultural icon in France, Ventura always considered himself an Italian first and foremost, and never took French citizenship. He was nonetheless voted 23rd in a 2005poll of the 100 greatest Frenchmen.
Born inParma,Emilia-Romagna, Italy to Giovanni Ventura and Luisa Borrini, who moved to France soon thereafter, Lino dropped out of school at the age of eight and later took on a variety of jobs. At one point Ventura was pursuing aprizefighting andprofessional wrestling career, under the name Lino Borrini, but had to end it because of an injury.
In 1953, by chance, one of his friends mentioned him toJacques Becker who was looking for an Italian actor to play opposite Jean Gabin in a gangster movie calledTouchez pas au grisbi (1954). Becker offered him on the spot the role of Angelo, which Ventura refused at first but then accepted. He had such a presence in the film that the whole profession took notice. The film was a big success.
Ventura started to build up an acting career in similar hard-boiled gangster films, often playing beside his friendJean Gabin, including his second film,Razzia sur la chnouf (1955).
Although he remained an Italian citizen throughout his life and long used to seeing himself dubbed into Italian from the original French release, he only made a handful of films in his native language, among themThe Last Judgement (Il giudizio universale, 1961),Illustrious Corpses (Cadaveri eccellenti, 1976) andCento Giorni a Palermo (1983).
Ventura remained active until the year before his death from a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 68. Having a disabled daughter himself, he created a charitable foundation,Perce-Neige (Snowdrop) in 1966, which supports disabled people.
Throughout his career, he was one of the most popular actors of French cinema. He spoke French without any accent (excepting a Parisian one at the beginning of his career) and spoke Italian with a slight French accent, having arrived in France at the age of seven. Forcibly conscripted into the Italian army during the Second World War, he deserted. But, although his wife and four children were French, he never wanted to give up Italian citizenship, out of respect for his parents.[1][2] Despite this, he was ranked 23rd of the 100 greatest Frenchmen, 17 years after his death.[3]
Somewhat paradoxically, Ventura attributed his great success to his limited range as an actor; and often said "If I cannot believe in a character, or if something does not ring true, I cannot act it."
In a 1980 interview he said that the previous year "I began to realize how incredibly lucky I had been since the age of 9, how much I had been loved by so many people. When I act, I am doing what I love, and I am paid for it. So I put myself in the service of the film, never the film in service to me."[4] He mentioned he turned down several roles - a part inApocalypse Now (cut from the final film), a role in aRobert Aldrich film and the part played byFrançois Truffaut inClose Encounters of the Third Kind.[4]
He said, "The story is everything. My good friend Jean Gabin told me 25 years ago there are three important things in movies: the story, the story and the story."[4]
"I have limitations," he said. "I have no training; I could not do the classics. What I can do is myself. And I like best not to talk at all... I study the script, and then try to become the character. That is very mysterious, how that happens. I cannot explain it. There are so many mysteries in cinema, the way everything must interlock, that when you think of it all, you never want to make a film."[4]
