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Ivo Livi (Italian pronunciation:[ˈiːvoˈliːvi]; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known asYves Montand (French:[ivmɔ̃tɑ̃]), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists.[1]
Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a small village in the hills ofMonsummano Terme,Tuscany, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer.[2][3] Montand's mother Giuseppina Simoni was a devoutCatholic. The family left Italy forFrance in 1923 following fascistBenito Mussolini's rise to power.[4] He grew up inMarseille, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister's beauty salon (Salon de Coiffure), as well as later on the docks. He began a career in show business as amusic-hall singer. In 1944, he was discovered byÉdith Piaf in Paris; she made him part of her act.[5]
Montand achieved international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in many films. He is recognised forcrooner style songs, with those about Paris becoming instant classics. He was one of the best known performers atBruno Coquatrix'sParis Olympia music hall, and toured with musicians includingDidi Duprat. In October 1947, he sang "Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai ?" (music byHenri Betti and lyrics byÉdith Piaf) at the Théâtre de l'Étoile. Betti also asked him to sing "C'est si bon" but Montand refused. Following the success of the recording of this song by the Sœurs Étienne in 1948, he decided to record it. Montand was also very popular in theSoviet Union and Eastern Europe, where he did a concert tour in 1956-57.[6]
During his career, Montand acted in American motion pictures as well as onBroadway. He was nominated for aCésar Award for Best Actor in 1980 forI comme Icare and again in 1984 forGarçon! In 1986, after his international box-office draw power had fallen off considerably, the 65-year-old Montand gave one of his best remembered performances, as the scheming uncle inJean de Florette, co-starringGérard Depardieu, andManon des Sources (both 1986), co-starringEmmanuelle Béart. The film was a worldwide critical hit and revived Montand's profile in the United States, where he made an appearance onLate Night with David Letterman.[7]
In 1951, he marriedSimone Signoret, and they co-starred in several films throughout their careers. The marriage was, by all accounts, fairly harmonious, lasting until her death in 1985, although Montand had a number of well-publicised affairs, notably with American actressMarilyn Monroe, with whom he starred in one of her final films,Let's Make Love. He was the stepfather to Signoret's daughter from her previous marriage,Catherine Allégret.
Montand's only child, a son named Valentine by his second wife, Carole Amiel (b. 1960), was born in 1988. In a paternity suit that caused commotion across France, another woman accused Montand of being the father of her daughter and went to court to obtain aDNA sample from him. Montand refused, but the woman persisted even after his death. In a court ruling that made international headlines, the woman won the right to have Montand exhumed and a sample taken.[8] The results indicated that he was not the girl's biological father.[9]
He supported left-wing causes during the 1950s and 1960s, and attendedCommunist festivals and meetings. By the mid-1980s his views had shifted to the right, and he became a spokesman for many rightist causes.[10]
Signoret and Montand had a home inAutheuil-Authouillet, Normandy, where the main village street is named after him.
In his later years, he maintained a home inSaint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence, until his death from a heart attack in November 1991.[11] In an interview,Jean-Jacques Beineix said, "[H]e died on the set [ofIP5: The Island of Pachyderms]... On the very last day, after his very last shot. It was the very last night and we were doing retakes. He finished what he was doing and then he just died. And the film tells the story of an old man who dies from a heart attack, which is the same thing that happened!"[12] Montand is interred next to his first wife,Simone Signoret, inPère Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
In 2004, Catherine Allégret, Signoret's daughter from her first marriage to directorYves Allégret, alleged in her autobiographyUn monde a l'envers (A World Upside Down) that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather from the age of five; his behaviour apparently continued for many years[13] and he had a "more than equivocal attitude to her" as she got older.[14] However, she also claimed to have reconciled with him in the latter years of his life.[15]
