Vittorio Gassman

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.

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The Dinner

1998

as maestro Pezzullo

Desert of Fire

1997

as Tareq

Desert of Fire

1997

as Tareq

Sleepers

1996

as King Benny

Once a Year, Every Year

1994

as Giuseppe

Abraham

1994

as Terah

Abraham

1993

as Terach

The Long Winter

1992

as Claudio, El Mayordomo

Quando eravamo repressi

1992

as The Sexologist

Rossini! Rossini!

1991

as Ludwig van Beethoven

I'll Be Going Now

1991

as Augusto Scribani

The Amusements of Private Life

1990

as Marquis

1001 Nights

1990

as Sinbad

Les 1001 Nuits : Version Intégrale

1990

as Sinbad

The Palermo Connection

1990

as Il principe

The Sleazy Uncle

1989

as Zio Luca

Mortacci

1989

as Domenico

L'altro enigma

1988

as Il padre / Sofocle

I picari

1987

as Marquis Felipe de Aragona

The Family

1987

as Carlo as a man / Carlo's grandfather

Big Deal on Madonna Street 20 Years Later

1985

as Peppe

Power Of Evil

1985

as Gottfried

To Be Hamlet

1985

as Self

Benvenuta

1983

as Livio

Life Is a Bed of Roses

1983

as Walter Guarini

Count Tacchia

1982

as Prince Torquato Terenzi

Tempest

1982

as Alonzo

Di padre in figlio

1982

as Self

Sharky's Machine

1981

as Victor Scorelli

Il turno

1981

as Ciro Coppa

Hotel Room

1981

as Achille Mengaroni

The Nude Bomb

1980

as Sauvage / Nino Salvatori Sebastiani

I'm Photogenic

1980

as Vittorio Gassman (uncredited)

The Terrace

1980

as Mario

Dear Father

1979

as Albino Millozza

Quintet

1979

as Saint Christopher

Two Pieces of Bread

1979

as Pippo Mifà

A Wedding

1978

as Luigi Corelli

The New Monsters

1977

as il cardinale/il cameriere/il marito/il commissario/il padre di famiglia

Edipo Re

1977

as Edipo

Lost Soul

1977

as Fabio Stolz

The Desert of the Tartars

1976

as Filimore

Goodnight, Ladies and Gentlemen

1976

as Ispettore Tuttunpezzo / Allievo

Pure as a Lily

1976

as Anthony M. Wilson

The Career of a Chambermaid

1976

as Franco Denza

Babau

1976

E il Casanova di Fellini?

1975

as Self

Midnight Pleasures

1975

as Andrea Sansoni

We All Loved Each Other So Much

1974

as Gianni Perego

Scent of a Woman

1974

as Fausto Consolo

La Tosca

1973

as Scarpia

What Am I Doing in the Middle of the Revolution?

1972

as Guido Guidi

The Audience

1972

as Principe Donati

Without Family

1972

as Armando Zavanatti

Le Grand Échiquier

1972

as Self

In the Name of the Italian People

1971

as Lorenzo Santenocito

Scipio the African

1971

as Catone il Censore

Brancaleone at the Crusades

1970

as Brancaleone Da Norcia

Il divorzio

1970

as Leonardo Nenci

Let's Have a Riot

1970

as Riccardo

The Man with the Flower in His Mouth

1970

as L'uomo dal fiore in bocca

Twelve Plus One

1969

as Mario Beretti

Where Are You Going All Naked?

1969

as Rufus Conforti

The Archangel

1969

as Furio Bertuccia

Alibi

1969

as Vittorio

The Black Sheep

1968

as Mario Agasti / Filippo Agasti

The Prophet

1968

as Pietro Breccia

Ghosts, Italian Style

1967

as Pasquale Lojacono

Catch As Catch Can

1967

as Bob Chiaramonte

Woman Times Seven

1967

as Cenci

The Tiger and the Pussycat

1967

as Francesco Vincenzini

The Devil in Love

1966

as Belfagor

Pleasant Nights

1966

as Bastiano da Sangallo

For Love and Gold

1966

as Brancaleone da Norcia

I Knew Her Well

1965

as Vittorio Gassman - in Film Clip (archive footage) (uncredited)

A Maiden for the Prince

1965

as Principe Vincenzo Gonzaga

Snow Job

1965

as Lucio Ridolfi

The Dirty Game

1965

as Perego / Ferrari

One Million Dollars

1964

as Giuliano

Il gaucho

1964

as Marco Ravicchio

Let's Talk About Women

1964

as Straniero / Practical Joker / Cliente / Amante / Amante impaziente / Cameriere / Fratello timido / Rigattiere / Prigioniero

Summer Frenzy

1964

as Cap. Nardoni

The Monsters

1963

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")