Description:
Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Riso amaro (1949). This fixed him to his main parts: The ambiguous gentleman inflicting pain and pleasure at the same time. He also participated in the Italian comedies and in American movies but the latter with only minor success. As a homage to his passion for the theatre he directed a cinema version of the play Kean - Genio e sregolatezza (1957).
Birthday
September 1, 1922
Born In
Genoa, Liguria, Italy
Alternative names
Vittorio Gassmann
Height
187 cm
Parents
Heinrich Gassmann
Trivia
The standard joke on him was that he had such an interesting, flexible
voice (and such an outstanding acting ability) that he could have made
everything he read entertaining and intense. In mid-90s, a satirical show on Italy
national TV gave him a 2 minutes space (named "Gassman Legge", literally "Gassman Reads") where he just "acted" few lines
from banal, utterly non-poetic texts, e.g. the Yellow Pages, a blood test report, a telephone bill, the classifieds page in a local newspaper and so on. The segment was a success.
Quotes
No-one should die. That's the only mistake God ever made.
Nickname
Il Mattatore
Trademarks
Powerful, versatile voice
