Montand, Yves

(1921-1991)

   Actor. Yves Montand was born Ivo Levi in Monsumano, Italy. His parents were antifascist and migrated to Marseille. Montand left school at the age of eleven and held a number of working-class jobs, including factory worker and docker. He became a singer in the night clubs of Marseille when he was in his late teens and then moved to Paris, where he sang at the Moulin Rouge. There he met Edith Piaf, who would become one of his mentors and legendary lovers. He appeared with Piaf in Marcel Blistène's film, Étoile sans lumière, in 1946. That same year, he had a supporting role in Marcel Carné's Les Portes de la nuit (1946).

   During the late 1940s, Montand was in the United States with actress Simone Signoret, whom he married, and who would remain his partner until her death in 1985. He returned to France, became a very popular music-hall singer, and developed a parallel acting career. His breakthrough role was in Henri-Georges Clouzot's Le Salaire de la peur (1953). He went on to appear in Sacha Guitry's Napoléon (1954) and Claude Autant-Lara's Marguerite de la nuit (1955).

   During the 1950s and 1960s, Montand and Signoret worked in between France and Hollywood. They were turned away from the United States during the McCarthy era, because of their leftist political leanings, but Montand later returned to perform as a singer in New York. He went from Broadway to Hollywood and costarred with Marilyn Monroe in George Cukor's Let's Make Love (1960). He also had a notorious affair with Monroe. Montand led the casts of subsequent Hollywood films. He costarred with Ingrid Bergman in Anatole Litvak's Goodbye Again (1961) and with Shirley MacLaine in Jack Cardiff's My Geisha (1962).

   Montand's international reputation was established through his collaboration with Costa-Gavras, notably in the film Compartiment tuers (1964), Z (1969), and L'Aveu (1970). He also worked with Alain Resnais on La Guerre est finie (1966), with Claude Lelouch on Vivre pour vivre (1967), with Vincente Minnelli in On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (1970), with Gérard Oury on La folie des grandeurs, and with Jean-Luc Godard on Tout va bien (1972). He also had a supporting role alongside fellow icons Alain Delon and Bourvil in Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle rouge (1970).

   In addition to his work with Costa-Gavras, Montand was also a favorite of director Claude Sautet. He appeared in a number of Sautet's films, beginning with César et Rosalie (1972), which also starred Signoret. He also played principal roles in Sautet's Vincent, François, Paul et les autres (1974). Other films in which he appeared include Alain Corneau's La Menace (1977) and Joseph Losey's Les Routes du sud (1978). He received a César nomination for Best Actor in Henri Verneuil's 1979 film I comme Icare. In 1979, he also starred in Costa-Gavras's Clair de femme with Signoret. In the 1980s, Montand appeared less frequently in films. Nevertheless, he delivered several acclaimed performances and remained a French icon. In 1984, he received a second César nomination for Best Actor in Sautet's Garçon! He received critical acclaim for his work in Claude Berri's Jean de Florette (1986) and its sequel Manon des sources (1986). He served as president of the Cannes Film Festival Jury in 1987. He also played himself in Jacques Demy's Trois places pour le 26 (1988), which perhaps points to his status in French culture. He also appeared in Jacques Deray's Netchaïev est de retour (1991). Montand died during the shooting of Jean-Jacques Beineix's IP5 : l'île aux Pachydermes (1992).