Ventura, Lino

(1919-1987)

   Actor. Lino Ventura was born Angelo Borrini in Parma, Italy. His family immigrated to France in 1927. He was a professional wrestler before he debuted in Jacques Becker's gangster film, Touchez pas au grisbi (1954). His second role was in Henri Decoin's crime drama, Razzia sur la Chnouf (1955). Both films star Jean Gabin, who is considered to be Ventura's acting mentor. In the 1950s, Ventura would work with Gabin in Georges Lampin's Crime et châtiment (1956), Gilles Grangier's Le rouge est mis (1957), and Jean Delannoy's Maigret tend un piège (1957). Ventura also had a small role in Louis Malle's Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1957). At this point in his career, he mostly played hard-boiled characters in crime and detective films.

   Ventura's status as a French film star was launched with his role in Bernard Borderie's Le Gorille vous salue bien (1958). He later led the casts in some of France's most popular films of the 1960s such as Claude Sautet's Classe tous risques (1960), Denys de la Patellière's Un taxi pour Tobrouk (1961), George Lautner's Les Tontons flinguers (1963), Henri Verneuil's Cent mille dollars au soleil (1964), Robert Enrico's Les Grandes gueules (1965), and Verneuil's Le Clan des Siciliens (1969). Ventura played in a number of films by Italian directors, including Luciano Emmer's La Ragazza in vetrina and Vittorio De Sica's Il Giudizio universale (1961). He also acted in German director Wolfgang Staudte's Die Dreigroschenoper and Spanish director Carlos Saura's Llanto por un bandido (1964). He starred in two 1960s films by Jean-Pierre Melville: Le deuxième souffle (1966) and L'Armée des ombres (1969). In the 1970s, Ventura remained a frequent lead in box-office successes such as Claude Lelouch's L'aventure c'est l'aventure (1972), Edouard Molinaro's L'Emmerdeur (1973), and Claude Pinoteau' La Gifle (1974). He often worked in films by the same directors, appearing in Enrico's Boulevard du rhum (1971), Pinoteau's Les Silencieux (1972), Lelouch's La Bonne année (1973), and Pierre Granier-Deferre's La Cage (1975) and Adieu poulet (1975). He acted in the Italian films Uomini Duri (1974), by Duccio Tessari, and Cadaveri eccelenti (1975), by Francesco Rosi. Ventura appeared in Anglophone films as well, most notably Terence Young's The Valachi Papers (1972) and Jack Gold's The Medusa Touch (1978).

   In the 1960s and 1970s, Ventura ranked among France's most successful actors in top-selling features. In the 1980s, Ventura's image did not frequent the movie posters for France's most commercially profitable hits, yet arguably, he delivered two of his best performances. He received a César nomination for his role as Jean Valjean in Robert Hossein's Les Misérables (1982) and has been lauded for his performance in Miller's Garde à vue (1981). In addition, he played leading roles in Yves Boisset's Espion, lève-toi (1982), José Giovanni's Le Ruffian (1983), and Pinoteau's La 7ème cible (1984). He also appeared in Michael Anderson's television film, Sword of Gideon (1986).