Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura (14 July 1919 – 22 October 1987), known as Lino Ventura, was an Italian-born actor and philanthropist, who lived and worked for most of his life in France. He was considered one of the greatest leading man of French cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, known for his portrayal of tough characters on both sides of the law in crime dramas.
Born in Parma and raised there and in Paris, Ventura was first a professional wrestler, before his career was ended by injury. He made his film debut as a gangster in the 1954 Jacques Becker film Touchez pas au grisbi, and rapidly became one of France's favourite film actors, playing opposite many other great stars and working with such leading directors as Louis Malle, Claude Sautet, and Claude Miller. Usually portraying a tough man, either a criminal or a cop, he also featured as a leader of the Resistance in the Jean-Pierre Melville-directed Army of Shadows (1969). He was nomianted for a Cesar Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in the 1982 film adaptation of Les Misérables.
After one of his four children, a daughter, was born handicapped, he and his wife founded a charity Perce-Neige (Snowdrop) which aids disabled children and their parents. Though a lifelong resident and pop cultural icon in France, Ventura always considered himself an Italian first and foremost, and never took French citizenship nor involved himself in French politics. He was nonetheless voted 23rd in a poll for the 100 greatest Frenchmen.
Source : Wikipedia
