Vittorio Gassman was born in Genoa on September 1st, 1922 to a father of German origins and a Pisan mother.
During his career he participated in important cinematographic and theatrical productions.
He moved to Rome when he was very young and there Gassman attended the studies at the Accademia Nazionale d'Arte Drammatica where some of the most important figures of Italian theatre and cinema also studied, such as Adolfo Celi, Nino Manfredi, Monica Vitti, Luca Ronconi and many others.
His theatrical debut was in Milan, in 1942, in Dario
… More Niccodemi's Nemica along with Alda Borelli, he then moved to Rome at the Teatro Eliseo joining Tino Carraro and Ernesto Calindri in a team that remained famous from then on; with them he acted without difficulty in a wide range of plays from bourgeois comedy to the sophisticated intellectual theatre.
In 1945 he made his film debut in Carlo Alberto Felice's Incontro con Laura, followed, in 1946, by Preludio d'amore.
In 1948 in his famous interpretation in Giuseppe de Santis' Riso Amaro displayed his love for cinema and his excellent ability both in movies and at the theatre.
Gassman achieved his success with Luchino Visconti's company. He played vigorously in Tennessee Williams' Un tram che si chiama desiderio, then emphatic in Shakespeare's Rosalinda.
In 1952 Gassman founded and directed, together with Luigi Squarzina, the Teatro d'Arte Italiano, producing the first complete version of Hamlet in Italy.
1956 is a crucial year in his career: he played Othello with the actor Salvo Randone, exchanging with him the roles of the Moor and Iago. A little later, he obtained unexpected success in the television series entitled Il Mattatore and "Il Mattatore" soon became the nickname that accompanied him for the rest of his life.
A true perfectionist, Gassman always hated imperfect diction and dialectal corruptions, even if he was capable of rendering most of all Italian dialects. He was considered one of the best Italian actors and was known for his versatility and professionality.
Concerning cinematographic appearances, he often worked both in Italy and abroad, scoring a number of roles in Hollywood.
During the later part of his career, he added poetry to his repertoire, bringing to Italy a lot of foreign works.
Unfortunately, during his last years Gassman was victim of depression, and died of a heart attack on June 29, 2000 in his Roman home.
