Angiolino Joseph Pascal Ventura, known professionally as Lino Ventura, was a renowned Italian-born French character actor, active from the 1950s to the 1980s. Born on July 14, 1919, in Parma, Italy, Ventura moved to Paris with his family at a young age and grew up there. A school dropout at age eight, he drifted from job to job, unable to decide on a career path.
Ventura eventually found success as a professional European wrestling champion in 1950, but was forced to retire after suffering a serious injury in the ring. He then pursued a career in acting, making his film debut in 1954 as a gangster in the crime thriller Don't Touch the Loot, starring Jean Gabin.
Gabin, impressed by Ventura's performance, encouraged him to continue acting, and Ventura went on to appear in several films with Gabin, including Razzia, Crime and Punishment, and Inspector Maigret. Ventura's tough, brutish presence and ability to play both light comedy and dark-edged drama made him a beloved character actor in French cinema.
Throughout his career, Ventura appeared in scores of films, including Le deuxième souffle, Happy New Year, The French Detective, Illustrious Corpses, and The Grilling. He was known for his ability to convey a sense of vulnerability and empathy, even when playing villains. Ventura's iconic, craggy mug and weight-of-the-world-on-his-shoulders countenance made him a household name in France.
Ventura's impressive gallery of blue-collar protagonists included his embittered, vengeful husband in Witness in the City, corrupt police chief Tiger Brown in Three Penny Opera, a WWII French Resistance fighter in Army of Shadows, and Mafia boss Vito Genovese in The Valachi Papers. Toward the end of his career, he played Jean Valjean in a French production of Les Misérables, earning a Cesar award nomination.
Ventura continued to act until his death from a fatal heart attack in 1987 at the age of 68. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Odette, and their children. Daughter Mylene died in a plane crash in 1998, and wife Odette passed away in 2013.
