Yves Montand


Ivo Livi, better known as Yves Montand, was an Italian-born French actor and singer. He is said to be one of France's greatest 20th-century artists.

Early life

Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a small village in the hills of Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer. Montand's mother Giuseppina Simoni was a devout Catholic. The family left Italy for France in 1923 following fascist Benito Mussolini's rise to power. He grew up in Marseille, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister's beauty salon, as well as later on the docks. He began a career in show business as a music-hall singer. In 1944, he was discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris; she made him part of her act.

Career

Montand achieved international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in many films. He is recognised for crooner style songs, with those about Paris becoming instant classics. He was one of the best known performers at Bruno Coquatrix's Paris Olympia music hall, and toured with musicians including Didi Duprat. In October 1947, he sang "Mais qu'est-ce que j'ai ?" at the Théâtre de l'Étoile. Betti also asked him to sing "C'est si bon" but Montand refused. Following the success of the recording of this song by the Sœurs Étienne in 1948, he decided to record it. Montand was also very popular in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, where he did a concert tour in 1956-57.
During his career, Montand acted in American motion pictures as well as on Broadway. He was nominated for a César Award for Best Actor in 1980 for I comme Icare and again in 1984 for Garçon! In 1986, after his international box-office draw power had fallen off considerably, the 65-year-old Montand gave one of his best remembered performances, as the scheming uncle in Jean de Florette, co-starring Gérard Depardieu, and Manon des Sources, co-starring Emmanuelle Béart. The film was a worldwide critical hit and revived Montand's profile in the United States, where he made an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

Personal life

In 1951, he married Simone Signoret, and they co-starred in several films throughout their careers. The marriage was, by all accounts, fairly harmonious, lasting until her death in 1985, although Montand had a number of well-publicised affairs, notably with American actress Marilyn Monroe, with whom he starred in one of her final films, Let's Make Love. He was the stepfather to Signoret's daughter from her previous marriage, Catherine Allégret.
Montand's only child, a son named Valentine by his second wife, Carole Amiel, was born in 1988. In a paternity suit that caused commotion across France, another woman accused Montand of being the father of her daughter and went to court to obtain a DNA sample from him. Montand refused, but the woman persisted even after his death. In a court ruling that made international headlines, the woman won the right to have Montand exhumed and a sample taken. The results indicated that he was not the girl's biological father.
He supported left-wing causes during the 1950s and 1960s, and attended Communist festivals and meetings. By the mid-1980s his views had shifted to the right, and he became a spokesman for many rightist causes.
Signoret and Montand had a home in Autheuil-Authouillet, Normandy, where the main village street is named after him.
In his later years, he maintained a home in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence, until his death from a heart attack in November 1991. In an interview, Jean-Jacques Beineix said, "e died on the set ... On the very last day, after his very last shot. It was the very last night and we were doing retakes. He finished what he was doing and then he just died. And the film tells the story of an old man who dies from a heart attack, which is the same thing that happened!" Montand is interred next to his first wife, Simone Signoret, in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.
In 2004, Catherine Allégret, Signoret's daughter from her first marriage to director Yves Allégret, alleged in her autobiography Un monde a l'envers that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather from the age of five; his behaviour apparently continued for many years and he had a "more than equivocal attitude to her" as she got older. However, she also claimed to have reconciled with him in the latter years of his life.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleDirectorNotes
1941La Prière aux étoilesUn gars dans le caféMarcel PagnolUncredited
1946Star Without LightPierreMarcel Blistène
1946Gates of the NightJean DiegoMarcel Carné
1948The IdolFontanaAlexander Esway
1950Lost SouvenirsRaoulChristian-Jaque
1951The Red InnSinging CommentatorClaude Autant-LaraVoice
1951Paris Is Always ParisHimselfLuciano Emmercameo appearance
1951Paris Still SingsHimselfPierre Montazel
1953Le salaire de la peur MarioHenri-Georges Clouzot
1953Saluti e baciHimselfMaurice Labro and Giorgio SimonelliUncredited
1954Tempi NostriVascoAlessandro Blasetti and Paul Paviot
1955NapoléonFrançois Joseph LefebvreSacha Guitry
1955The Heroes Are TiredMichel RivièreYves Ciampi
1955Marguerite de la nuitMonsieur LéonClaude Autant-Lara
1957The WolvesRicuccioGiuseppe De Santis
1957Les Sorcières de SalemJohn ProctorRaymond Rouleau
1957La grande strada azzurraGiovanni SquarciòGillo Pontecorvo
1958Premier maiJean MeunierLuis Saslavsky
1959Legge, LaMatteo BriganteJules Dassin
1960Let's Make LoveClement / DumasGeorge Cukor
1961SanctuaryCandy ManTony Richardson
1961Goodbye AgainRoger DemarestAnatole Litvak
1962My GeishaPaul RobaixJack Cardiff
1963Le Joli MaiNarratorChris Marker
1965Compartiment tueursInspector GrazzianiCosta-Gavras
1966La guerre est finieDiego MoraAlain Resnais
1966Is Paris Burning?Sgt. Marcel BizienRené Clément
1966Grand PrixJean- Pierre SartiJohn Frankenheimer
1967Vivre pour vivreRobert ColombClaude Lelouch
1968Mr. FreedomCaptain FormidableWilliam Kleincameo appearance, Uncredited
1968Un soir, un trainMathiasAndré Delvaux
1969The Devil by the TailBaron César MaricornePhilippe de Broca
1969ZGrigoris LambrakisCosta-Gavras
1970L'AveuGérardCosta-Gavras
1970On a Clear Day You Can See ForeverMarc ChabotVincente Minnelli
1970Le Cercle RougeJansenJean-Pierre Melville
1971La folie des grandeursBlazeGérard Oury
1972Tout va bien"The Director"Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin
1972César et RosalieCésarClaude Sautet
1972État de SiègePhilip Michael SantoreCosta-Gavras
1973'Ange OrahonaPierre Granier-Deferre
1974Chance and ViolenceLaurent BermannPhilippe Labro
1974Vincent, François, Paul...et les autresVincentClaude Sautet
1975Section spécialeUn milicienCosta-GavrasUncredited
1975Le SauvageMartinJean-Paul Rappeneau
1976Police Python 357Inspecteur Marc FerrotAlain Corneau
1976Le Grand EscogriffeMorlandClaude Pinoteau
1976A Butterfly in the NightHimselfArmando BóVoice
1977La MenaceHenri SavinAlain Corneau
1977Le fond de l'air est rougeNarratorChris Marker
1977Jacques PrévertHimselfJean Desvilles
1978Roads to the SouthJean LarreaJoseph Losey
1979Clair de femmeMichel FollinCosta-Gavras
1979I as in IcarusHenri VolneyHenri Verneuil
1981Le Choix des armesNoël DurieuxAlain Corneau
1982Tout feu, tout flammeVictor ValanceJean-Paul Rappeneau
1983Garçon!AlexClaude Sautet
1986Jean de FloretteCésar SoubeyranClaude Berri
1986Manon des SourcesCésar SoubeyranClaude Berri
1988Trois places pour le 26HimselfJacques Demy
1991'Pierre MarrouxJacques Deray
1992IP5: L'île aux pachydermesLéon MarcelJean-Jacques Beineix