Photo: Charles-Andre Habib / Gamma-Rapho / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Lino Ventura is one of those faces you never forget. Italian-born, Parma to be exact, but he became a pillar of French cinema in the 1960s and 70s, and I love that he came to acting almost by accident after a wrestling career. That physicality is all over his work. He played cops and crooks with the same weary gravity, and you always believed him. His Silver Shell at San Sebastian in 1973 felt earned. Off screen, the philanthropy he poured into disabled children's causes after his own daughter humanizes the tough-guy image. He died in 1987, but those crime dramas still hold up beautifully.
Overview
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 men of French cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, known for his portrayal of tough characters on both sides of the law in crime dramas.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Lino Ventura
- Name (Japanese)
- リノ・ヴァンチュラ
- Reading
- りの・ゔぁんちゅら
- Born
- July 14, 1919 – October 22, 1987
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Goat
- Origin
- Parma, Province of Parma, Italy
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 2 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- film actor / amateur wrestler / professional wrestler / actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 1973 Silver Shell for Best Actor
- David di Donatello Award for Lifetime Achievement
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Film actor — see all → · Amateur wrestler — see all → · More people from Italy →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.