Yves Montand

vo Livi (Italian pronunciation: ), better known as Yves Montand  13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991  was an Italian-French actor and singer.

Early life

Montand was born Ivo Livi in Monsummano Terme, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer, and Giuseppina Simoni, a devout Catholic, while her husband held strong Communist beliefs. Montand’s family left for France in 1923 because of Italy’s Fascist regime. He grew up in Marseille, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister’s beauty salon (Salon de Coiffure), and 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 and she made him part of her act.

Career

Montand achieved international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in many films. His recognizably crooner songs, especially those about Paris, became 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 ?” (music by Henri Betti and lyrics by Édith Piaf) 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.

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 (both 1986), co-starring Emmanuelle Béart. The film was a worldwide critical hit and revived Montand’s profile in the US, 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-publicized affairs, notably with Marilyn Monroe, with whom he starred in one of her last films, Let’s Make Love. He was the stepfather to Signoret’s daughter from her prior marriage, Catherine Allégret.

Montand’s only child, Valentin, his son by his second wife, Carole Amiel, was born in 1988. In a paternity suit that rocked 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 probably not the girl’s biological father.

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 St 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 (A World Upside Down) that she had been sexually abused by her stepfather from the age of five; his behaviour apparently continuing for many years. and that he had a “more than equivocal attitude to her” as she got older. However she also claimed to have been reconciled to him in the latter years of his life.

Filmography

Yves Montand as Formula One driver Jean-Pierre Sarti in Grand Prix, 1966

Year Title Role Director Notes
1941 La Prière aux étoiles Un gars dans le café Marcel Pagnol Uncredited
1946 Star Without Light Pierre Marcel Blistène
Gates of the Night Jean Diego Marcel Carné
1948 L’idole Fontana Alexander Esway
1950 Lost Souvenirs Raoul Christian-Jaque (segment “Le violon”)
1951 The Red Inn Singing Commentator Claude Autant-Lara Voice
Paris Is Always Paris Himself Luciano Emmer cameo appearance
Paris Still Sings Himself Pierre Montazel
1953 Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) Mario Henri-Georges Clouzot
Saluti e baci Himself Maurice Labro and Giorgio Simonelli Uncredited
1954 Tempi Nostri Vasco Alessandro Blasetti and Paul Paviot
1955 Napoléon François Joseph Lefebvre Sacha Guitry
Heroes and Sinners Michel Rivière Yves Ciampi
Marguerite de la nuit Monsieur Léon Claude Autant-Lara
1957 The Wolves Ricuccio Giuseppe De Santis
Les Sorcières de Salem John Proctor Raymond Rouleau
La grande strada azzurra Giovanni Squarciò Gillo Pontecorvo
1958 Premier mai  Jean Meunier Luis Saslavsky
1959 Legge, La Matteo Brigante Jules Dassin
1960 Let’s Make Love Clement / Dumas George Cukor
1961 Sanctuary Candy Man Tony Richardson
Goodbye Again Roger Demarest Anatole Litvak
1962 My Geisha Paul Robaix Jack Cardiff
1963 Le Joli Mai Narrator Chris Marker
1965 Compartiment tueurs Inspector Grazziani Costa-Gavras
1966 La guerre est finie Diego Mora Alain Resnais
Is Paris Burning? Sgt. Marcel Bizien René Clément
Grand Prix Jean- Pierre Sarti John Frankenheimer
1967 Vivre pour vivre Robert Colomb Claude Lelouch
1968 Mr. Freedom Captain Formidable William Klein cameo appearance, Uncredited
Un soir, un train Mathias André Delvaux
1969 The Devil by the Tail Baron César Maricorne Philippe de Broca
Z Grigoris Lambrakis Costa-Gavras
1970 L’Aveu Gérard Costa-Gavras
On a Clear Day You Can See Forever Marc Chabot Vincente Minnelli
Le Cercle Rouge Jansen Jean-Pierre Melville
1971 La folie des grandeurs Blaze Gérard Oury
1972 Tout va bien “The Director” Jean-Luc Godard and Jean-Pierre Gorin
César et Rosalie César Claude Sautet
État de Siège Philip Michael Santore Costa-Gavras
1973 Le Fils  Ange Orahona Pierre Granier-Deferre
1974 Chance and Violence Laurent Bermann Philippe Labro
Vincent, François, Paul…et les autres Vincent Claude Sautet
1975 Section spéciale Un milicien Costa-Gavras Uncredited
Le Sauvage Martin Jean-Paul Rappeneau
1976 Police Python 357 Inspecteur Marc Ferrot Alain Corneau
Le Grand Escogriffe Morland Claude Pinoteau
A Butterfly in the Night Himself Armando Bó Voice
1977 La Menace Henri Savin Alain Corneau
Le fond de l’air est rouge Narrator Chris Marker
Jacques Prévert Himself Jean Desvilles
1978 Roads to the South Jean Larrea Joseph Losey
1979 Clair de femme Michel Follin Costa-Gavras
I as in Icarus Henri Volney Henri Verneuil
1981 Le Choix des armes Noël Durieux Alain Corneau
1982 Tout feu, tout flamme Victor Valance Jean-Paul Rappeneau
1983 Garçon! Alex Claude Sautet
1986 Jean de Florette César Soubeyran Claude Berri
Manon des Sources
1988 Trois places pour le 26 Himself Jacques Demy
1991 Netchaïev est de retour  Pierre Marroux Jacques Deray
1992 IP5: L’île aux pachydermes  Léon Marcel Jean-Jacques Beineix (final film role)

Discography

  • 1952: Chante (Odéon)
  • 1953: Chante ses dernières créations (Odéon)
  • 1953: Chante Paris (Odéon)
  • 1953: Récital au Théâtre de l’Étoile 1953 (Odéon, live)
  • 1954: Chante ses derniers succès (Odéon)
  • 1954: # 54 (Odéon)
  • 1955: Chansons populaires de France (Odéon)
  • 1957: 13 ans déjà ! (Odéon)
  • 1958: Dix chansons pour l’été (Odéon)
  • 1958: Succès du Récital 1958 au Théâtre de L’Étoile (Odéon)
  • 1958: Récital 1 + Récital 2 (Philips)
  • 1958: Étoile 58 (Philips)
  • 1960: Dansez avec Yves Montand (Philips)
  • 1961: Rengaine ta rengaine (Philips)
  • 1962: Chante Prévert (Philips)
  • 1962: Récital 63 – Intégral du Théâtre de l’Étoile (Philips, live)
  • 1967: 7 (Philips)
  • 1968: La Bicyclette (Philips)
  • 1968: Le Paris de… (Philips)
  • 1968: À l’Olympia (Philips, live)
  • 1970: On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (Columbia, soundtrack with Barbra Streisand)
  • 1972: Dans son dernier “One man show” intégral (CBS, live)
  • 1974: Montand de mon temps (CBS or TriStar Music)
  • 1981: D’hier et d’aujourd’hui (Philips)
  • 1981: Le disque de la paix (Philips)
  • 1982: Olympia 81 (Philips)
  • 1983: In English (Philips)
  • 1984: Chante David Mc Neil (Philips)
  • 1988: Trois places pour le 26 (Philips, w/ Mathilda May, soundtrack)
  • 1993: Les années Odéon – 1945–1958 (Columbia, 9-CD boxset)
  • 1997: Plaisirs inédits (Universal)
  • 2000: Et la fête continue – Intégrale 1945–1949 – Vol. 1 (Frémeaux)
  • 2001: Inédits, rares & indispensables (Mercury, 4-CD boxset)
  • 2004: Sensationnel – Intégrale 1949–1953 – Vol. 2 (Frémeaux)
  • 2007: Une étoile à l’Étoile – Intégrale 1953–1954 – Vol. 3 (Frémeaux, live)