Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in _Riso amaro .
The standard joke on him was that he had such an interesting, flexible voice (and such an outstanding acting ability) that he could have made everything he read entertaining and intense. In mid-90s, a satirical show on Italy national TV gave him a 2 minutes space (named "Gassman Legge", literally "Gassman Reads") where he just "acted" few lines from banal, utterly non-poetic texts, e.g. the Yellow Pages, a blood test report, a telephone bill, the classifieds page in a local newspaper and so on. The segment was a success.
Founded and ran for years one of the most select acting schools.
Shares his birthday with actress Yvonne De Carlo.
Became widely popular with Luchino Visconti s theater company, performing in important plays such as Tennessee Williams "Un tram che si chiama desiderio" (A Streetcar Named Desire) or William Shakespeare s "Rosalinda".
In his public appearances, he often criticized moderated cultural positions and gained some enemies in the world of art for his frank judgments.
Studied acting at the Accademia Nazionale dArte Drammatica in Rome.
His mother, Luisa Ambron, from Pisa, Tuscany, was an Italian Jew. His father, Heinrich Gassmann, was German, from Karlsruhe, Baden-Wrttemberg, Germany.
From 1961 until 1963 he was the partner of actress Annette Stroyberg.
From 1953 until 1960 he was the partner of actress Anna Maria Ferrero.
From 1964 until 1968 he was the partner of actress Juliette Mayniel. They have a son, actor Alessandro Gassman.
Father of actress Paola Gassman , doctor Vittoria Gassman , actor Alessandro Gassman and Jacopo Gassman , grandfather of assistant director Tommaso Pagliai.
From 1950 until 1952 he was the partner of actress Elvi Lissiak.
Shelley Winters confesses in her biography that Gassman was traumatized because of his WW2 era, when he served a little among the Facists and he seldom woke up at night howling like a wolf.
Shelley Winters says in her biography that during the first year of their union, they could barely understand each other, she and Gassman, due to the language barrier. She spoke English and he spoke Italian.
