Lino Ventura's Real Name: Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura

Quick answer: Lino Ventura's real name was Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura. He was born on July 14, 1919, in Busseto, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and died on October 22, 1987, in Saint-Cloud, France. "Lino" is a shortened form of Angiolino; he never abandoned Italian citizenship despite living as a French cultural icon.

From Parma to Paris—and the mat

BnF catalogue notices, the New York Times obituary, and standard film references identify Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura as the actor known as Lino Ventura (NYT; BnF). Son of Giovanni Ventura and Luisa Borrini, he moved to Paris as a child after his father sought work there. He left school young to help support the household, learned Greco-Roman wrestling under Fred Oberlander, and turned pro as Lino Borrini ("The Italian Rocket"), taking his mother's maiden name in the ring. He won a European middleweight wrestling title in 1950 before a knee injury against Henri Cogan ended the athletic career; he later booked and helped train talent including Édouard Carpentier.

During World War II, as an Italian conscript, he deserted in 1943 and hid with his wife Odette Lecomte in rural France until Liberation. He married Odette in 1942; they had four children.

French cinema tough guy and Perce-Neige

A friend's tip led Jacques Becker to cast him as Angelo opposite Jean Gabin in Touchez pas au grisbi (1954). The presence stuck: Ventura became a leading man of French crime cinema—cops and crooks alike—for directors including Louis Malle, Claude Sautet, Jean-Pierre Melville, Henri Verneuil, and Claude Miller. Signature titles include Classe tous risques, Le Deuxième Souffle, Army of Shadows (as Resistance leader Philippe Gerbier), Les Tontons flingueurs, The Sicilian Clan, Garde à vue, and a César-nominated Jean Valjean in the 1982 Les Misérables. English-language viewers may know him as Vito Genovese in The Valachi Papers (1972).

After a daughter was born with a disability, he and Odette founded the charity Perce-Neige (Snowdrop) in 1966 to support disabled children and families; it later became a foundation with dozens of facilities. He remained an Italian citizen out of respect for his parents, yet ranked among the "greatest Frenchmen" in a posthumous popular poll. He died of a heart attack on October 22, 1987, aged 68. For name researchers: Lino = Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura; ring alias Lino Borrini.

Touchez pas au grisbi / Army of Shadows Blu-rays Lino Ventura biography books (French/English) Les Misérables 1982 Ventura edition