Vittorio Gassman, born Vittorio Gassmann (Genoa, 1 September 1922 – Rome, 29 June 2000), was an Italian actor, director, screenwriter, writer, voice actor, and TV presenter, active in the theater, film, and television.
Vittorio Gassman was a talented basketball player who studied theatre in his teens. He made his stage debut in 1943 and quickly found a place in all traditional theatre works. He has also worked in the movies since 1946, with his first major part being the criminal in Bitter Rice (1949). This confined him to his major roles: the ambiguous gentleman administering both pain and pleasure. He also appeared in Italian comedy and American films, with relatively moderate success in the latter. As a tribute to his love of the theater, he directed a film adaptation of the play Kean: Genius or Scoundrel (1957).