Serge Reggiani
Serge Reggiani (2 May 1922 – 23 July 2004) was an Italian-born French singer and actor. He was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight. For many years, he struggled with alcoholism, caused in part by the 1980 suicide of his son Stephan. After acting school (Conservatoire des arts cinématographiques) he was discovered by Jean Cocteau and appeared in a wartime production of Les Parents terribles ("The Terrible Parents"). During World War II, he left Paris to join the French resistance. His first feature film came in 1946 with his role in Les portes de la nuit ("The Doors of the Night"). He later went on to perform in 80 films including Casque d'or, Les Misérables (1958),Tutti a casa, Le Doulos, Il Gattopardo, La terrazza, The Pianist (1998). In spite of never quite reaching the peak with his acting career, he did triumph in the theatre in 1959 with his performance in Jean-Paul Sartre’s play Les Séquestrés d'Altona. In the meantime, though, in 1965 he began a second career, that of a singer (at the age of 43), with the help of Simone Signoret and her husband Yves Montand and later with great assistance of the French diva Barbara. Reggiani became one of the most acclaimed performers of French "Chanson" ("song") and although he was in his 40s, his bad-boy rugged image made him popular with both young and older listeners. His best known songs include Les loups sont entrés dans Paris ("The Wolves Have Entered Paris") and Sarah (La femme qui est dans mon lit) ("The Woman Who Is In My Bed"), the latter written by Georges Moustaki. However, one of his regular songwriters throughout his career was Boris Vian (Le Déserteur, Arthur où t'as mis le corps, La Java des bombes atomiques). His new young fans identified with his left-wing ideals and antimilitarism, most notably during the 1968 student revolts in France. With age he became more and more acclaimed as one of the best interpreters of the French chanson also bringing the poetry of Rimbaud, Apollinaire and Prévert closer to his audience. In 1995, he made a comeback to the singing stage, giving a few concerts despite his deteriorated health and personal distress, the last one being held as late as in the year of his death, in spring of 2004. In later life he became a painter and gave a number of exhibitions of his artwork. Serge Reggiani died in Paris of a heart attack at the age of 82, one day after the death of another well known French singer Sacha Distel. He is interred in Montparnasse Cemetery.
The Leopard
as Don Francisco Ciccio TumeoAs Garibaldi's troops begin the unification of Italy in the 1860s, an aristocratic Sicilian...
Movie page
Army of Shadows
as HairdresserBetrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison...
Movie page
Les Misérables
as EnjolrasIn 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a...
Movie page
Le Doulos
as Maurice FaugelEnigmatic gangster Silien may or may not be responsible for informing on Faugel, who was just...
Movie page
I Hired a Contract Killer
as VicAfter losing his job and realizing that he is alone in the world, a businessman opts to...
Movie page
Mauvais Sang
as CharlieTwo aging crooks are given two weeks to repay a debt to a woman named The American. They recruit...
Movie page
The Last Adventure
as the pilotTwo adventurers and best friends, Roland and Manu, are the victims of a practical joke that...
Movie page
Casque d'Or
as GeorgesAt the end of the 19th century, during a ball in Joinville, on the outskirts of Paris, Georges,...
Movie page
The Day of the Owl
as ParriniedduSet in Sicily, this violent crime drama tells the tale of an Italian cop who heads to a small...
Movie page
The 25th Hour
as Trajan KorugaA Romanian peasant fights to get back to his family after he's imprisoned by the Nazis.The...
Movie page
Paris Blues
as Michel 'Gypsy' DevigneDuring the 1960s, two American jazz musicians living in Paris meet and fall in love with two...
Movie page
Everybody Go Home!
as Geniere Assunto CeccarelliWhen Italy surrenders to the Allies, part of the Italian army is dispersed and soldiers begin to...
Movie page
The Terrace
as SergioEight Italian politicians from the communist party gather on a terrace in Rome for a...
Movie page
Vincent, Francois, Paul and the Others
as Paul, écrivain, journalisteThree friends navigate mid-life crises: a blocked writer, a disillusioned doctor, and a charming...
Movie page
The Beekeeper
as Sick ManFollowing the wedding of his daughter, stone-faced beekeeper Spyros makes an annual journey from...
Movie page
La Ronde
as Franz, le soldatAn all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier...
Movie page
Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno
as Marcel (archive footage)In 1964, Henri-Georges Clouzot's production of L'Enfer came to a halt. Despite huge...
Movie page
Marie-Octobre
as Antoine RougierA group of ex-resistance fighters are brought together by Marie-Octobre, the code name of...
Movie page
Let Sleeping Cops Lie
as Le StéphanoisThis movie tells the story of a group of right-wing cops have begun carrying out vigilante...
Movie page
Manon
as Léon LescautPort of Marseille, France, recently liberated from the German yoke. Caught as stowaways aboard a...
Movie page
Les Enfoirés 1995 - Les Enfoirés à l'Opéra-Comique
as uncreditedShow recorded at the Opéra Comique in Paris on March 6, 1995 for the benefit of the Restos du Coeur.
Movie page
Boys' School
as Un élèveIn a college, three friends form a secret society. Their objective - going to America. One...
Movie page
Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
as uncredited
Napoleon
as Lucien BonaparteThe film follows the life of Napoleon from his early life in Corsica to his death at Saint...
Movie page
The Good and the Bad
as le chef de la résistanceThe film follows the exploits of Jacques, a car-mechanic turned pro-thief, and his Jewish...
Movie page
The Pianist
as Rossell mayorMario Gas directed this music-themed Spanish drama set in Barcelona of the mid-'80s. When famed...
Movie page
Don't Touch the White Woman!
as The Mad IndianA highly stylized surreal farce about the events leading up to Custer's Last Stand...
Movie page
Gates of the Night
as Guy SénéchalIn post-Liberation Paris, a man reunites with a friend and meets the woman of his dreams, only...
Movie page
There Were Days... and Moons
as le père de SophieHow can moon and time affect human mood and fate? In the manner of a Greek tragedy , this movie...
Movie page
Cat and Mouse
as LechatA jaded and charming police inspector is assigned along with his cheerful partner to a case...
Movie page
The Blue Panther
as IvanovMarie-Chantal travels by train to her cousin's place to spend a winter holiday, when a stranger...
Movie page
Violette & Francois
as Père de FrançoisViolette and François are a couple with a child. As they cannot lead a good life with odd jobs,...
Movie page
Heroines
as monsieur MontgolfierTwo best friends, Johanna and Jeanne, live in the small town of Decazeville, a mining town in...
Movie page
La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président
as Self (archive footage)In May 1974, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing became President of the Republic and wanted to bring about...
Movie page
The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird
as Chimney Sweep (voice)A chimney sweep and his beloved shepherdess are aided by Wonderbird in their escape from a...
Movie page
Secret People
as Louis BalanThis tale of intrigue finds Valentina Cortese involved in an assassination plot. She helps the...
Movie page
The Lovers of Verona
as Angelo (Romeo)Angelo, a glass-blower from Murano, and Georgia Maglia, the pretty daughter of a fallen fascist...
Movie page
The Perfume of the Lady in Black
as Joseph "Rouletabille"Mathilde Stangerson just married her fiance, when she heard that Larsan, her cruel former...
Movie page
The Sinners
as PierreAu Royaume des Cieux takes place in in a dreadful girls' reformatory. A couple of lovers will...
Movie page
The Big Shots
as ThiaThia and Murelli, who live from car stunt shows, make ends meet by carrying out small burglaries.
Movie page
The Seven Cervi Brothers
as Ferrari, antifascista in carcereThe story of the Cervi family. Rural farmers brought up to be idealogically opposed to fascism...
Movie page
Return to Life
as Louis (segment "Le retour de Louis")In France in 1946, the difficult return to civilian life of five deportees and prisoners of war...
Movie page
Not Delivered
as Bastien SasseyAfter resolving to start a new life with his girlfriend Jacqueline, Bastien Sassey decides to...
Movie page
Warriors Five
as LiberoWorld War II Italy...1943. After parachuting behind enemy lines on an espionage mission, an...
Movie page
Act of Love
as Claude LacaudAn American soldier romances a beautiful Parisian during the final days of World War II.
Movie page
The Wicked Go to Hell
as RudelMaking his directorial debut, Robert Hossein also assumes the leading role, playing an escaped...
Movie page
Children of Chaos
as JorisAn officer, two of his comrades and a social worker want to create the "Carrefour", a place for...
Movie page
Le Voyageur de la Toussaint
as Bob ÉloiA young man comes back to his hometown to be confronted with a bourgeois obnoxious family who...
Movie page
They Saw Inferno
as SelfA wonderful documentary that sheds additional light on the fascinating project ‘Inferno’ was, as...
Movie page
The Imprint of Giants
as FouldrouleThe life of workers and their families in a construction site of a highway in 1965.
Movie page
Il était une fois... Vincent, François, Paul et les autres
as Self (archive footage)
3000 Million Without an Elevator
as PierrotSeven small rogues dream of stealing the beautiful jewels which are in Paris for an exhibition.
Movie page
Solemn Communion
as Le récitant chanteur (voice)In this complex chronicle of the evolution of a provincial family's life, the story follows...
Movie page
Le Dessous des cartes
as ManuClaude Géraudy, a banker responsible for a financial scandal, is forced to flee and hides in the...
Movie page
The Doll that Took the Town
as Mario GrimaldiA struggling model concocts a story of being raped and beaten by three strangers and soon...
Movie page
Fantastica
as Euclide BrownIn this French–Canadian oddity of music and drama, an actress in a traveling musical revue is...
Movie page
Mad Years
as Récitant / Narrator (voice)A film that evokes the period between the end of the First World War and the Great Depression of...
Movie page
The Seine Meets Paris
as SpeakerA poetic ode to the River Seine, Ivens' distinguished camera eye surveys its lively banks and...
Movie page
Countdown to Vengeance
as François Nolan10 years ago, François Nolan and his brother have been betrayed by one of their accomplices...
Movie page
Saturnin de Marseille
as uncreditedA student, who wishes to become an opera singer, is helped by a good boy, Saturnin, who...
Movie page
Night in December
as (uncredited)In 1919, Pierre Darmont, a handsome, much-loved piano virtuoso, falls in love with Anne Morris,...
Movie page
Good Enough to Eat
as Jean-Loup aka 'Loup'Rose Chaperon is asked by her confectioner mother Mathilde to bring jewels to her sick...
Movie page
The Little Boy
as GermainEight-year old Francois has moved from Paris to a quiet chateau with his parents who want to...
Movie page
The Elders of Saint-Loup
as Abbot Paul ForestierDue to financial problems, the boarding-school of Saint-Loup is on the verge of closing its...
Movie page
Plein fer
as EmilioThe Italians have bocce ball, and the French have a similar game, boules. This is played...
Movie page
The Stowaway
as Alfred MouginsA group of adventurers compete with one another to find the missing heir Rene Marechal, thought...
Movie page
The World Condemns Them
as AndréForced by her lover to sell her body, Renata is saved from a suicide attempt by Paolo Martelli,...
Movie page
Star Without Light
as Gaston LansacAn aspiring singer tries to break into films during the early talkie era. She is hired to dub...
Movie page
Bestiary of Love
as uncreditedIf love is a universal phenomenon, it is never the same: the animal world experiences brutal and...
Movie page
Élisa
as Bernard VoisinRecently released from reform school, Élisa works at Madame Irma's before moving to Paris, where...
Movie page
Red Shirts - Anita Garibaldi
as LantiniThe story of Giuseppe Garibaldi's 1849 campaign to free Italy from Austrian domination.
Movie page
The Threatening Sky
as NarratorPro-Vietnamese film created by Dutch filmmaker Joris Ivens. This black and white film begins...
Movie page
The Mystery of the Yellow Room
as Joseph RouletabilleA young reporter solves a mystery crime. The fictional reporter is Joseph Rouletabille. He works...
Movie page
Une fille cousue de fil blanc
as JérômeA young girl dies in an accident just before her wedding. But when her sister starts to look...
Movie page
François Villon
as François VillonAn episode in the life of the tumultuous poet who murdered his rival, in love with Catherine de...
Movie page
Coïncidences
as uncreditedA rich girl is in love with her father-in-law 's librarian. The wealthy man wants her to marry a...
Movie page
Storms
as Sergio ParnellA renowned surgeon becomes involved with an attractive circus trapeze artist with the...
Movie page
On the Set of 'Casque D'Or'
as Self (Archive Footage)Silent footage shot on the set of CASQUE D’OR provides a glimpse of film director Jacques Becker...
Movie page
36, le grand tournant
as uncreditedBased on a montage of photographic and cinematographic archives, this documentary evokes, from...
Movie page
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche
as SelfA talk show presented by Michel Drucker
TV Show page
