Yves Montand

Born Ivo Livi near Milan in 1921 and raised in Marseilles when his Jewish family fled Mussolini, Montand had begun performing in Marseilles music halls and had started to become a success in Paris, when Edith Piaf made him her lover and protégé, casting him in Etoile sans lumière; that same year he was a last minute replacement for Jean Gabin in Marcel Carné's superproduction and postwar follow-up to his triumphant Children of Paradise, Les Portes de la nuit. While… (plus)