Serge Reggiani

Acting · 1.1 popularity

Age

104

Movies

Born: May 2, 1922 – July 22, 2004
From: Reggio Emilia, Italy

Biography

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.

Works

88 films

The Leopard

19637.7

Good Enough to Eat

19516.8

The Threatening Sky

19669.5

Army of Shadows

19697.9

Les Misérables

19587.2

Napoleon

19556.3

Paris Blues

19616.5

Mauvais Sang

19867.1

Élisa

19578.0

Le Doulos

19627.4

Warriors Five

19626.5

Act of Love

19536.9

Casque d'Or

19527.3

Marie-Octobre

19597.3

Manon

19496.9

The Last Adventure

19676.9

Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno

20097.3

Countdown to Vengeance

19705.8

I Hired a Contract Killer

19906.9

The 25th Hour

19677.7

The Beekeeper

19867.0

La Ronde

19507.3

Vincent, Francois, Paul and the Others

19747.0

3000 Million Without an Elevator

19725.6

Violette & Francois

19776.2

The Day of the Owl

19687.1

Don't Touch the White Woman!

19745.5

Children of Chaos

19445.6

There Were Days... and Moons

19906.3

France, Song

1969

The Terrace

19807.2

Cuba, a People Armed

19616.0

Everybody Go Home!

19607.6

Star Without Light

19466.1

La TV des 70's : Quand Giscard était président

20227.2

The Seine Meets Paris

19576.9

The Perfume of the Lady in Black

19497.5

Red Shirts - Anita Garibaldi

19527.5

Boys' School

19387.4

The Curious Adventures of Mr. Wonderbird

19537.2

Coïncidences

19479.0

François Villon

19457.0

Gates of the Night

19467.0

The Seven Cervi Brothers

19686.9

Return to Life

19496.4

Night in December

19417.5

Solemn Communion

19774.6

The Wicked Go to Hell

19556.4

Not Delivered

19586.2

Let Sleeping Cops Lie

19885.4

Saturnin de Marseille

194110.0

Heroines

19975.0

The Mystery of the Yellow Room

19497.0

Plein fer

19905.5

L'écho

1988

Le Voyageur de la Toussaint

19437.4

Secret People

19526.4

Fantastica

19806.2

Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui

20148.0

Cat and Mouse

19755.7

The World Condemns Them

19534.0

Les Enfoirés 1995 - Les Enfoirés à l'Opéra-Comique

19956.0

The Blue Panther

19655.0

The Elders of Saint-Loup

19506.0

Il était une fois... Vincent, François, Paul et les autres

2011

Une fille cousue de fil blanc

19776.3

The Lovers of Verona

19495.0

The Pianist

19987.8

Coupe franche

19894.0

Bestiary of Love

19657.0

36, le grand tournant

1970

The Sinners

19495.9

The Big Shots

19725.8

The Imprint of Giants

198010.0

The Good and the Bad

19765.6

Le Dessous des cartes

19485.9

The Little Boy

19956.8

The Stowaway

19584.0

The Doll that Took the Town

19575.0

Storms

19535.9

Rosen-Emil

19937.0

De force avec d'autres

19937.5

La Plaie et le Couteau, Charles Baudelaire

1967

Mad Years

19607.5

On the Set of 'Casque D'Or'

1951

They Saw Inferno

2010

Pueblo en armas

196110.0

Serge Reggiani - Palais des congrès

1993