by Hal Erickson
biography
A school dropout at age eight, Lino Ventura went on to fill a variety of jobs, at one point pursuing a prizefighting career. In French films from 1953, Ventura built up a following in hard-bitten roles playing gangsters, police inspectors, and renegade military men. His better-known assignments included corrupt police chief Tiger Brown in 1963's The Threepenny Opera and mob functionary Vito Genovese in The Valachi Papers. Lino Ventura remained active until the year before his death at age 68.
