Gino Cervi

Gino Cervi
Gino Cervi as Maigret (1967).
Born	3 May 1901 Bologna, Italy
Died	3 January 1974 (aged 72) Italy
Nationality	Italian

Gino Cervi (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒino ˈtʃɛrvi]; 3 May 1901 – 3 January 1974) was an Italian actor.

Life and career

Cervi was born in Bologna. His father was the theatre critic Antonio Cervi. In 1928, he married Nini Gordini (one of his partners) and they had a son, Tonino Cervi. Gino Cervi later became the grandfather of actress Valentina Cervi and producer Antonio Levesi Cervi.

Cervi was best known for his role of Giuseppe Bottazzi ("Peppone"), the Communist mayor in the Don Camillo movies of the 1950s and the 1960s. He shared great complicity and friendship with co-star Fernandel during the 15 years playing their respective roles in Don Camillo movies.^[1]

At the end of his career, he played Commissioner Maigret for six years in the Italian version of those murder stories, which ended with a movie Maigret a Pigalle (Mario Landi, 1966), produced by his son Antonio Cervi.^[2]

He died at Punta Ala in 1974.

Selected filmography

He acted in more than 100 films. The most remembered are.

• The Blue Fleet (1932)
• Aldebaran (1935)
• The Two Sergeants (1936)
• Ettore Fieramosca (1938)
• Un'avventura di Salvator Rosa (1939)
• Una romantica avventura (1940)
• Eternal Melodies (1940)
• The Iron Crown (1941)
• The Betrothed (1941)
• Four Steps in the Clouds (1942)
• Don Cesare di Bazan (1942)
• The Queen of Navarre (1942)
• Sad Loves (1943)
• The Innkeeper (1944)
• His Young Wife (1945)
• Black Eagle (1946)
• Fury (1947)
• I miserabili (1948)
• William Tell (1949)
• Women Without Names (1950)
• Il caimano del Piave (1951)
• The Forbidden Christ (1951)
• Cameriera bella presenza offresi... (1951)
• O.K. Nerone (1951)
• Don Camillo (1952)
• Wife For a Night (1952)
• The Queen of Sheba (1952)
• The Lady Without Camelias (1953)
• Terminal Station (1953)
• The Return of Don Camillo (1953)
• Nero and the Burning of Rome (1953)
• Les Trois Mousquetaires (1953)
• La Dame aux camélias (1953)
• Maddalena (1954)
• Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954)
• Il cardinale Lambertini (1954)
• Frou-Frou (1955)
• Don Camillo's Last Round (1955)
• Il coraggio (1955)
• Wild Love (1955)
• Guardia, guardia scelta, brigadiere e maresciallo (1956)
• Wives and Obscurities (1956)
• Beatrice Cenci (1956)
• Desert Warrior (1957)
• Agguato a Tangeri (1957)
• Sans famille (1958)
• The Naked Maja (1958)
• Nel Segno di Roma (1959)
• The Black Chapel (1959)
• Siege of Syracuse (1960)
• Mistress of the World (1960)
• Long Night in 1943 (1960)
• Femmine di lusso (1960)
• The Revolt of the Slaves (1960)
• The Joy of Living (1961)
• Don Camillo: Monsignor (1961)
• Ten Italians for One German (1962)
• Roaring Years (1962)
• Becket (1964)
• Don Camillo in Moscow (1965)
• Maigret a Pigalle (1966)
• Fratello ladro (1972)

He dubbed to Clark Gable into Italian language in It Happened One Night by Frank Capra, 1934; and Laurence Olivier in three films: Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955).

Bibliography

• (Italian) Mauro Manciotti, Un attore per amico. Omaggio a Gino Cervi, Comune di Borgio Verezzi (SV), Borgio Verezzi 1999
• (Italian) Andrea Maioli, Rino Maenza, Cervi 100. Peppone, Maigret e gli altri, Medianova, Bologna 2001
• (Italian) Andrea Derchi, Marco Biggio, Gino Cervi: attore protagonista del '900, ERGA Edizioni, Genova 2002, ISBN 8881632381
• (Italian) Riccardo F. Esposito, Don Camillo e Peppone. Cronache cinematografiche dalla Bassa Padana 1951-1965, Le Mani - Microart's, Recco, 2008, ISBN 9788880124559

Notes

1. Cf. Andrea Maioli & Rino Maenza, Cervi 100. Peppone, Maigret e gli altri, Medianova, Bologna 2001, s.v. "Don Camillo".
2. Cf. Andrea Maioli & Rino Maenza, Cervi 100. Peppone, Maigret e gli altri, ibid., s.v. "Maigret".

External links

• Gino Cervi at the Internet Movie Database
• Auf den Spuren von Don Camillo und Peppone
• Cervi's filmography