A THOUSAND WORDS - Alex Waterhouse-Hayward's blog on pictures, plants, politics and whatever else is on his mind.




 

Vittorio Gassman
Thursday, March 30, 2006



The suave and handsome 6-foot-2 man in a herringbone jacket and striped tie who opened the door of a room at the Sutton Place Hotel (at the time it was the Meridien) reacted to my stare by stating, "I played centre in my secondary school basketball team." Genoa-born (in 1922) Italian actor Vittorio Gassman faced my camera. I was to wait as he had to create a character. He bent his head and closed his eyes. Ignoring an experienced film critic's warning on asking actors about former spouses, I mentioned Shelly Winters. Gassman's reaction was silence. Gassman, who suffered chronic emphysema, bronchitis, high blood pressure and depression died on June 29th, 2000, of heart failure in Rome. He told his final stage audience in February 2000, "Death does not obsess me - it disgusts me."



     

Previous Posts
Jennifer Montgomery & Barbara Sukowa

Sarah McLachlan, The Police and Malcolm Parry

Bif Naked at Tony Ricci's Marble Arch

Filomena, Lauren Stewart & Chicken A La Barbara

George, Leo, Enrique, Patricio and I

Buenos Aires Rowing Club

Veracruz

Chris, Mac and Malcolm

Francisca Darts

Baroness James of Holland Park



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