Biography for
Yves Montand More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

13 October 1921, Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy

Date of Death

9 November 1991, Senlis, Oise, France (heart attack)

Birth Name

Ivo Livi

Height

6' 2" (1.88 m)

Spouse

Simone Signoret	(22 December 1951 - 30 September 1985) (her death)
Carole Amiel	(? - 9 November 1991) (his death) 1 child

Trivia

Father of Valentin Montand with girlfriend Carole Amiel. His marriage to Simone Signoret was childless.

Singer, best known for his performance of jazz hit "Autumn Leaves" among other popular songs.

The name of "Yves Montand" comes from his childhood: his Italian mother used to yell at him "Ivo, monta" ("come upstairs, Ivo" in Tuscan dialect) when it was time to go home.

Dated famous French singer Édith Piaf from 1944 to 1946.

When he was young, he was a hairdresser in Marseille (France).

Stepfather of Catherine Allégret from his marriage to Simone Signoret. His only biological child, son Valentin, was by his second wife Carole Amiel.

Has his look-alike puppet in the French show _"Guignols de l'info, Les" (1988)_.

President of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1987

His parents escaped Italy in 1921 as Benito Mussolini rose to power.

Montand's father, Giovanni Livi, was a locally important figure in the French Communist Party in Marseilles when Montand was in his teens. Montand himself later joined the Communist Party and remained a member until 1968, when he broke with the Party in response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Admired Fred Astaire.

He is interred near his wife Simone Signoret in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

Became natural citizen of France in 1932.

Toured as a jazz singer in the Soviet Union in 1956 and in 1963, and met with Nikita Khrushchev. Became critical of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, then made a movie about socialist dictatorship.

Anne Fleurange accused him of being the father of her daughter, who she said was conceived while she and Montand were working on Vincent, François, Paul and the Others (1974). She sued him to obtain a DNA sample, but he refused. After his death, Fleurange obtained a court ruling to have his body exhumed. On 11 March 1998, a paternity test proved that Montand wasn't the father of her daughter.

In her book "My Lucky Stars", Shirley MacLaine wrote that before filming on My Geisha (1962) began, Montand bet her husband Steve Parker that he could seduce her. Parker, whom MacLaine learned later, was having an affair at the time, took Montand up on the bet; Montand won.

Came from a working-class (docklands) Marseilles family. Left school at eleven and held various jobs in bars, factories and a hair salon. He first performed in amateur theatrics at the age of seventeen. His breakthrough came in his twenties, while singing in Parisian music halls. There he was spotted by Edith Piaf. He lived with her for two years. She became his mentor and co-star in several films, until his first solo success in "Le Salaire de la Peur" in 1953.

Became the first popular singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House, in 1982.

First singing tour of the United States in 1959.

Had a well-publicised affair with Marilyn Monroe in 1960, while filming Let's Make Love (1960).

Personal Quotes

I think a man can have two, maybe three affairs, while he is married. But three is the absolute maximum. After that, you're cheating.

[on Gerard Depardieu] He's the actor of the new generation. I don't mean one of - he is THE one.