Serge Reggiani

Early life

Reggiani was born in Reggio Emilia, Italy,^[1][2][3] and moved to France with his parents at the age of eight.^[2][4][5] Initially he trained as a barber, like his father, before winning a place at drama school.^[1][2][6]

Acting career

After studying acting at the Conservatoire des arts cinématographiques, followed by the Conservatoire National des Arts Dramatiques, he was discovered by Jean Cocteau and appeared in the wartime production of Les Parents terribles.^[6][3] Subsequently he disappeared from Paris to join the French Resistance.^[2][6][a]

Returning to acting after the liberation, he scored a success on film in Les portes de la nuit ("Gates of the Night"), released in 1946.^[1][2][6] His films included Manon (1949), The Lovers of Verona (1949), La Ronde (1950) (as a soldier who falls for prostitute Simone Signoret), Casque d'or (1952) (again opposite Signoret), Les Misérables (1958), Tutti a casa (1960), Le Doulos (1963), The Leopard (1963), Army of Shadows (1969), Vincent, François, Paul and the Others (1974) and I Hired a Contract Killer (1990).^[1][6][3]

Reggiani also triumphed in the theatre in 1959 with his performance in Jean-Paul Sartre's play Les Séquestrés d'Altona.^[2][6] He also made some English-language films:^[3] a British production, Secret People (1952);^[b] Act of Love (1953), a French-American co-production starring Kirk Douglas;^[11] and Paris Blues (1961) with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, filmed on location in Paris.^[12]

Singing career

In 1965, at the age of 43, he began a second career as a singer,^[1] encouraged by his friends Simone Signoret and her husband Yves Montand,^[3][6] and later with the assistance of the French singer Barbara.^[13][5] Reggiani became one of the more acclaimed performers of French chanson,^[3] and although he was in his 40s, his rugged image made him popular with both younger and older listeners.^{[citation needed]} His best-known songs include Les loups sont entrés dans Paris ("The Wolves Have Entered Paris")^[1] and Sarah (La femme qui est dans mon lit) ("The Woman Who Is in My Bed"), the latter written by Georges Moustaki.^[2] He regularly sang songs by Boris Vian (Le Déserteur, Arthur où t'as mis le corps, La Java des bombes atomiques).^[2] His young fans identified with his left-wing ideals and anti-militarism, most notably during the student revolts in France in 1968.^[1][6] With age, he became acclaimed as one of the better interpreters of the chanson and for bringing the poems of Rimbaud, Apollinaire, and Prévert to new audiences.

Later life

From 1980, when his son Stéphan died, Reggiani struggled with alcoholism and depression.^[1][6] In the 1990s, however, he made a comeback to singing,^[14][15] giving concerts despite his declining health and personal distress,^[2] the last one being held as late as the spring of 2004.^[5]

In later life, he became a painter^[1] and gave a number of exhibitions of his works.^[6]

Reggiani died in Paris of a heart attack at the age of 82.^[6] He is buried in Montparnasse Cemetery.^[16]

Legacy

In the film Moi qui t'aimais (2025), a biopic of Signoret and Montand, Thierry de Peretti plays Reggiani.^[17][18]