Angiolino Giuseppe Pasquale Ventura was an Italian actor who starred mainly in French films. Raised by his Italian mother in Paris, after a first career as a professional wrestler was ended by injury he was offered a part as a gang boss in the Jacques Becker film Touchez pas au grisbi and rapidly became one of France's favourite film actors, playing opposite many other stars and working with other leading directors such as Louis Malle, Claude Sautet, and Claude Miller.