José Giovanni

José Giovanni

Known for: Writing
Biography: 1923-06-22
Deathday: 2004-04-24 (80 years old)

Check on Amazon

Biography

José Giovanni (22 June 1923, Paris, France – 24 April 2004, Lausanne, Switzerland) was the pseudonym of Joseph Damiani, a French writer and film-maker of Corsican origin who became a naturalized Swiss citizen in 1986.


A former collaborationist and criminal who at one time was sentenced to death, Giovanni often drew his inspiration from personal experience or from real gangsters, such as Abel Danos in his 1960 film Classe tous risques, overlooking that they had been members of the French Gestapo. In his films as well as his novels, while praising masculine friendships and advocating the confrontation of the individual against the world, he often championed the underworld but was always careful to hide his own links with the Nazi occupiers of France during World War II.


Of Corsican descent, Joseph Damiani received a good education, studying at the Collège Stanislas de Paris and the Lycée Janson de Sailly. His father, a professional gambler who was sentenced to a year in prison for running an illegal casino, owned a hotel in the French Alps in Chamonix. Joseph worked there as a young man and became fascinated by mountain climbing.


From April to September 1943 Damiani was a member of Jeunesse et Montagne (Youth and Mountain) in Chamonix, part of the Vichy Government youth movement controlled by Pierre Laval.


In February 1944 Damiani came to Paris and through his father's friend, the LVF leader Simon Sabiani, he joined Jacques Doriot's fascist French Popular Party (PPF). His maternal uncle, Ange Paul Santolini alias "Santos", who ran a restaurant patronized by the Gestapo, and his elder brother, Paul Damiani, a member of the Vichy paramilitary Milice, introduced Joseph into the Pigalle underworld.


In March 1944 Joseph Damiani went to Marseille where he became a member of the German Schutzkorps (SK), an organization which hunted down Service du travail obligatoire - STO (Compulsory Work Service) dodgers. He served as bodyguard to its Marseille chief and took part in many arrests, often blackmailing his victims.


In Lyon, in August 1944, posing as a German police officer along with an accomplice (Orloff, a Gestapo agent who was shot for treason at the Liberation), Damiani blackmailed Joseph Gourentzeig and his brother-in-law Georges Edberg, two Jews who were in hiding. Gourentzeig had bribed a member of the Milice - a friend of Damiani’s – in an attempt to secure his parents' release from a detention camp. They were not freed and Gourentzeig's father, Jacob, was shot by the Germans shortly after, on 21 August 1944, along with 109 Jewish hostages in the Bron (Lyon airport) massacre.


After the Liberation in Paris on 18 May 1945, Joseph Damiani, his brother Paul, Georges Accad, a former Gestapo agent, and Jacques Ménassole, a former member of the Milice wearing a French Army lieutenant's uniform - all posing as Military Intelligence officers - abducted Haïm Cohen, a wine merchant, accusing him of being a black marketeer. He was tortured until he gave them the key to his safe and a check for 105,000 francs. He was then shot and his body thrown into the Seine. Joseph Damiani cashed the check at Barclay's Bank under the identity of "Count J. de Montreuil". ...


Source: Article "José Giovanni" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Advertisement

Filmography

all 43

Movies 37

Director 18

Writer 14

self 9

TV Shows 6

Screenplay 1

Self
Lino Ventura, la part intime

Lino Ventura, la part intime (2018)

Movie
Writer
Two Men in Town

Two Men in Town (2014)

Movie
Writer
The Second Wind

The Second Wind (2007)

Movie
Self
Claude Sautet or the Invisible Magic

Claude Sautet or the Invisible Magic (2003)

Movie
Director
My Father Saved My Life

My Father Saved My Life (2001)

Movie
Self
Vivement dimanche

Vivement dimanche (1998)

TV
Self
Ventura... dit Lino

Ventura... dit Lino (1997)

Movie
Director
Crime à l'altimètre

Crime à l'altimètre (1996)

Movie
Director
L'irlandaise

L'irlandaise (1991)

Movie
Director
My Friend the Traitor

My Friend the Traitor (1988)

Movie
Writer
See You

See You (1988)

Movie
Director
Among Wolves

Among Wolves (1985)

Movie
Director
The Ruffian

The Ruffian (1983)

Movie
Self
Champs-Elysées

Champs-Elysées (1982)

TV
Director
Une robe noire pour un tueur

Une robe noire pour un tueur (1981)

Movie
Director
The Sewers of Paradise

The Sewers of Paradise (1979)

Movie
Director / Writer
The Old Fox

The Old Fox (1977)

TV
Director
Boomerang

Boomerang (1976)

Movie
Self
30 millions d'amis

30 millions d'amis (1976)

TV
Director
The Gypsy

The Gypsy (1975)

Movie
Self
Les Rendez-vous du dimanche

Les Rendez-vous du dimanche (1975)

TV
Self
Spécial cinéma

Spécial cinéma (1974)

TV
Director
Two Men in Town

Two Men in Town (1973)

Movie
Director
The Pariah

The Pariah (1972)

Movie
6
Director
Where Did Tom Go?

Where Did Tom Go? (1971)

Movie
Director
One Way Ticket

One Way Ticket (1971)

Movie
Director
Last Known Address

Last Known Address (1970)

Movie
Writer
The Sicilian Clan

The Sicilian Clan (1969)

Movie
Writer
Ho!

Ho! (1968)

Movie
Director
Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey (1968)

Movie
Self
Cinéastes de notre temps: Jacques Becker

Cinéastes de notre temps: Jacques Becker (1967)

Movie
Director
Law of Survival

Law of Survival (1967)

Movie
Writer
The Last Adventure

The Last Adventure (1967)

Movie
Writer
Le Deuxième Souffle

Le Deuxième Souffle (1966)

Movie
Writer
To Skin a Spy

To Skin a Spy (1966)

Movie
Writer
L'homme de Marrakech

L'homme de Marrakech (1966)

Movie
Writer
The Wise Guys

The Wise Guys (1965)

Movie
Moreau
Symphony for a Massacre

Symphony for a Massacre (1963)

Movie
Writer
Rififi in Tokyo

Rififi in Tokyo (1963)

Movie
Writer
A Man Named Rocca

A Man Named Rocca (1961)

Movie
Writer
The Big Risk

The Big Risk (1960)

Movie
Screenplay / Novel / Dialogue
Le Trou

Le Trou (1960)

Movie
3.86
Writer
Riff Raff Girls

Riff Raff Girls (1959)

Movie

Ratings

Average 5.77
Based on 67.3 Thousand movie and tv ratings over time
1959
1967
1975
1971
2018
Advertisement

Information

Known For
Writing

Gender
Male

Birthday
1923-06-22

Deathday
2004-04-24 (80 years old)

Birth Name
Joseph Damiani

Birth Place
Paris, France

Citizenships
France, Switzerland

Also Known As
Jose Giovanni, Joseph Damiani


This article uses material from Wikipedia.
Advertisement
Lino Ventura
José Giovanni
Lino Ventura worked together with José Giovanni in:
11 Movies
François de Roubaix
José Giovanni
François de Roubaix worked together with José Giovanni in:
9 Movies
Gabriel Briand
José Giovanni
Gabriel Briand worked together with José Giovanni in:
8 Movies
Michel Constantin
José Giovanni
Michel Constantin worked together with José Giovanni in:
7 Movies
Jacques Rispal
José Giovanni
Jacques Rispal worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Alain Delon
José Giovanni
Alain Delon worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Jean-Paul Belmondo
José Giovanni
Jean-Paul Belmondo worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Paul Crauchet
José Giovanni
Paul Crauchet worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Claude Sautet
José Giovanni
Claude Sautet worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Robert Enrico
José Giovanni
Robert Enrico worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Jean-Jacques Caziot
José Giovanni
Jean-Jacques Caziot worked together with José Giovanni in:
5 Movies
Jacques Deray
José Giovanni
Jacques Deray worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Rufus
José Giovanni
Rufus worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Bernard Giraudeau
José Giovanni
Bernard Giraudeau worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Sylvain Lévignac
José Giovanni
Sylvain Lévignac worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Alain Mottet
José Giovanni
Alain Mottet worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Dominique Zardi
José Giovanni
Dominique Zardi worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Lucie Arnold
José Giovanni
Lucie Arnold worked together with José Giovanni in:
4 Movies
Jean Gabin
José Giovanni
Jean Gabin worked together with José Giovanni in:
3 Movies
Jacques Léonard
José Giovanni
Jacques Léonard worked together with José Giovanni in:
3 Movies
  • José Giovanni
    José Giovanni
  • Filmography
  • Information
  • Related Persons
Social Media
X
Facebook
Pinterest
Telegram
Download
iOS Application
Made in Ukraine 🇺🇦
Copyright © MovieFit 2018 – 2024
All external content remains the property of its respective owner.