Yves Montand
French-Italian actor and singer (1921–1991)
Ivo Livi (Italian: [ˈiːvo ˈliːvi]; 13 October 1921 – 9 November 1991), better known as Yves Montand (French: [iv mɔ̃tɑ̃]), was an Italian-born French actor and singer. Montand has been described as one of France's greatest 20th-century artists.
Early life
Montand was born Ivo Livi in Stignano, a small village in the hills of Monsummano Terme, Tuscany, Italy, to Giovanni Livi, a broom manufacturer. Montand's mother Giuseppina Simoni was a devout Catholic. The family left Italy for France in 1923 following fascist Benito Mussolini's rise to power. He grew up in Marseille, where, as a young man, he worked in his sister's beauty salon (Salon de Coiffure), as well as later on the docks. He began a career in show business as a music-hall singer. In 1944, he was discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris; she made him part of her act.
Career
Montand achieved international recognition as a singer and actor, starring in many films. He is recognised for crooner style songs, with those about Paris becoming instant classics.
“Yves Montand” enters the record as french-Italian actor and singer (1921–1991). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Yves, Montand and French-Italian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q106057. VIAF identifies the subject as 36938929. The Library of Congress control number is n82052946. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1921, 1991, 1923 and 1944.
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This entry incorporates text from “Yves Montand” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.