Luigi "Gino" Cervi (May 3, 1901 – January 3, 1974) was an Italian actor from Bologna.
He was the son of theatre critic Antonio Cervi. He won fame with three movies directed by Alessandro Blasetti — Aldebaran (1935), Ettore Fieramosca (1938) and Une aventure de Salvator Rosa (1939). His career then flourished after World War II.
He's perhaps best known to Europeans for his role as communist mayor Peppone, the ideological opponent (and yet friend) of Catholic priest Don Camillo (Fernandel) in the 1950s/1960s film series. In Italy itself he was also famous for playing Georges Simenon's Great Detective, Commissioner Jules Maigret, in several films and series.
He also dubbed Clark Gable in Italian in It Happened One Night, and Laurence Olivier in the film versions of Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948) and Richard III (1955).
His son Antonio "Tonino" Cervi (June 4, 1929 – April 1, 2002) was a film director, screenwriter and producer.
Selected filmography:
- I miserabili (1948) as Jean Valjean
- Anna Karenina (1948) as Enrico
- The Three Musketeers (1953) as Porthos
- Don Camillo as Giuseppe "Peppone" Bottazzi
- Little World of Don Camillo (1952)
- The Return of Don Camillo (1953)
- Don Camillo's Last Round (1955)
- Don Camillo: Monsignor (1961)
- Don Camillo in Moscow (1965)
- Nero and the Burning of Rome (1953) as Nero
- Becket (1964) as Cardinal Zambelli
- Maigret as Commissioner Jules Maigret
- Le inchieste del commissario Maigret (TV series, 1964-1972)
- Maigret in Pigalle (1966 film)
