Biography
Milan-born actor/political activist Gian Maria Volonté was trained at the Academia Nazionale de Arti Drammatica. Volonté's first film appearance was in the internationally produced Under Ten Flags (1960). He gained worldwide prominence with his apolitical performances in such spaghetti westerns as
A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and
For a Few Dollars More (1965), then increasingly wore his left-leaning heart on his sleeve in the films of such like-minded directors as
Elio Petri and
Francesco Rosi. He played the police inspector in Petri's Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970), and was seen in the Rosi-directed
Lucky Luciano (1973) in the title role, and in
Christ Stopped at Eboli (1979) as famed antifascist author Carlo Levi. Shortly before his death at the age of 61, Volonté appeared in Banderas the Tyrant (1994). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide