Vittorio Gassman was one of Italy's most renowned actors. He won the Donatello, AKA the Italian Oscar, a record seven times. (Strange how the Italians went for Donatello. You'd think Leonardo would have been the first choice. Although Donatello was our favorite Ninja Turtle... but we digress.)

Anyway, Vittorio Gassman was not really "Vittorio Gassman". (Since he's getting profiled, you'd think he changed his name to be a little less Jewy, right? Wrong!)

Vittorio Gassman was born... Vittorio Gassmann. Our guess? He changed it to be a just a tad less German. Germans were not exactly popular anywhere in the world after the war. And that extra n made a big difference!

In any case, Gassmann was indeed German, as Vittorio's father came from Karlsruhe. But that's not where his Jewishness came from! Vittorio's mother, an Italian from Pisa, was half Jewish.

Vittorio's son is also an actor, with numerous credits to his name. His name? Alessandro Gassmann. Yes, two n's. So much for sounding less German...