Biography
José Giovanni, the pen name of Joseph Damiani, was a French writer, screenwriter and film director. He wrote the novel Le Trou (1957), drawn from his own experiences, which was adapted into the 1960 film directed by Jacques Becker. Giovanni co-wrote the screenplay for the film.
He authored numerous crime novels and screenplays, several of which were filmed, including Classe tous risques (1960) and Le Deuxième Souffle (1966). He later directed his own films, among them Two Men in Town (1973). Giovanni became a naturalised Swiss citizen in 1986 and died in Lausanne in 2004.
