Rossi, born in Ajaccio, Corsica, was gifted with a voice
well suited for opera. He became a tenor in the French cabaret style. Later, he
appeared in various movies. During his career he recorded hundreds of songs and
he appeared in more than 25 films, the most notable of which was the 1954 production,
Si Versailles m'était conté...
His romantic ballads had especially women swooning and his
art songs by Jules Massenet (1842–1912), Reynaldo Hahn (1875–1947), and other
composers, sold out theaters wherever he performed.
During the Occupation by Nazi Germany Rossi's film career
reached its peak, notably with Fièvres (1942), Le Soleil a toujours raison
(1943), Mon amour est près de toi (1943) and L'Île d'amour (1944). Rossi was
arrested on October 7, 1944 by several police officers in search of information
on his close Corsican friend, Etienne Leandri, suspected of active
collaborationism.
Following three months' detention in the prison of Fresnes,
near Paris, during which he stubbornly refused the assistance of a lawyer, he
was freed from further detention by a judge, who deemed the charge levelled
against him void of substance.
Rossi who, in October 1943, had loaned his
personal car to a resistance network to transport weapons and enable several
escapes (including that of a general), accepted—an extremely rare action at the
time—official apologies.
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