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person_profile-Fernand Gravey

Fernand Gravey Died at age: 64

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Fernand Gravey

Date of Birth:

Dec 25, 1905

Country of birth:

Belgium

Died:

Nov 02, 1970

Biography of

Fernand Gravey

    Fernand Gravey (25 December 1905 in Ixelles (Belgium) – 2 November 1970 in Paris, France), also known as Fernand Gravet in the United States, was the son of actors Georges Mertens and Fernande Depernay, who appeared in silent films produced by pioneer Belge Cinéma Film (a subsidiary of Pathé).

    Gravey started performing at age five under his father's direction.

    Before World War I, he received an education in Britain and could speak both French and English fluently, something which became useful in his movie roles. During the war, Gravey served in the British Merchant Marine Corp.

    In 1936, he married the French actress Jane Renouardt, who was 15 years his senior. They remained together until his death on 2 November 1970 of a heart-attack. Jane died on 3 February 1972. They had no children.

    Gravey performed in four films in 1913 and 1914 (as Fernand Mertens), but his first film of importance was L'Amour Chante, released in 1930. In 1933, he made Bitter Sweet, his first English language movie, which became more famous in its 1940 incarnation with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.

    In 1937, after several more French and British movies, Gravey went to Hollywood, where the spelling of his last name was altered to Gravet, and he became the focus of a rather extensive Hollywood publicity campaign (instructing moviegoers to pronounce his name properly: "Rhymes with Gravy"). Unfortunately for Gravey, he was offered only standard parts, the type of Gallic-lover roles that Louis Jourdan played in the 1950s and 1960s.

    The first two films he made in Hollywood were for Warner Brothers: The King and the Chorus Girl (1937), with Joan Blondell and Jane Wyman, and Fools for Scandal (1938), with Carole Lombard and Ralph Bellamy. Gravey then signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and was cast as Johann Strauss in the expensive biopic The Great Waltz, with Luise Rainer and Miliza Korjus.

    MGM next planned to star Gravey in a film version of Rafael Sabatini's adventure novel Scaramouche, but instead he returned to France just before the Nazi occupation began. Although he had agreed to appear in German-approved French films, Gravey was an underminer of the invaders as a member of the French Secret Army and the Foreign Legion.

    At the end of the war, Gravey was considered a war hero, and continued to be featured in French productions such as La Ronde (with Danielle Darrieux), and Royal Affairs in Versailles (1954). Among his last English language performances were How to Steal a Million (1966), Guns for San Sebastian (1968) and The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969), in which he played the police inspector.

    Source: Article "Fernand Gravey" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Photos of

Fernand Gravey

Photos ( 1 Photos

Filmography of

Fernand Gravey

Found 57 Movies in total

That's Entertainment, Part II

(archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1976

The Hideout

Labrize ( Actor )

... 1971

Promise at Dawn

Jean-Michel Serusier ( Actor )

... 1970

Give Her the Moon

Le capitaine Ragot ( Actor )

... 1970

The Madwoman of Chaillot

Police sergeant ( Actor )

... 1969

Guns for San Sebastian

Governor ( Actor )

... 1968

How to Steal a Million

Grammont ( Actor )

... 1966

The Woman from Beirut

Dr. Castello ( Actor )

... 1965

The Crumblers Are Doing Well

François Legrand ( Actor )

... 1961

Toto in Paris

Il dottor Duclos ( Actor )

... 1958

School for Coquettes

Stanislas de La Ferronière ( Actor )

... 1958

Hardboiled Egg Time

Raoul Grandvivier ( Actor )

... 1958

La Garçonne

Georges Sauvage ( Actor )

... 1957

Slightly Ahead

Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc ( Actor )

... 1956

Thirteen at the Table

Antoine Villardier ( Actor )

... 1955

... 1954

My Husband Is Marvelous

Claude Chatel ( Actor )

... 1953

The Happiest of Men

Armand Dupuis-Martin ( Actor )

... 1952

My Wife Is Formidable

Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia ( Actor )

... 1951

Gunman in the Streets

Commissioner Dufresne ( Actor )

... 1950

Le Traqué

Commissioner Dufresne ( Actor )

... 1950

La Ronde

Charles Breitkopf, son mari ( Actor )

... 1950

Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme

André Ternay ( Actor )

... 1950

Du Guesclin

Bertrand du Guesclin ( Actor )

... 1949

Captain Blomet

Blomet ( Actor )

... 1947

Once Is Enough

Jacques Reval ( Actor )

... 1946

Paméla

Paul Barras ( Actor )

... 1945

La Rabouilleuse

Colonel Philippe Brideau ( Actor )

... 1944

Domino

Domino ( Actor )

... 1943

Captain Fracasse

Baron de Cigognac ( Actor )

... 1943

Fantastic Night

Denis ( Actor )

... 1942

Threesome Romance

Charles ( Actor )

... 1942

Foolish Husbands

Gérard Barbier ( Actor )

... 1941

Four Flights to Love

Pierre Leblanc ( Actor )

... 1939

The Great Waltz

Johann 'Schani' Strauss II ( Actor )

... 1938

Fools for Scandal

Rene ( Actor )

... 1938

The Lie of Nina Petrovna

Lieutenant Franz Korff ( Actor )

... 1937

The King and the Chorus Girl

Alfred Bruger VII ( Actor )

... 1937

Mister Flow

Antonin Rose ( Actor )

... 1936

Symphonie D'Amour

Charles Panard ( Actor )

... 1936

Seven Men, One Woman

Brémontier ( Actor )

... 1936

Fanfare of Love

Jean ( Actor )

... 1935

Touche-à-tout

Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout' ( Actor )

... 1935

Varieté

Pierre ( Actor )

... 1935

Monsieur Sans-Gêne

Fernand Martin ( Actor )

... 1935

Antonia

Captain Douglas Parker ( Actor )

... 1935

Si j'étais le patron

Henri Janvier ( Actor )

... 1934

The Queen's Affair

Carl ( Actor )

... 1934

The Premature Father

Édouard Puma & Fred ( Actor )

... 1933

Bitter Sweet

Carl Linden ( Actor )

... 1933

Early to Bed

Carl ( Actor )

... 1933

The Improvised Son

Fernand Brassart ( Actor )

... 1932

Passionately

Robert Perceval ( Actor )

... 1932

You Will Be a Duchess

Marquis André de la Cour ( Actor )

... 1932

Un homme en habit

André de Lussanges ( Actor )

... 1931

Let's Get Married

Francis Latour ( Actor )

... 1931

Love Songs

Armand Petitjean ( Actor )

... 1930