Fernand Gravey

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  • group Other Names:
    Fernand Mertens, Fernand Gravet, Фернан Граве

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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.

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  • wc Gender: Male
  • calendar_month Birth Date: 1905-12-25
  • event Death Date 1970-11-02
  • school Known for: Acting
  • star Popularity: 2.5
  • info Birth Place Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium
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smart_display Movies and TV shows by Fernand Gravey

7.5

How to Steal a Million

1966-07-13

0

The Queen's Affair

1934-03-01

6.4

Gunman in the Streets

1950-12-13

6.4

The Last Turning

1939-05-17

5.5

The Great Waltz

1938-11-04

6.2

Toto in Paris

1958-10-23

5.1

Du Guesclin

1949-06-03

6.1

Paradis perdu

1939-10-27

7

Fanfare of Love

1935-11-15

6.4

Captain Fracasse

1943-06-19

5.9

Fantastic Night

1942-07-10

7.4

La Ronde

1950-09-27

0

You Will Be a Duchess

1932-02-12

0

A Star Vanishes

1932-08-22

0

Passionately

1932-09-20

0

Early to Bed

1933-08-08

0

The Improvised Son

1932-11-22

0

Let's Get Married

1931-03-06

0

The Premature Father

1933-09-29

0

Touche-à-tout

1935-11-01

0

Symphonie D'Amour

1936-09-18

5.5

Threesome Romance

1942-06-17

7

La Rabouilleuse

1944-02-02

1

Once Is Enough

1946-10-23

0

Captain Blomet

1947-12-10

0

Le Traqué

1950-11-15

0

The Happiest of Men

1952-11-26

4.5

The Woman from Beirut

1965-11-15

3

Mitsou

1956-12-24

7.1

The Madwoman of Chaillot

1969-10-12

5.5

The King and the Chorus Girl

1937-03-27

6.1

Slightly Ahead

1956-10-10

6.2

Fools for Scandal

1938-04-16

4.7

My Wife Is Formidable

1951-12-05

7

Guns for San Sebastian

1968-03-20

7

Bitter Sweet

1933-08-21

6

Foolish Husbands

1941-12-18

6

Monsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard

1913-12-20

5

Hardboiled Egg Time

1958-03-19

6.5

Loyalty

1914-04-23

1

La Garçonne

1957-04-05

5.3

Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis

1913-03-07

5.4

Give Her the Moon

1970-02-25

5.2

Domino

1943-07-28

1.5

School for Coquettes

1958-05-21

6.8

Royal Affairs in Versailles

1954-02-10

5.3

Promise at Dawn

1970-11-25

6.5

Mister Flow

1936-12-02

2

The Crumblers Are Doing Well

1961-11-15

7

The Age of Indiscretion

1953-08-23

6

Varieté

1935-10-04

0

Ladies Hairdresser

1932-05-19

5

Breakdowns of 1938

1938-12-31

0

Monsieur Sans-Gêne

1935-03-14

6.8

That's Entertainment, Part II

1976-05-16

6.7

Si j'étais le patron

1934-10-25

7

Hollywood Goes to Town

1938-07-07

5.7

Seven Men, One Woman

1936-08-28

5.7

Paméla

1945-05-02

5.6

The Lie of Nina Petrovna

1937-11-04

0

Antonia

1935-01-25

0

Court Waltzes

1933-12-15

0

C'était un musicien

1934-05-11

5

Love Songs

1930-11-21

2

The Hideout

1971-07-21

3.5

My Husband Is Marvelous

1953-04-29

4.5

Thirteen at the Table

1955-12-28

0

Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme

1950-09-20

5

Harry's Girls

1963-09-13

6.3

The House in the Woods

1971-09-12

0

Discorama

1959-02-04

8

Cinépanorama

1956-02-04