French character actor who appeared in almost 150 movies, including major roles in two of Jean Renoir’s most famous films, “Grand Illusion” (1937) and “The Rules of the Game” (1939).
Dalio was born to Romanian-Jewish immigrant parents. He performed in cabarets, revues and stage plays in the 1920s and acted in French films in the 1930s. After divorcing his first wife, Jany Holt, he married the young actress Madeleine Lebeau in 1939.
In June 1940, Lebeau and Dalio left Paris ahead of the invading German army and reached Lisbon, then the United States via Mexico. Dalio’s parents would later die in Nazi concentration camps.
In Hollywood, Dalio was never able to rescale the heights of prominence that he had enjoyed in France. He appeared in 19 movies in America during the Second World War, in stereotypical roles as a Frenchman. In German-occupied France, the Nazis used his picture on posters as a representative of “a typical Jew”.
In 1942, he appeared in a couple of scenes as Emil the croupier in Casablanca. In one of the movie’s memorable scenes, when Renault closes down Rick’s Cafe Americain using the pretext, “I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!”, Emil approaches him and hands him his usual bribe money as “Your winnings sir.” His wife Madeleine LeBeau was also in the film, playing Yvonne, Rick’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. On June 22, while Lebeau was filming her scenes with Hans Twardowski, Dalio filed for divorce in Los Angeles on the grounds of desertion.
When the war in Europe ended in May 1945, Dalio returned to France to continue his movie career. He appeared in various movies in France, England and the USA through to the late 1970s.
Dalio also appeared in numerous television shows both in the United States (between 1954 and 1963) and in France (1968 to 1981).
He married Madeleine Prime in Los Angeles in 1981.
Dalio died in Paris on 18 November 1983 at the age of 83.

Link to Wikipedia biography