French entertainer, an actor, singer and dancer who was elegant and insouciant in a career that spanned three quarters of a century. He first appeared in the Follies-Bergere in 1910. After 1930, he appeared in Hollywood films and was nominated for the Best Actor Oscars for his roles in “The Love Parade,” 1929, and “The Big Pond.” He was in the screen musical “Love Me Tonight,” 1932.
Chevalier was determined to come out of the Paris slums where he was raised, to perform in show business. He made early attempts at vaudeville to become an acrobat, then went on to workman’s cabarets and to greater success on the stage and screen. He first appeared on the Parisian music hall boards at age twelve, and was 21 when he hit it big, sharing the bill with the legendary Mistinguett, his idol and lover.
Chevalier spent a year in a WW I German prison camp, surviving a nervous breakdown, and remained strong when he was charged and acquitted of Nazi collaboration. The success of the singing boulevardier could not be hindered. He returned as a charmer in “Love in the Afternoon,” 1957, and “Gigi,” 1958, for which he received an Oscar. In 1949, he signed the Stockholm appeal against atomic weapons, a widespread petition instigated by Russian communists.
Edward Behr, the author of Chevalier’s biography, says this is evidence of his total innocence in political matters. As to the belief that Chevalier had been overly sympathetic to the Vichy government during WW II, Behr dismissed these charges ” as merely the natural desire for the performer to be seen and appreciated.” He says he was completely indifferent as to the politics of his sponsors, and was politically naïve, interested only in professional survival. In the anti-Communist fervor, he was declared “persona non grata” in America, and was forbidden to perform in the country that had always welcomed him. Time resolved this issue, and during the following decade, his poise and charisma simply increased with age, a spry, jaunty, and appealing performer. This was followed by a long series of farewell appearances, reminding people to thank heaven for not only little girls.
He had sunny public persona, but fell into depressed and despairing moods in private. His first serious romance was with the enchanting Fre’hol, who was famous in Paris at the time. She ended her life as a pathetic pauper.
In 1968, Chevalier’s autobiography was completed. He was worth over $4 million in property when he died of a heart attack following kidney surgery on 1 January 1972 in Paris.
Link to Wikipedia biography