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
Movies (71)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976 · (archive footage)
The Hideout
1971 · Labrize
Pas moral pour deux sous
1971 · Daniel Wilde
Promise at Dawn
1970 · Jean-Michel Serusier
Give Her the Moon
1970 · Captain Ragot
The Madwoman of Chaillot
1969 · Police sergeant
Guns for San Sebastian
1967 · Governor
How to Steal a Million
1966 · Grammont
The Woman from Beirut
1965 · Dr. Castello
The Crumblers Are Doing Well
1961 · François Legrand
Toto in Paris
1958 · Il dottor Duclos
School for Coquettes
1958 · Stanislas de La Ferronière
Hardboiled Egg Time
1958 · Raoul Grandvivier
La Garçonne
1957 · Georges Sauvage
Mitsou
1956 · Pierre Duroy-Lelong
Slightly Ahead
1956 · Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc
Thirteen at the Table
1955 · Antoine Villardier
Royal Affairs in Versailles
1953 · Molière
The Age of Indiscretion
1953 · Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale
My Husband Is Marvelous
1953 · Claude Chatel
The Happiest of Men
1952 · Armand Dupuis-Martin
My Wife Is Formidable
1951 · Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia
Gunman in the Streets
1950 · Commissioner Dufresne
Le Traqué
1950 · Commissioner Dufresne
La Ronde
1950 · Charles Breitkopf, son mari
Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme
1950 · André Ternay
Du Guesclin
1949 · Bertrand du Guesclin
Captain Blomet
1947 · Blomet
Once Is Enough
1946 · Jacques Reval
Paméla
1945 · Paul Barras
La Rabouilleuse
1944 · Colonel Philippe Brideau
Domino
1943 · Dominique
Captain Fracasse
1943 · Baron de Cigognac
Fantastic Night
1942 · Denis
Threesome Romance
1942 · Charles
Foolish Husbands
1941 · Gérard Barbier
Four Flights to Love
1939 · Pierre Leblan
The Last Turning
1939 · Frank Maurice
Breakdowns of 1938
1938 · Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)
The Great Waltz
1938 · Johann 'Schani' Strauss II
Hollywood Goes to Town
1938 · Self
Fools for Scandal
1938 · Rene
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6
1938 · Self
The Lie of Nina Petrovna
1937 · Lieutenant Franz Korff
The King and the Chorus Girl
1937 · Alfred Bruger VII
Mister Flow
1936 · Antonin Rose
Symphonie D'Amour
1936 · Charles Panard
Seven Men, One Woman
1936 · Viscount Brémontier
Fanfare of Love
1935 · Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "
Touche-à-tout
1935 · Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'
Varieté
1935 · Pierre
Monsieur Sans-Gêne
1935 · Fernand Martin
Antonia
1935 · Captain Douglas Parker
Si j'étais le patron
1934 · Henri Janvier
C'était un musicien
1934 · Jean
The Queen's Affair
1934 · Carl
Court Waltzes
1933 · Franz
The Premature Father
1933 · Édouard Puma & Fred
Bitter Sweet
1933 · Carl Linden
Early to Bed
1933 · Carl
The Improvised Son
1932 · Fernand Brassart
Passionately
1932 · Robert Perceval
A Star Vanishes
1932 · Self
Ladies Hairdresser
1932 · Mario
You Will Be a Duchess
1932 · Marquis André de la Cour
Un homme en habit
1931 · André de Lussanges
Let's Get Married
1931 · Francis Latour
Love Songs
1930 · Armand Petitjean
La Fille de Delft
1914 · Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke
Monsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard
1913 · Le petit Paul
Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis
1913 · Fernand Mertens
