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.
How to Steal a Million
as GrammontA woman must steal a statue from a Paris museum to help conceal her father's art forgeries.
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Guns for San Sebastian
as GovernorLeon Alastray is an outlaw who has been given sanctuary by Father John, whom he then escorts to...
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La Ronde
as Charles Breitkopf, son mariAn all-knowing interlocutor guides us through a series of affairs in Vienna, 1900. A soldier...
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That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time...
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The Great Waltz
as Johann 'Schani' Strauss IIComposer Johann Strauss risks his marriage over his infatuation with a beautiful singer.
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Royal Affairs in Versailles
as MolièreWitty narration follows the history of Versailles Palace; founded by Louis XIII, enlarged by...
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Breakdowns of 1938
as Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)Flubs and bloopers that occurred on the set of some of the major Warner Bros. pictures of 1938.
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Toto in Paris
as Il dottor DuclosDuclos's son, a worldly gangster, is compromised in a case of which he is innocent. The proof of...
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Fools for Scandal
as ReneAn incognito Hollywood star (Carole Lombard) in Paris meets a penniless nobleman (Fernand...
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Paradis perdu
as Pierre LeblanIn pre-World Ward I in Paris, a budding artist, Pierre LeBlanc, falls in love and marries...
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My Wife Is Formidable
as Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de SylviaRaymond Corbier, a sculptor, has a wonderful wife, Sylvia, whom he adores. To save a passionate...
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Hollywood Goes to Town
as SelfThis short shows how Hollywood gets ready for the world premiere of an "important" movie. The...
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Du Guesclin
as Bertrand du GuesclinA chronicle of the life of Bertrand du Guesclin, grand officer of the French army in the 14th...
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Give Her the Moon
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Mister Flow
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Paméla
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The Last Turning
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The Madwoman of Chaillot
as Police sergeantAn eccentric Parisian woman's optimistic perception of life begins to sound more rational than...
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The King and the Chorus Girl
as Alfred Bruger VIIA destitute, bored monarch falls in love with a chorus girl.
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Promise at Dawn
as Jean-Michel SerusierA single mother raises her son in impossible circumstances first in Leningrad, then Krakow, and...
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The Age of Indiscretion
as Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunaleIn a small provincial Italian town, a fifteen-year-old boy meets and falls in love with a girl.
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Fantastic Night
as DenisDenis, a poor student in philosophy, works as a night porter in the Paris market of Les Halles...
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My Husband Is Marvelous
as Claude ChatelA young journalist, Sylvia, has to interview a writer, Claude Chatel, whose success is due to...
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Slightly Ahead
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Symphonie D'Amour
as Charles PanardA ten-year old film when it was first released in the USA as "Symphonie D'Amour" in 1946. Panard...
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The Woman from Beirut
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School for Coquettes
as Stanislas de La FerronièreA young Parisian woman attends a school for coquettes in order to rise in society.
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Fanfare of Love
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Si j'étais le patron
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Thirteen at the Table
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Domino
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La Rabouilleuse
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Le Traqué
as Commissioner DufresneManhunt in Paris and as far as Belgium to catch an American gangster escaped from a police van.
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Early to Bed
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Captain Blomet
as BlometReturning from the cemetery where he has just buried his wife, Captain Blomet is on the point of...
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Gunman in the Streets
as Commissioner DufresneAn American is on the run in the streets and back alleys of France.
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Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme
as André TernayJosette needs to marry within a year to get her aunt's money but her fiance has left.After...
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Let's Get Married
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Bitter Sweet
as Carl LindenA young girl falls in love with a young conductor in Vienna, and they marry. However, their...
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Seven Men, One Woman
as Le vicomte BrémontierAt the urging of her childhood friend Brémontier, Lucie de Kéradec, a wealthy widowed countess...
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Foolish Husbands
as Gérard BarbierBy mutual agreement, a man and a woman are separated to allow the wife to join her lover.
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Love Songs
as Armand PetitjeanTo protect the honor of a married lady, a grammar professor pretends to be a singing teacher and...
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Captain Fracasse
as Baron de CigognacOut of love for an actress, Isabelle, the Baron de Sigognac joins a traveling troop en route to...
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The Crumblers Are Doing Well
as François LegrandIn his desirable mansion, a widower wants to marry again with a twenty-year old brunette. His...
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The Hideout
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Antonia
as Captain Douglas ParkerThe famous singer Antonia left the stage to marry a country gentleman. She goes alone one day to...
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The Lie of Nina Petrovna
as Lieutenant Franz KorffNina Petrovna is a Russian beauty claimed by two Austrian officers.
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La Garçonne
as Georges SauvageLa Garçonne is a 1957 French film directed by Jacqueline Audry. It follows Monique, an ingenue...
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Hardboiled Egg Time
as Raoul GrandvivierA shy, penniless employee of the garage owner Grillot, the gentle Louis wins $10 million in the...
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The Happiest of Men
as Armand Dupuis-MartinAn industrialist who prefers painting to business is cheated on by his wife with a painter who...
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Touche-à-tout
as Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'A young supervisor is expelled from his high school after misleading his students during an...
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Varieté
as PierreAnnabella, Jean Gabin and Fernand Gravey star as a trio of circus trapeze artists. Both Gabin...
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Passionately
as Robert PercevalA jealous American, Mr Stevenson, travels to France with his very pretty young wife Kitty. He...
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Once Is Enough
as Jacques RevalChristine Jourdan is a highly rated sculptor who, to oust her impresario Ancelin, invented a...
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The Premature Father
as Édouard Puma & FredEdouard Puma, seduced by a seamstress at the age of 18, had a son whom he raised in secret,...
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Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis
as Fernand MertensA cheetah runs away from a fair and steals Belgium's national symbol: Manneken Pis.
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The Queen's Affair
as Carl'Ruritania. Incognito president falls in love with incognito queen he deposed.' (British Film...
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Monsieur Sans-Gêne
as Fernand MartinA man creates a national scandal after he mistakenly kisses the wrong woman in a darkened...
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You Will Be a Duchess
as Marquis André de la Cour"Tu seras duchesse!" ("You'll Be a Duchess!") With these words, self-made industrialist Poisson...
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The Improvised Son
as Fernand BrassartA woman who is the mistress of a well off antiquarian receives a visit from a younger man. Is...
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Threesome Romance
as CharlesFrom three successive marriages, Loys Erland had three very different boys: Charles, a convinced...
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Monsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard
as Le petit PaulCommissioned by Pathé Frères, Alfred Machin shoots several local stories in Belgium, in a...
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The House in the Woods
as Les marquisDuring World War One, in a small rural French village far away from the front, a gamekeeper and...
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Harry's Girls
as Andre GiraudHarry's Girls is an American situation comedy which appeared on NBC from September 13, 1963, to...
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