Fernand Gravey

Biography

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.

Known For

Grammont

How to Steal a Million

Carl

The Queen's Affair

Commissioner Dufresne

Gunman in the Streets

Frank

Le Dernier Tournant

Johann 'Schani' Strauss II

The Great Waltz

Il dottor Duclos

Totò a Parigi

Bertrand du Guesclin

Du Guesclin

Pierre Leblan

Paradis perdu

Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "

Fanfare d'amour

Baron de Cigognac

Le Capitaine Fracasse

Denis

La Nuit fantastique

Charles Breitkopf, son mari

La Ronde

Marquis André de la Cour

Tu seras duchesse

Self

Une étoile disparaît

Robert Perceval

Passionnément

Carl

Early to Bed

Fernand Brassart

Le Fils improvisé

Francis Latour

Marions-nous

Édouard Puma & Fred

Le Père prématuré

Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'

Touche-à-tout

Charles Panard

Le Grand Refrain

Charles

Romance à trois

Colonel Philippe Brideau

La Rabouilleuse

Jacques Reval

Il suffit d'une fois

Blomet

Capitaine Blomet

Commissioner Dufresne

Le Traqué

Armand Dupuis-Martin

Le Plus Heureux des hommes

Dr. Castello

La dama de Beirut

Pierre Duroy-Lelong

Mitsou ou Comment l'esprit vient aux filles...

Police sergeant

The Madwoman of Chaillot

Alfred Bruger VII

The King and the Chorus Girl

Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc

Courte-tête

Rene

Fools for Scandal

Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia

Ma femme est formidable

Governor

La Bataille de San Sebastian

Carl Linden

Bitter Sweet

Gérard Barbier

Histoire de rire

Le petit Paul

Monsieur Beulemeester, garde civique

Raoul Grandvivier

Le Temps des œufs durs

Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke

La fille de Delft

Georges Sauvage

La Garçonne

Fernand Mertens

Saïda a enlevé Manneken-Pis

Captain Ragot

Les Caprices de Marie

Domino

Domino

Stanislas de La Ferronière

L'École des cocottes

Molière

Si Versailles m'était conté

Jean-Michel Serusier

Promise at Dawn

Antonin Rose

Mister Flow

François Legrand

Les croulants se portent bien

Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale

L'età dell'amore

Pierre

Varieté

Mario

Coiffeur pour dames

Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)

Breakdowns of 1938

Fernand Martin

Monsieur Sans-Gêne

(archive footage)

That's Entertainment, Part II

Henri Janvier

Si j'étais le patron

Self

Hollywood Goes to Town

Viscount Brémontier

Sept hommes, une femme

Paul Barras

Paméla

Lieutenant Franz Korff

Le Mensonge de Nina Petrovna

Captain Douglas Parker

Antonia, romance hongroise

Franz

La Guerre des valses

Jean

C'était un musicien

Armand Petitjean

L'amour chante

Labrize

L'explosion

Claude Chatel

Mon mari est merveilleux

Antoine Villardier

Treize à table

André Ternay

Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme

André de Lussanges

Un homme en habit

Daniel Wilde

Pas moral pour deux sous