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.

Фільмографія

• 1976That's Entertainment, Part II — (archive footage)
• 1971Pas moral pour deux sous — Daniel Wilde
• 1971The Hideout — Labrize
• The House in the Woods — Le marquis de Fresnoy
• 1970Give Her the Moon — Captain Ragot
• 1970Promise at Dawn — Jean-Michel Serusier
• 1969The Madwoman of Chaillot — Police sergeant
• 1967Guns for San Sebastian — Governor
• 1966Як украсти мільйон — Grammont
• 1965The Woman from Beirut — Dr. Castello
• Harry's Girls — Andre Giraud
• 1961The Crumblers Are Doing Well — François Legrand
• 1958Hardboiled Egg Time — Raoul Grandvivier
• 1958School for Coquettes — Stanislas de La Ferronière
• 1958Toto in Paris — Il dottor Duclos
• 1957La Garçonne — Georges Sauvage
• 1956Mitsou — Pierre Duroy-Lelong
• 1956Slightly Ahead — Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc
• 1955Thirteen at the Table — Antoine Villardier
• 1953My Husband Is Marvelous — Claude Chatel
• 1953Royal Affairs in Versailles — Molière
• 1953The Age of Indiscretion — Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale
• 1952The Happiest of Men — Armand Dupuis-Martin
• 1951My Wife Is Formidable — Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia
• 1950Gunman in the Streets — Commissioner Dufresne
• 1950La Ronde — Charles Breitkopf, son mari
• 1950Le Traqué — Commissioner Dufresne
• 1950Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme — André Ternay
• 1949Du Guesclin — Bertrand du Guesclin
• 1947Captain Blomet — Blomet
• 1946Once Is Enough — Jacques Reval
• 1945Paméla — Paul Barras
• 1944La Rabouilleuse — Colonel Philippe Brideau
• 1943Captain Fracasse — Baron de Cigognac
• 1943Domino — Dominique
• 1942Fantastic Night — Denis
• 1942Threesome Romance — Charles
• 1941Foolish Husbands — Gérard Barbier
• 1939Four Flights to Love — Pierre Leblan
• 1939The Last Turning — Frank Maurice
• 1938Breakdowns of 1938 — Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)
• 1938Fools for Scandal — Rene
• 1938The Great Waltz — Johann 'Schani' Strauss II
• 1937The King and the Chorus Girl — Alfred Bruger VII
• 1937The Lie of Nina Petrovna — Lieutenant Franz Korff
• 1936Mister Flow — Antonin Rose
• 1936Seven Men, One Woman — Viscount Brémontier
• 1936Symphonie D'Amour — Charles Panard
• 1935Antonia — Captain Douglas Parker
• 1935Fanfare of Love — Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "
• 1935Monsieur Sans-Gêne — Fernand Martin
• 1935Touche-à-tout — Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'
• 1935Varieté — Pierre
• 1934C'était un musicien — Jean
• 1934Si j'étais le patron — Henri Janvier
• 1934The Queen's Affair — Carl
• 1933Bitter Sweet — Carl Linden
• 1933Court Waltzes — Franz
• 1933Early to Bed — Carl
• 1933The Premature Father — Édouard Puma & Fred
• 1932Ladies Hairdresser — Mario
• 1932Passionately — Robert Perceval
• 1932The Improvised Son — Fernand Brassart
• 1932You Will Be a Duchess — Marquis André de la Cour
• 1931Let's Get Married — Francis Latour
• 1931Un homme en habit — André de Lussanges
• 1930Love Songs — Armand Petitjean
• 1914La Fille de Delft — Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke
• 1913Monsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard — Le petit Paul
• 1913Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis — Fernand Mertens

Ток-шоу, премії та інші появи (6)

• Discorama — Self
• Cinépanorama — Self
• MGM Parade — Self
• 1938Hollywood Goes to Town — Self
• 1938Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6 — Self
• 1932A Star Vanishes — Self