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).
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.
External links
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/nm0336380
Wikipedia: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1406503
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Filmography (Movies)
That's Entertainment, Part II
Character:(archive footage)
Release Date:16/05/1976
The Hideout
Character:Labrize
Release Date:21/07/1971
Pas moral pour deux sous
Character:Daniel Wilde
Release Date:04/06/1971
Promise at Dawn
Character:Jean-Michel Serusier
Release Date:25/11/1970
Give Her the Moon
Character:Captain Ragot
Release Date:25/02/1970
The Madwoman of Chaillot
Character:Police sergeant
Release Date:12/10/1969
Guns for San Sebastian
Character:Governor
Release Date:26/04/1967
How to Steal a Million
Character:Grammont
Release Date:13/07/1966
The Woman from Beirut
Character:Dr. Castello
Release Date:15/11/1965
The Crumblers Are Doing Well
Character:François Legrand
Release Date:15/11/1961
Toto in Paris
Character:Il dottor Duclos
Release Date:23/10/1958
School for Coquettes
Character:Stanislas de La Ferronière
Release Date:21/05/1958
Hardboiled Egg Time
Character:Raoul Grandvivier
Release Date:19/03/1958
La Garçonne
Character:Georges Sauvage
Release Date:05/04/1957
Mitsou
Character:Pierre Duroy-Lelong
Release Date:24/12/1956
Slightly Ahead
Character:Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc
Release Date:10/10/1956
Thirteen at the Table
Character:Antoine Villardier
Release Date:28/12/1955
Royal Affairs in Versailles
Character:Molière
Release Date:10/02/1954
The Age of Indiscretion
Character:Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale
Release Date:23/08/1953
My Husband Is Marvelous
Character:Claude Chatel
Release Date:29/04/1953
The Happiest of Men
Character:Armand Dupuis-Martin
Release Date:26/11/1952
My Wife Is Formidable
Character:Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia
Release Date:05/12/1951
Gunman in the Streets
Character:Commissioner Dufresne
Release Date:13/12/1950
Le Traqué
Character:Commissioner Dufresne
Release Date:15/11/1950
La Ronde
Character:Charles Breitkopf, son mari
Release Date:27/09/1950
Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme
Character:André Ternay
Release Date:20/09/1950
Du Guesclin
Character:Bertrand du Guesclin
Release Date:03/06/1949
Captain Blomet
Character:Blomet
Release Date:10/12/1947
Once Is Enough
Character:Jacques Reval
Release Date:23/10/1946
Paméla
Character:Paul Barras
Release Date:02/05/1945
La Rabouilleuse
Character:Colonel Philippe Brideau
Release Date:02/02/1944
Domino
Character:Dominique
Release Date:28/07/1943
Captain Fracasse
Character:Baron de Cigognac
Release Date:19/06/1943
Fantastic Night
Character:Denis
Release Date:10/07/1942
Threesome Romance
Character:Charles
Release Date:17/06/1942
Foolish Husbands
Character:Gérard Barbier
Release Date:18/12/1941
Four Flights to Love
Character:Pierre Leblan
Release Date:27/10/1939
The Last Turning
Character:Frank Maurice
Release Date:17/05/1939
Breakdowns of 1938
Character:Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)
Release Date:31/12/1938
The Great Waltz
Character:Johann 'Schani' Strauss II
Release Date:04/11/1938
Hollywood Goes to Town
Character:Self
Release Date:07/07/1938
Fools for Scandal
Character:Rene
Release Date:16/04/1938
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6
Character:Self
Release Date:04/02/1938
The Lie of Nina Petrovna
Character:Lieutenant Franz Korff
Release Date:04/11/1937
The King and the Chorus Girl
Character:Alfred Bruger VII
Release Date:27/03/1937
Mister Flow
Character:Antonin Rose
Release Date:02/12/1936
Symphonie D'Amour
Character:Charles Panard
Release Date:18/09/1936
Seven Men, One Woman
Character:Viscount Brémontier
Release Date:28/08/1936
Fanfare of Love
Character:Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "
Release Date:16/11/1935
Touche-à-tout
Character:Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'
Release Date:01/11/1935
Varieté
Character:Pierre
Release Date:04/10/1935
Monsieur Sans-Gêne
Character:Fernand Martin
Release Date:14/03/1935
Antonia
Character:Captain Douglas Parker
Release Date:25/01/1935
Si j'étais le patron
Character:Henri Janvier
Release Date:25/10/1934
C'était un musicien
Character:Jean
Release Date:11/05/1934
The Queen's Affair
Character:Carl
Release Date:01/03/1934
Court Waltzes
Character:Franz
Release Date:15/12/1933
The Premature Father
Character:Édouard Puma & Fred
Release Date:29/09/1933
Bitter Sweet
Character:Carl Linden
Release Date:21/08/1933
Early to Bed
Character:Carl
Release Date:08/08/1933
The Improvised Son
Character:Fernand Brassart
Release Date:22/11/1932
Passionately
Character:Robert Perceval
Release Date:20/09/1932
A Star Vanishes
Character:Self
Release Date:22/08/1932
Ladies Hairdresser
Character:Mario
Release Date:19/05/1932
You Will Be a Duchess
Character:Marquis André de la Cour
Release Date:12/02/1932
Un homme en habit
Character:André de Lussanges
Release Date:26/06/1931
Let's Get Married
Character:Francis Latour
Release Date:06/03/1931
Love Songs
Character:Armand Petitjean
Release Date:21/11/1930
Loyalty
Character:Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke
Release Date:23/04/1914
Monsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard
Character:Le petit Paul
Release Date:20/12/1913
Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis
Character:Fernand Mertens
Release Date:07/03/1913
Television Appearances
Images
