Chevalier, Maurice

Chevalier, Maurice (1888-1972), French actor-singer whose inimitable charm made him the idol of three generations. Chevalier was born in Paris and institutionalized as a child; by the time he was 14 he was singing in cafés and at the age of 20 he was given a role in a one-reeler, Trop Credule (1908). During the next two decades he advanced to prominence as a solo performer in music halls, but chiefly as the partner of Mistinguett.

Chevalier longed to be in Hollywood, but its studios were neither impressed by the tests he made for them nor by his local films—until, that is, Paramount took the plunge and found themselves with an overnight success when Chevalier made Innocents of Paris (1919). A series of risqué comedies opposite Jeanette MacDonald, chiefly directed by Ernst Lubitsch, kept his box-office success bubbling, but a dispute over billing (he had a massive ego) sent him back to Europe.

Two British films and half a dozen French ones did little for Chevalier's reputation, and much less was done by reports that he had collaborated with the Germans. Billy Wilder revived his career by casting him as an ageing roué in Love in the Afternoon (1957), and a similar role in Gigi (1958), “zankin' 'eaven for leetle girls”, gave him a hit song as potent as earlier songs from Louise. A special Oscar that year did not ensure many first-rate films among the last that he made.