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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
December 25, 1905
Died
November 2, 1970
Place of Birth
Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium
Also Known As
- Fernand Mertens
- Fernand Gravet
- Фернан Граве
Fernand Gravey
0.3 Popularity
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
6.9
(archive footage)
That's Entertainment, Part II
1976
6.5
Les marquis
The House in the Woods
1971
2.0
Labrize
The Hideout
1971
🎬
0.0
Daniel Wilde
Pas moral pour deux sous
1971
5.3
Jean-Michel Serusier
Promise at Dawn
1970
5.4
Captain Ragot
Give Her the Moon
1970
7.1
Police sergeant
The Madwoman of Chaillot
1969
7.0
Governor
Guns for San Sebastian
1968
7.5
Grammont
How to Steal a Million
1966
4.5
Dr. Castello
The Woman from Beirut
1965
Credits
That's Entertainment, Part II
as (archive footage)
1976
6.9
The House in the Woods
as Les marquis
1971
6.5
The Hideout
as Labrize
1971
2.0
🎬
Pas moral pour deux sous
as Daniel Wilde
1971
0.0
Promise at Dawn
as Jean-Michel Serusier
1970
5.3
Give Her the Moon
as Captain Ragot
1970
5.4
The Madwoman of Chaillot
as Police sergeant
1969
7.1
Guns for San Sebastian
as Governor
1968
7.0
How to Steal a Million
as Grammont
1966
7.5
The Woman from Beirut
as Dr. Castello
1965
4.5
Harry's Girls
as Andre Giraud
1963
5.0
The Crumblers Are Doing Well
as François Legrand
1961
2.0
Discorama
as Self
1959
0.0
Toto in Paris
as Il dottor Duclos
1958
6.2
School for Coquettes
as Stanislas de La Ferronière
1958
1.5
Hardboiled Egg Time
as Raoul Grandvivier
1958
5.0
La Garçonne
as Georges Sauvage
1957
1.0
Mitsou
as Pierre Duroy-Lelong
1956
3.0
Slightly Ahead
as Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc
1956
6.1
Cinépanorama
as Self
1956
8.0
Thirteen at the Table
as Antoine Villardier
1955
4.3
Royal Affairs in Versailles
as Molière
1954
6.8
The Age of Indiscretion
as Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale
1953
7.0
My Husband Is Marvelous
as Claude Chatel
1953
3.5
The Happiest of Men
as Armand Dupuis-Martin
1952
0.0
My Wife Is Formidable
as Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia
1951
3.6
Gunman in the Streets
as Commissioner Dufresne
1950
6.4
Le Traqué
as Commissioner Dufresne
1950
0.0
La Ronde
as Charles Breitkopf, son mari
1950
7.3
Mademoiselle Josette, ma femme
as André Ternay
1950
0.0
Du Guesclin
as Bertrand du Guesclin
1949
5.1
Captain Blomet
as Blomet
1947
0.0
Once Is Enough
as Jacques Reval
1946
1.0
Paméla
as Paul Barras
1945
5.7
La Rabouilleuse
as Colonel Philippe Brideau
1944
7.0
Domino
as Dominique
1943
5.2
Captain Fracasse
as Baron de Cigognac
1943
6.3
Fantastic Night
as Denis
1942
5.9
Threesome Romance
as Charles
1942
5.5
Foolish Husbands
as Gérard Barbier
1941
6.0
Four Flights to Love
as Pierre Leblan
1939
6.2
The Last Turning
as Frank Maurice
1939
6.3
Breakdowns of 1938
as Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)
1938
5.0
The Great Waltz
as Johann 'Schani' Strauss II
1938
5.7
Hollywood Goes to Town
as Self
1938
7.0
Fools for Scandal
as Rene
1938
6.2
Screen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6
as Self
1938
0.0
The Lie of Nina Petrovna
as Lieutenant Franz Korff
1937
5.6
The King and the Chorus Girl
as Alfred Bruger VII
1937
5.5
Mister Flow
as Antonin Rose
1936
6.5
Symphonie D'Amour
as Charles Panard
1936
0.0
Seven Men, One Woman
as Viscount Brémontier
1936
5.7
Fanfare of Love
as Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "
1935
7.0
Touche-à-tout
as Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'
1935
0.0
Varieté
as Pierre
1935
6.0
Monsieur Sans-Gêne
as Fernand Martin
1935
0.0
Antonia
as Captain Douglas Parker
1935
0.0
Si j'étais le patron
as Henri Janvier
1934
6.7
🎬
C'était un musicien
as Jean
1934
0.0
The Queen's Affair
as Carl
1934
0.0
Court Waltzes
as Franz
1933
0.0
The Premature Father
as Édouard Puma & Fred
1933
0.0
Bitter Sweet
as Carl Linden
1933
7.0
Early to Bed
as Carl
1933
0.0
The Improvised Son
as Fernand Brassart
1932
0.0
Passionately
as Robert Perceval
1932
0.0
A Star Vanishes
as Self
1932
0.0
Ladies Hairdresser
as Mario
1932
0.0
You Will Be a Duchess
as Marquis André de la Cour
1932
0.0
Un homme en habit
as André de Lussanges
1931
0.0
Let's Get Married
as Francis Latour
1931
0.0
Love Songs
as Armand Petitjean
1930
5.0
🎬
Loyalty
as Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke
1914
6.5
Monsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard
as Le petit Paul
1913
6.0
Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis
as Fernand Mertens
1913
5.3