Chevalier, Maurice

(1888-1972)

   singer, entertainer, actor

   Born in Paris, Maurice Chevalier began his career at the age of 13, singing in cafés. There, he quickly developed the style and characteristics (smoking a cigarette and wearing a straw hat with an air of insouciance) that would become his famous and widely imitated trademark. At age 21, Chevalier was a featured performer at the Folies-Bergère and, after serving in World War I, returned to the operetta and music hall stages of Paris and London. Since 1914, he had also appeared in some minor films of the director Max Linder, but his cinematographic career reached its apogee when, between 1928 and 1935, he made 12 films for Hollywood. These included The Love Parade (1929), The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), Love Me Tonight (1932), The Merry Widow (1934), and Folies Bergère (1935). Among later films were Gigi (1958), Can-Can (1960), and Fanny (1961). Chevalier returned to France in 1935 and remained in seclusion during World War II. Later, he toured various parts of the world with his one-man shows, the last of these being in Paris in 1968. Chevalier's charm and style are also evident in a number of brief memoirs that he wrote in his later years.