Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Chevalier , 1888-1972, French singer and film actor. He made his debut in 1900 singing and dancing at the Casino de Tourelles, Paris. As the dancing partner of Mistinguett and as the star of several Paris music halls, he won his public by his charm and inimitable smile; by 1928 his reputation was international. He became famous for his portrayal of the debonair man-about-town, typically sporting a straw hat and a cane. Among his later films are Love in the Afternoon (1956), Gigi (1958), Can-Can (1959), and Fanny (1961).

Bibliography: See his autobiographies With Love (1960) and I Remember It Well (1970); study by G. Ringgold and D. Bodeen(1973).

Chevalier, Maurice (1888–1972), French entertainer, singer, and actor, equally popular in Paris, London, and New York. He was with Mistinguett at the Folies-Bergère, 1909–13, and in 1919 made his first appearance in London in the revue Hullo, America! In 1929 he made his American début at the New Amsterdam Roof Garden for Ziegfeld. His straw hat was his trade-mark, and its debonair flourish, combined with a slightly raffish appearance, a quizzical smile, and a seductive voice with a charming broken-English accent, helped to make him a popular idol, who could hold an audience's attention in a one-man show. Such songs as ‘Mimi’ and ‘Louise’ are associated with him. He also made many films.