Acting · Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium · Born December 25, 1905
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.
MovieThat's Entertainment, Part II
1976
as (archive footage)
TVLa Maison des bois
1971
as Le marquis de Fresnoy
MovieThe Hideout
1971
as Labrize
Pas moral pour deux sous
1971
as Daniel Wilde
MoviePromise at Dawn
1970
as Jean-Michel Serusier
MovieGive Her the Moon
1970
as Captain Ragot
MovieThe Madwoman of Chaillot
1969
as Police sergeant
MovieGuns for San Sebastian
1967
as Governor
MovieHow to Steal a Million
1966
as Grammont
MovieThe Woman from Beirut
1965
as Dr. Castello
TVHarry's Girls
1963
as Andre Giraud
MovieThe Crumblers Are Doing Well
1961
as François Legrand
TVDiscorama
1959
as Self
MovieToto in Paris
1958
as Il dottor Duclos
MovieSchool for Coquettes
1958
as Stanislas de La Ferronière
MovieHardboiled Egg Time
1958
as Raoul Grandvivier
MovieLa Garçonne
1957
as Georges Sauvage
MovieMitsou
1956
as Pierre Duroy-Lelong
MovieSlightly Ahead
1956
as Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc
TVCinépanorama
1956
as Self
MovieThirteen at the Table
1955
as Antoine Villardier
TVMGM Parade
1955
as Self
MovieRoyal Affairs in Versailles
1953
as Molière
MovieThe Age of Indiscretion
1953
as Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale
MovieMy Husband Is Marvelous
1953
as Claude Chatel
MovieThe Happiest of Men
1952
as Armand Dupuis-Martin
MovieMy Wife Is Formidable
1951
as Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia
MovieGunman in the Streets
1950
as Commissioner Dufresne
MovieLe Traqué
1950
as Commissioner Dufresne
MovieLa Ronde
1950
as Charles Breitkopf, son mari
MovieMademoiselle Josette, ma femme
1950
as André Ternay
MovieDu Guesclin
1949
as Bertrand du Guesclin
MovieCaptain Blomet
1947
as Blomet
MovieOnce Is Enough
1946
as Jacques Reval
MoviePaméla
1945
as Paul Barras
MovieLa Rabouilleuse
1944
as Colonel Philippe Brideau
MovieDomino
1943
as Dominique
MovieCaptain Fracasse
1943
as Baron de Cigognac
MovieFantastic Night
1942
as Denis
MovieThreesome Romance
1942
as Charles
MovieFoolish Husbands
1941
as Gérard Barbier
MovieFour Flights to Love
1939
as Pierre Leblan
MovieThe Last Turning
1939
as Frank Maurice
MovieBreakdowns of 1938
1938
as Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)
MovieThe Great Waltz
1938
as Johann 'Schani' Strauss II
MovieHollywood Goes to Town
1938
as Self
MovieFools for Scandal
1938
as Rene
MovieScreen Snapshots Series 17, No. 6
1938
as Self
MovieThe Lie of Nina Petrovna
1937
as Lieutenant Franz Korff
MovieThe King and the Chorus Girl
1937
as Alfred Bruger VII
MovieMister Flow
1936
as Antonin Rose
MovieSymphonie D'Amour
1936
as Charles Panard
MovieSeven Men, One Woman
1936
as Viscount Brémontier
MovieFanfare of Love
1935
as Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "
MovieTouche-à-tout
1935
as Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'
MovieVarieté
1935
as Pierre
MovieMonsieur Sans-Gêne
1935
as Fernand Martin
MovieAntonia
1935
as Captain Douglas Parker
MovieSi j'étais le patron
1934
as Henri Janvier
C'était un musicien
1934
as Jean
MovieThe Queen's Affair
1934
as Carl
MovieCourt Waltzes
1933
as Franz
MovieThe Premature Father
1933
as Édouard Puma & Fred
MovieBitter Sweet
1933
as Carl Linden
Early to Bed
1933
as Carl
MovieThe Improvised Son
1932
as Fernand Brassart
MoviePassionately
1932
as Robert Perceval
MovieA Star Vanishes
1932
as Self
MovieLadies Hairdresser
1932
as Mario
MovieYou Will Be a Duchess
1932
as Marquis André de la Cour
MovieUn homme en habit
1931
as André de Lussanges
MovieLet's Get Married
1931
as Francis Latour
MovieLove Songs
1930
as Armand Petitjean
Loyalty
1914
as Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke
MovieMonsieur Beulemeester, Civic Guard
1913
as Le petit Paul
MovieSaïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis
1913
as Fernand Mertens
