Maurice Chevalier’s rendition of Thank Heaven for Little Girls may be the best known tune from the Best Picture Oscar-winner GIGI from 1958, but it was the romantic lead of the film, Louis Jourdan, who crooned the title song. It was Jourdan’s best-known role, but the French actor had a long, distinguished career, which began in Europe in the late 1930s. During World War II he joined the French underground and his film career came to a halt when he refused to act in Nazi propaganda films. He came to Hollywood where some of his notable film roles included Hitchcock’s THE PARADINE CASE (1947), THREE COINS IN A FOUNTAIN (1954), and CAN-CAN (1960). He played the 007 villain Kamal in OCTOPUSSY in 1983 and I remember him starring in a terrific adaption of DRACULA that was filmed for the BBC in 1977. Louis Jourdan died on Valentine’s Day at his home in Beverly Hills, California at age 93.
From Yahoo News:
Veteran French actor Louis Jourdan, who starred in “Gigi” and “Octopussy”, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 93, his official biographer said.Jourdan died of natural causes at his Beverly Hills home on Saturday, author Olivier Minne told AFP by phone from Paris.”He embodied French elegance and Hollywood offered him the parts to go with that,” Minne said.Like his contemporaries Maurice Chevalier and Jean-Pierre Aumont, Jourdan used his Gallic charm and good looks to conquer Hollywood…..
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