Obituaries

Gigi Star Louis Jourdan Dies at 93

The French film actor originated the role of Gaston Lachaille in the Lerner and Loewe musical ”Gigi”.

Famed French actor Louis Jourdan died at the age of 93 in Beverly Hills.
Famed French actor Louis Jourdan died at the age of 93 in Beverly Hills.

Debonair Hollywood actor Louis Jourdan, best known for starring in the 1958 Oscar-winning film Gigi, died on February 14 at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 93 years old.

Born Louis Robert Gendre in Marseille in 1921, Jourdan began his film career in France during World War II, during which time he worked with his father in the French Resistance. He later moved his career to America after being spotted in a French film by a talent scout working for David O. Selznick, beginning with the 1947 film The Paradine Case, starring Gregory Peck and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. His other early American film credits include Letter From an Unknown Woman opposite Joan Fontaine, No Minor Vices, Madame Bovary, Bird of Paradise, Anne of the Indies, The Happy Time, Decameron Nights, and Three Coins in the Fountain.

In 1954, Jourdan made his Broadway debut in the Billy Rose stage adaptation of André Gide's novel The Immoralist, followed by a 1955 run in Tonight in Samarkand. That same year also marked his American television debut as Inspector Beaumont in the series Paris Precinct.

He appeared in a number of other major films throughout the 1950s including The Swan, The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful, and Julie. His most notable film role, however, came in 1958 as Gaston Lachaille, the romantic lead opposite Leslie Caron in the classic Lerner and Loewe musical film Gigi. The film won nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Jourdan returned to the musical film genre in 1960, costarring with Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, and Maurice Chevalier in Can-Can.

He returned to Broadway in 1978 in 13 Rue de l'Amour. His later screen credits include 1977's Count Dracula for the BBC and the 1978 Columbo episode Murder Under Glass. He also took on the role of Anton Arcane in the movie Swamp Thing (1982), reprising the part in its sequel The Return of Swamp Thing (1989), and played the villainous Kamal Khan in the James Bond movie Octopussy (1983). Throughout the 1970s Jourdan also recorded a series of spoken-word albums of the Babar the Elephant books, released by Caedmon Records.

In 1946, Jourdan married his childhood sweetheart Berthe Frédérique "Quique", who died last year. Together they had a son, Louis Henry Jourdan, in 1951, who died of a drug overdose in 1981. The actor holds two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and in July 2010, was made an Officier de la Legion d'honneur.