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.
1976
as (archive footage)
1971
as Les marquis
1971
as Labrize
1971
as Daniel Wilde
1970
as Jean-Michel Serusier
1970
as Captain Ragot
1969
as Police sergeant
1968
as Governor
1966
as Grammont
1965
as Dr. Castello
1963
as Andre Giraud
1961
as François Legrand
1958
as Il dottor Duclos
1958
as Stanislas de La Ferronière
1958
as Raoul Grandvivier
1957
as Georges Sauvage
1956
as Pierre Duroy-Lelong
1956
as Olivier Parker, le faux entraîneur hippique, escroc
1955
as Antoine Villardier
1954
as Molière
1953
as Padre di Andrea, presidente del tribunale
1953
as Claude Chatel
1952
as Armand Dupuis-Martin
1951
as Raymond Corbier, sculpteur et mari de Sylvia
1950
as Commissioner Dufresne
1950
as Commissioner Dufresne
1950
as Charles Breitkopf, son mari
1950
as André Ternay
1949
as Bertrand du Guesclin
1947
as Blomet
1946
as Jacques Reval
1945
as Paul Barras
1944
as Colonel Philippe Brideau
1943
as Domino
1943
as Baron de Cigognac
1942
as Denis
1942
as Charles
1941
as Gérard Barbier
1939
as Pierre Leblan
1939
as Frank
1938
as Rene (archive footage) (uncredited)
1938
as Johann 'Schani' Strauss II
1938
as Self
1938
as Rene
1937
as Lieutenant Franz Korff
1937
as Alfred Bruger VII
1936
as Antonin Rose
1936
as Charles Panard
1936
as Viscount Brémontier
1935
as Jean Rameau / Jeanette, piano des " Tulipes Hollandaises "
1935
as Georges Martin aka 'Touche-à-Tout'
1935
as Pierre
1935
as Fernand Martin
1935
as Captain Douglas Parker
1934
as Henri Janvier
1934
as Jean
1934
as Carl
1933
as Franz
1933
as Édouard Puma & Fred
1933
as Carl Linden
1933
as Carl
1932
as Fernand Brassart
1932
as Robert Perceval
1932
as Self
1932
as Mario
1932
as Marquis André de la Cour
1931
as André de Lussanges
1931
as Francis Latour
1930
as Armand Petitjean
1914
as Jonge Jefke / Young Jefke
1913
as Le petit Paul
1913
as Fernand Mertens