Biography for
Mel Ferrer (I)

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Date of Birth

25 August 1917, Elberon, New Jersey, USA

Date of Death

2 June 2008, Santa Barbara, California, USA (heart failure)

Birth Name

Melchor Gaston Ferrer

Height

6' 3" (1.91 m)

Mini Biography

Actor/director/producer Mel Ferrer was born Melchor Gaston Ferrer on August 25, 1917, in Elberon, New Jersey. The son of a Cuban-born surgeon and a Manhattan socialite, he went to prep school and attended Princeton University. From the age of 15 he worked in summer stock. After Princeton he became an editor on a small Vermont newspaper and wrote a children's book, "Tito's Hats." He became a chorus dancer on Broadway in 1938 in two musicals and made his New York debut as an actor two years later. After a bout with polio he started in radio as a disc jockey in Texas and Arkansas and rose to producer-director of top-rated shows for NBC in New York. He made a modest debut as a director at Columbia with the low-budget The Girl of the Limberlost (1945), then returned to acting on Broadway to star in Lillian Smith's "Strange Fruit." He was John Ford's assistant on The Fugitive (1947).

Ferrer made his screen acting debut in Lost Boundaries (1949). He is best remembered for the role of the lame puppeteer in Lili (1953) and as Prince Andrei in War and Peace (1956). He directed Claudette Colbert in The Secret Fury (1950) and Audrey Hepburn - his wife at the time - in Green Mansions (1959). Ferrer produced the hit Wait Until Dark (1967), also with Hepburn. In the following year, the couple separated and ultimately divorced. Since 1960 he has been producing and acting mainly in Europe. Ferrer is married and lives in Lausanne, Switzerland.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Courtesy of the Falcon Crest Homepage

Spouse

Elizabeth Soukutine	(19 February 1971 - 2 June 2008) (his death)
Audrey Hepburn	(25 September 1954 - 5 December 1968) (divorced) 1 child
Frances Gunby Pilchard	(1944 - ?) (divorced) 2 children
Barbara C. Tripp	(1940 - ?) (divorced) 2 children
Frances Gunby Pilchard	(23 October 1937 - 1939) (divorced) 1 child

Trivia

Father of Sean H. Ferrer with Audrey Hepburn

Brother of famous cardiologist and educator Dr. M. Irené Ferrer. She helped refine the cardiac catheter and electrocardiogram, which have become diagnostic essentials in heart treatment.

His oldest child, with Pilchard, died as an infant.

After divorcing his first wife, Frances Pilchard, he married Barbara Tripp. He then divorced Tripp so he could remarry Pilchard.

Member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1962

Wife Audrey Hepburn did not want to be separated from her husband while filming Funny Face (1957), so filming of the Paris scenes was timed to coincide with Ferrer's filming of Elena et les hommes (1956).

Spoke French fluently.

Born to a Cuban-born father, a surgeon, and his wife, a New York socialite, he grew up in New Jersey.

Not related to José Ferrer and Miguel Ferrer.

Father of five children: Pepa Phillippa (born on 19 August 1941) and Mark Young Ferrer (born on 19 June 1944) with Frances Pilchard, Mela (born on 22 January 1943) and Christopher Ferrer (born on 4 February 1944) with Barbara C. Tripp, and Sean Ferrer (born on 17 July 1960) with Audrey Hepburn.

Made his Broadway debut as an actor at age 23, two years after making his debut as a dancer aged 21.

After attending Princeton University until his sophomore year, he abandoned his studies and worked as an editor of a Vermont newspaper. He also wrote a children's book named "Tito's Hat".

Salary

War and Peace (1956)	$100,000
Lost Boundaries (1949)	$7,500

Where Are They Now

(January 2008) Officialy retired from acting on his 80th birthday in 1997 and now resides in Lausanne, Switzerland.

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