Biography for
Louis Jourdan More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

19 June 1919, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Birth Name

Louis Gendre

Height

6' (1.83 m)

Mini Biography

Born Louis Gendre, he was educated in France, Britain, and Turkey. He trained as an actor with René Simon at the École Dramatique. He debuted on-screen in 1939, going on to play cultivated, polished, dashing lead roles in a number of French romantic comedies and dramas. During World War II, after his father was arrested by the Gestapo, Louis and his two brothers joined the French underground; his film career came to a halt when he refused to act in Nazi propaganda films. In 1948, David O. Selznick invited him to Hollywood to appear in The Paradine Case (1947); he remained in the USA and went on to star in a number of Hollywood films. After 1953, he appeared in international productions and, in 1958, appeared in Gigi (1958), his best-known film by American audiences. His career was hampered by the limitations of the roles he was offered, most of which featured him as an old-fashioned Continental lover.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Ohad Rosen

Spouse

Berthe Frederique

(11 March 1944 - present) 1 child

Trivia

His son, Louis Henry, committed suicide by drug overdose in 1981.

He was a friend of Albert R. Broccoli

Part of his French Resistance work was to help publish and distribute newspapers for the Underground.

Considered the best player in Darryl F. Zanuck's famous croquet circle.

He moved back to France after his career in Hollywood.

He has two stars in "Walk of Fame".

Brother of director Pierre Jourdan.

Played the Chevalier role in Gigi on stage at the age of 63. Chevalier was 70 and frail when he did the movie.

It was he who found the body of his only child, Louis Henry, 29, in his Beverly Hills home. His son had suffered from depression and had apparently taken an overdose of drugs. The police labeled it a suicide, even though it may have been an accidental overdose.

His wife is called 'Quique'. They were childhood sweethearts.

He grew up in the south of France with 2 brothers. Parents Yvonne Jourdan and Henry Gendre managed a string of hotels in Cannes, Nice, and Marseilles. He perfected his English by speaking to tourists.

Doesn't watch his own films.

According to an 1985 news article, he reads Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.

Favourite music is Wagner.

Only son, Louis Henry George Jourdan, was born October 6, 1951.

He was nominated for a 1975 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for his performance in the play, "13 Rue De L'Amour," at the Arlington Park Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.

Personal Quotes

Speaking of Gregory Peck's nearly perfect good looks: "He can be funny, which is fortunate; otherwise such perfection would be unbearable."

I didn't want to be perpetually cooing in a lady's ear. There's not much satisfaction in it.

There are actors in this town who made important careers for a long, long period just by taking the parts that Cary Grant turned down.

I never see my movies. When they're on television I click them away. Hollywood created an image and I long ago reconciled myself with it. I was the French cliché.

I would rather be called a character actor than a star.

Where Are They Now

(2009) He is retired and living in Vielle, in the South of France.

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