Louis Jourdan was born Louis Robert Gendre in Marseille, France, to Yvonne , 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. Jourdan died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, in 2015. He was 93.
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 has two stars on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame".
Older brother of director Pierre Jourdan.
Played the Maurice Chevalier role in "Gigi" on stage at the age of 63. Chevalier was 70 and frail when he did the movie Gigi .
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.
Doesnt watch his own films.
According to an 1985 news article, he reads Nietzsche and Schopenhauer.
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 LAmour", at the Arlington Park Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
Played Edmond Dantes in "The Story of the Count of Monte Cristo" and later played De Villefort in "The Count of Monte Cristo".
He is retired and living in Los Angeles, CA.
At the beginning of the 40s, he was engaged to Micheline Presle , whom he first met during a holiday in St.Tropez in 1938. They were close to getting married at one point, but eventually broke up in a hard way. Jourdan took this so badly that, when he was reunited with Micheline in Flicie Nanteuil , he refused to speak any word to her except for when they were in front of the camera. Micheline was initially irritated by this, but eventually ended up laughing at the whole thing.
His father was the manager of the Cannes Grand Htel during WW2.
In 2010, Jourdon received the French Legion of Honor. The French Ambassador to the U.S presented the medal in Los Angeles, California.
Brother of assistant director Robert Gendre.
He appeared in two adaptations of Alexandre Dumas s 1844 novel "The Count of Monte Cristo". He played the title character Edmond Dants in Le comte de Monte Cristo and his enemy Villefort in The Count of Monte-Cristo .
Was good friends with his Julie co-star, Doris Day. They lived across the street (Crescent Drive) from each other in Beverly Hills, California.
Hollywood created an image and I long ago reconciled myself with it. I,was the French clich.
I would rather be called a character actor than a star.
When one has been married over thirty years, of course it would be,absurd not to admit there have been some difficulties, at some times.
But the important thing is that we have weathered them.
