Actors
All filmographies
Movies
Explore every movie
Series
Most watched shows
Play
Trivia, challenges & battles
🍿
Home Actors Movies Series Play
Language: English
▶
Actor Evolution
121.0K subscribers
Fernand Gravey
Fernand Gravey
64 years (Dec 25, 1905 – Nov 2, 1970)
Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium
63 Movies
2 TV Shows

Fernand Gravey

Seen across enough titles, Fernand Gravey turns into a familiar face whose accumulated screen time beats that of most leading names. Very few actors keep finding work for 113 years. The most visible line on the filmography is 'How to Steal a Million' (Grammont). There is 'La Ronde' as well.
Seen across enough titles, Fernand Gravey turns into a familiar face whose accumulated screen time beats that of most leading names. Very few actors keep finding work for 113 years. The most visible line on the filmography is 'How to Steal a Million' (Grammont). There is 'La Ronde' as well.
Movies
Latest Trailers
Promise at Dawn
Watch Trailer
Promise at Dawn
Full Filmography
La Maison des bois
Le marquis de Fresnoy · 5 episodes
★ 7.0
1971–
TV
The Hideout
Labrize
★ 3.7
1971
Film
Promise at Dawn
Jean-Michel Serusier
★ 5.5
1970
Film
Give Her the Moon
Captain Ragot
★ 5.8
1970
Film
The Madwoman of Chaillot
Police sergeant
★ 7.3
1969
Film
Guns for San Sebastian
Governor
★ 7.1
1967
Film
How to Steal a Million
Grammont
★ 7.5
1966
Film
The Woman from Beirut
Dr. Castello
★ 5.4
1965
Film
Harry's Girls
Andre Giraud · 1 episode
★ 6.0
1963–
TV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Fernand Gravey still alive?
Fernand Gravey passed away on November 2, 1970 at age 64.
What are the most famous roles of Fernand Gravey?
Fernand Gravey is best known for roles in How to Steal a Million, La Ronde, Guns for San Sebastian.
How many movies has Fernand Gravey been in?
Over a 57-year career (since 1913), Fernand Gravey has appeared in 63 movies and 2 TV shows.
What was Fernand Gravey's first movie?
The career of Fernand Gravey began with Saïda Makes Off with the Manneken Pis (1913).
What is Fernand Gravey's most recent movie or series?
Fernand Gravey's most recent release is La Maison des bois, which premiered on September 12, 1971.
What TV shows has Fernand Gravey appeared in?
On television, Fernand Gravey has appeared in La Maison des bois, Cinépanorama, Harry's Girls, MGM Parade.
Loading…
Fernand Gravey
Fernand Gravey
1905-12-25 · Ixelles, Brabant, Belgium

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"

Cookies for stats and ads. They are optional.

Known for
—