Chevalier was born inParis. He made his name as a star ofmusical comedy, appearing in public as a singer and dancer at an early age before working in menial jobs as a teenager. In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France at the time,Fréhel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer inl'Alcazar inMarseille, for which he received critical acclaim by French theatre critics. In 1917, he discoveredjazz andragtime and went to London, where he found new success at thePalace Theatre.
After this, he toured the United States, where he met the American composersGeorge Gershwin andIrving Berlin and brought theoperettaDédé toBroadway in 1922. He developed an interest in acting and had success inDédé. Whentalkies arrived, he went to Hollywood in 1928, where he played his first American role inInnocents of Paris. In 1930, he was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Actor for his roles inThe Love Parade (1929) andThe Big Pond (1930), which secured his first big American hits, "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" and "Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight".
In 1957, he appeared inLove in the Afteroon, which was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years. In 1958, he starred withLeslie Caron andLouis Jourdan inGigi. In the early 1960s, he made eight films, includingCan-Can in 1960 andFanny the following year. In 1970, he made his final contribution to the film industry where he sang the title song of the Disney filmThe Aristocats. He died in Paris, on 1 January 1972, from complications of a suicide attempt.
Chevalier was born on 12 September 1888 in Paris to Victor Charles Chevalier (1854–1916), a French house painter, and Joséphine (née Van Den Bossche, 1852–1929) a lace-maker of Belgian (Flemish) descent.[4] He had two brothers, Charles (1877–1938) and Paul (1884–1969).[5][6] Victor, an alcoholic, deserted the family in 1896, leaving Joséphine to feed and take care of the children on her own; forced to work much longer hours, she was hospitalized for overwork in 1898. Charles, the eldest, took over some responsibilities but was married in 1900, leaving his mother to take care of Maurice and Paul on her own.
Paul was forced to find work, and eventually secured a job at a metal-engraving factory; the brothers became very close with their mother during this time, nicknaming her "La Louque", after whom Maurice would later name hisMarnes-la-Coquette estate. Determined to be an acrobat, Maurice left school aged ten but was convinced to abandon this after a severe injury. He tried a number of other jobs: a carpenter's apprentice, an electrician, a printer, and even as a doll painter. Chevalier was eventually able to hold down a job at a mattress factory, and became interested in performing; while daydreaming his finger was crushed in a machine and he was forced to stop working.[7]
While recovering, in 1900, he offered his services as a performer to the skeptical owner of a nearby café. Chevalier performed his first song there,V'la Les Croquants, although his performance was met with laughter as he had sung three octaves too high. Discouraged, Maurice returned home, where his mother and brother Paul encouraged him to continue practicing. He continued singing, unpaid, at the café until a member of the theatre saw him and suggested he try for a local musical. Chevalier got the part, and began to make a name as a mimic and a singer. His act in l'Alcazar inMarseille was so successful, on his return to Paris he was met by an admiring crowd.
In 1909, he became the partner of the biggest female star in France,Fréhel. However, due to heralcoholism anddrug addiction, their liaison ended in 1911. Chevalier later said that he became addicted to cocaine during this time, a habit that he was able to quit because he had no access to the drug as a prisoner of war in World War I.[8] After splitting with Fréhel, he then started a relationship with 36-year-oldMistinguett at theFolies Bergère,[3] where he was her younger dance partner; they eventually played out a public romance.
WhenWorld War I began, Chevalier was in the middle of his national service, already in the front line, where he was wounded byshrapnel in the back in the first weeks of combat and was taken as aprisoner of war inGermany for two years, where he learned English.[3] In 1916, he was released through the secret intervention ofMistinguett's admirer,King Alfonso XIII of Spain, the only king of a neutral country who was related to both the British and German royal families.[9]
In 1917, Chevalier became a star in le Casino de Paris and played before British soldiers and Americans.[3] He discoveredjazz andragtime and started thinking about touring theUnited States. In the prison camp, he had studied English and had an advantage over other French artists. He went toLondon, where he found new success at thePalace Theatre, even though he still sang inFrench.
After the war, Chevalier went back to Paris and created several songs still known today, such as "Valentine" (1924). He played in a few pictures, including Chaplin'sA Woman of Paris (1923),[3] a rare drama for Chaplin, in which his character ofThe Tramp does not appear, and made an impression in theoperettaDédé. He met the American composersGeorge Gershwin andIrving Berlin and broughtDédé toBroadway in 1922. The same year he metYvonne Vallée, a young dancer, who became his wife in 1927.
While Chevalier was under contract with Paramount, his name was so recognized that his passport was featured in theMarx Brothers filmMonkey Business (1931). In this sequence, each brother uses Chevalier's passport, and tries to sneak off the ocean liner where they were stowaways by claiming to be the singer—with unique renditions of "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" with its line "If the nightingales could sing like you". In 1931, Chevalier starred in a musical calledThe Smiling Lieutenant withClaudette Colbert andMiriam Hopkins.[3] Despite the disdain audiences held for musicals in 1931,[12] it proved a successful film.[13]
In 1932, he starred withJeanette MacDonald in Paramount's film musicalOne Hour With You,[3] which became a success and one of the films instrumental in making musicals popular again. Due to its popularity, Paramount starred Maurice Chevalier in another musical calledLove Me Tonight (also 1932), and again co-starring Jeanette MacDonald.[3] It is about a tailor who falls in love with a princess when he goes to a castle to collect a debt and is mistaken for a baron. Featuring songs byRichard Rodgers andLorenz Hart, it was directed byRouben Mamoulian,[3] who, with the help of the songwriters, was able to put into the score his ideas of the integrated musical (a musical which blends songs and dialogue so the songs advance the plot).[3] It is considered one of the greatest film musicals of all time.[12]
InThe Merry Widow (1934)
In 1934, he starred in the first sound film of theFranz Lehár operettaThe Merry Widow, one of his best-known films,[3] though he felt his role was too narrow and repetitive. He then signed with MGM forThe Man from the Folies Bergère, his own favourite of his films. After a disagreement over his star-billing, he returned to France in 1935 to resume his music-hall career.
Even when he was the highest-paid star in Hollywood, Chevalier had a reputation as a penny-pincher. He later admitted that he was hesitant to spend money on things such as changing the blade of his razor as he had grown up in poverty, remarking that "poverty is a disease that can never be cured."[14] When not playing around with young chorus-girls, he actually felt quite lonely, and sought the company ofAdolphe Menjou andCharles Boyer, also French, but both much better educated than Chevalier. Boyer in particular introduced him to art galleries and good literature, and Chevalier would try to copy him as the man of taste. But at other times, he would 'revert to type' as the bitter and impoverished street-kid he was at heart. When performing in English, he always put on a heavy French accent, although his normal spoken English was quite fluent and sounded more American.[15]
In 1937, Chevalier married the dancer Nita Raya. He had several successes, such as his revueParis en Joie in the Casino de Paris. A year later, he performed inAmours de Paris. His songs remained big hits, such as "Prosper" (1935), "Ma Pomme" (1936) and "Ça fait d'excellents français" (1939).
Chevalier continued performing for as long as he could freely, retreating to thefree zone in the south of France with his Jewish wife and her parents as well as some friends following the 1940 invasion byGerman troops. During this time, patriotic songs such as "Ça sent si bon la France" and "Paris sera Toujours Paris" became popular, and he held charity balls and performed to raise money for resistance efforts. Chevalier consistently refused to perform for theVichy France collaborators, and feigned illness, but eventually, out of fear for the safety of his wife and her parents, he reluctantly agreed to a deal.[16] He refused to perform on the collaborating stationRadio Paris, but agreed to perform for prisoners of war at the very camp in which he had been incarcerated during World War I. The performance was given in exchange for the release of ten French prisoners.[17]
In 1942, Chevalier was named on a list ofFrench collaborators with Germany to be killed during the war, or tried after it.[18] That year he moved to La Bocca, nearCannes, but returned to the capital city in September. In 1944 whenAllied forces freed France, Chevalier was accused of collaboration.[3] The 28 August 1944, issue ofStars and Stripes, the daily newspaper of U.S. armed forces in theEuropean Theater of Operations, reported in error that "Maurice Chevalier Slain ByMaquis, Patriots Say". Even though he was acquitted by a French convened court, the English-speaking press remained hostile and he was refused avisa for several years.[16] In a review of the 1969 Oscar-nominated documentary film about French collaborationLe chagrin et la pitié (The Sorrow and the Pity),Simon Heffer draws attention to "a clip of Maurice Chevalier explaining, entirely dishonestly, to an anglophone audience how he had not collaborated."[19]
In his own country, however, he was still popular. In 1946, he split from Nita Raya and, at the age of 58, began writing his memoirs, which took many years to complete.
Playing golf (in plaid) in 1948 in Montreal
He started to collect art and paint, and acted inLe silence est d'or (Man About Town) (1946) byRené Clair.[3] He toured throughout the United States and other parts of the world, then returned to France in 1948.
In 1944, he had participated in a Communist demonstration in Paris. He was therefore even less popular in the U.S. during theMcCarthyism period; in 1951, he was refused re-entry into the U.S. because he had signed theStockholm Appeal.
In 1949, he performed in Stockholm in aCommunist benefit againstnuclear arms. Also in 1949, Chevalier was the subject of the first officialroast at theNew York Friars' Club, although celebrities had been informally "roasted" at banquets since 1910.[20]
In 1952, he bought a large property inMarnes-la-Coquette, near Paris, and named it La Louque,[21] as a homage to his mother's nickname. He started a relationship in 1952 with Janie Michels, a young divorcee with three children.
In 1954, after the McCarthy era abated, Chevalier was welcomed back in the United States. His first full American tour was in 1955, withVic Schoen as arranger and musical director. TheBilly Wilder filmLove in the Afternoon (1957) withAudrey Hepburn andGary Cooper,[3] was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years.[22]
In 1957, Chevalier was awarded The George Eastman Award, given byGeorge Eastman House for distinguished contribution to the art of film.
Chevalier appeared in the movie musicalGigi (1958) withLeslie Caron andHermione Gingold, with whom he shared the song "I Remember It Well", and severalWalt Disney films.[3] The success ofGigi prompted Hollywood to give him anAcademy Honorary Award that year for achievements in entertainment.[3] In 1957, he appeared as himself in an episode ofThe Jack Benny Program titled "Jack in Paris". He also appeared as himself in an episode ofThe Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour, titled "Lucy Goes to Mexico".
In the early 1960s, he toured the United States and between 1960 and 1963 made eight films, includingCan-Can (1960) withFrank Sinatra.[3] In 1961, he starred in the dramaFanny withLeslie Caron andCharles Boyer, an updated version ofMarcel Pagnol's "Marseilles Trilogy".[3] In 1962, he filmedPanic Button (not released until 1964), playing oppositeJayne Mansfield. In 1965, at age 77, he made another world tour.[3] In 1967 he toured inLatin America, again, the US, Europe and Canada, where he appeared as a special guest atExpo 67.[23] The following year, on 1 October 1968, he announced his farewell tour.
Historical newsreel footage of Chevalier appeared in the 1969Marcel Ophüls documentaryThe Sorrow and the Pity. In a wartime short film near the end of the film's second part, he explained his disappearance during World War II, as rumors of his death lingered at that time, and he emphatically denied any collaboration with the Nazis. His theme song, "Sweepin' the Clouds Away", from the filmParamount on Parade (1930), was one of the film's theme songs and was played in the end credits of the second part.
In 1970, two years after his retirement, songwritersRichard M. and Robert B. Sherman convinced him to sing the title song of the Disney filmThe Aristocats, which ended up being his final contribution to the film industry.
Chevalier suffered from bouts of depression throughout his adult life. On 7 March 1971, he attempted suicide by overdosing onbarbiturates. Rushed to the hospital, Chevalier was saved but suffered liver and kidney damage as a result of the drug. In the following months, he suffered memory lapses, chronic tiredness, and spent much of his time alone. On 12 December, he fell ill and was taken to Paris'sNecker Hospital and placed on dialysis. By 30 December, doctors announced his kidneys were no longer responding to dialysis. Too frail for a transplant, he underwent surgery as a last-ditch effort to save his life. It was unsuccessful; Chevalier died from a cardiac arrest following kidney surgery on New Year's Day 1972, aged 83.
He is interred in the cemetery of Marnes-la-Coquette inHauts-de-Seine, outside Paris, France, with his mother, "La Louque".[24]
Author Michael Freedland said in his 1981 biography of Chevalier that the actor Felix Paquet, who became close to Chevalier during the 1960s, cut off contact with all of his friends and family in hopes of securing access to his fortune. Freedland alleges that Paquet, eighteen years Chevalier's junior, intercepted mail and withheld information about Maurice's health in the months before his death.[26]
MacDiarmid, Hugh, "The Scottish Renaissance: The Next Step", in Holroyd, Ian F., and Stedman, Iain F.B. (eds.),Jabberwock: Edinburgh University Review, Vol. III, No. 2, Summer 1950, Edinburgh University Sudents' Representative Council, pp. 3 - 7
Chevalier, Maurice (1949).The Man in the Straw Hat, My Story. New York: Crowell.
Gene Ringgold and DeWitt Bodeen (1973).Chevalier. The Films and Career of Maurice Chevalier. Secaucus, New Jersey: The Citadel Press.ISBN0-8065-0354-8.
Harvey Fierstein / Marco Paguia, David Oquendo, Renesito Avich, Gustavo Schartz, Javier Días, Román Diaz, Mauricio Herrera, Jesus Ricardo, Eddie Venegas, Hery Paz, and Leonardo Reyna / Jamie Harrison, Chris Fisher, Gary Beestone, and Edward Pierce (2025)
