Maurice Chevalier

Maurice Auguste Chevalier September 12 1888 January 1 1972 was a French actor cabaret singer and entertainer He is perhaps best known for his signature songs including Livin In The Sunlight Valentine Louise Mimi and Thank Heaven for Little Girls and for his films including The Love Parade The Big Pond The Smiling Lieutenant One Hour with You and Love Me Tonight His trademark attire was a boater hat and tuxedo Chevalier was born in Paris He made his name as a star of musical 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 in lAlcazar in Marseille for which he received critical acclaim by French theatre critics In 1917 he discovered jazz and ragtime and went to London where he found new success at the Palace Theatre After this he toured the United States where he met the American composers George Gershwin and Irving Berlin and brought the operetta Dédé to Broadway in 1922 He developed an interest in acting and had success in Dédé When talkies arrived he went to Hollywood in 1928 where he played his first American role in Innocents of Paris In 1930 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in The Love Parade 1929 and The 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 in Love in the Afternoon which was his first Hollywood film in more than 20 years In 1958 he starred with Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan in Gigi In the early 1960s he made eight films including CanCan in 1960 and Fanny the following year In 1970 he made his final contribution to the film industry where he sang the title song of the Disney film The Aristocats Description above from the Wikipedia article Maurice Chevalier licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia