Buzz Osborne
American musician
Maurice Chevalier was a legendary French singer, actor, and entertainer known for his signature songs like “Livin’ In The Sunlight” and “Thank Heaven for Little Girls,” as well as his starring roles in classic Hollywood films. He was a true icon of the entertainment industry, captivating audiences with his charming performances and signature tuxedo and boater hat look.
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About the Maurice Chevalier
Maurice Auguste Chevalierwas a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is 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, Frehel. Although their relationship was brief, she secured him his first major engagement, as a mimic and a singer in l’Alcazar 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 Dede to Broadway in 1922. He developed an interest in acting and had success in Dede. 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 Paradeand 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 Can-Can 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. He died in Paris, on 1 January 1972, from complications of a suicide attempt.
Frequently Asked Questions
Some of Maurice Chevalier’s signature songs include ,Livin’ In The Sunlight,, ,Valentine,, ,Louise,, ,Mimi,, and ,Thank Heaven for Little Girls,.
Maurice Chevalier starred in several classic Hollywood films, including The Love Parade, The Big Pond, The Smiling Lieutenant, One Hour with You, and Love Me Tonight.
Maurice Chevalier’s trademark attire was a boater hat and tuxedo, which became his iconic look.
Chevalier 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, who secured him his first major engagement as a mimic and singer.
Chevalier went to Hollywood in 1928, where he played his first American role in the film Innocents of Paris.
In 1957, Chevalier appeared in Love in the Afternoon, 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 Can-Can in 1960 and Fanny the following year. His final contribution to the film industry was singing the title song of the Disney film The Aristocats in 1970.
Maurice Chevalier died in Paris on January 1, 1972, from complications of a suicide attempt.
11 Quotes by Maurice Chevalier
- 1.
If you wait for the perfect moment when all is safe and assured, it may never arrive. Mountains will not be climbed, races won, or lasting happiness achieved.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 2.
Many a man has fallen in love with a girl in a light so dim he would not have chosen a suit by it.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 3.
The French are true romantics. They feel the only difference between a man of forty and one of seventy is thirty years of experience.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 4.
The crime of loving is forgetting.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 5.
Old age isn’t so bad when you consider the alternative.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 6.
Those whose approval you seek most give you the least.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 7.
A comfortable old age is the reward of a well-spent youth. Instead of its bringing sad and melancholy prospects of decay, it would give us hopes of eternal youth in a better world.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 8.
It is always the same: women bedeck themselves with jewels and furs, and men with wit and quotations.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 9.
You don’t stop laughing because you grow older. You grow older because you stop laughing.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 10.
An artist carries on throughout his life a mysterious, uninterrupted conversation with his public.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)
- 11.
The older one gets the more one comes to resemble oneself.
Maurice ChevalierFrench singer, actor, and entertainer (1888-1972)