Maurice Chevalier Biography Quotes 11 Report mistakes

Early Life
Maurice Chevalier was born on 12 September 1888 in the working-class quarter of Menilmontant in Paris. The youngest of a modest family, he left school early and gravitated to the cafes-concerts and neighborhood music halls that nourished the citys appetite for popular entertainment. By his teens he was appearing on small stages, absorbing styles from comic turns and chansonniers, and learning how to project charm, timing, and a twinkling complicity with an audience that would become his trademark. Parisian impresarios quickly noticed his easy rapport, and he graduated to larger venues in the years just before the First World War.

Rise to Stardom in Paris
Chevaliers ascent was accelerated by collaborations with some of the most celebrated performers on the Paris stage. He worked alongside the singer Frehel early on, then found his most decisive partner and mentor in Mistinguett, the reigning superstar of the Folies-Bergere and the Casino de Paris. Their romantic and professional partnership helped shape his persona: a debonair boulevardier with a boater hat, cane, and the knowing smile that audiences associated with a light, flirtatious Paris. With Mistinguetts guidance and the stewardship of prominent producers, Chevalier refined a repertoire mixing comic patter with tender ballads, and he began recording songs that circulated widely across France.

War and Recovery
When war arrived in 1914, Chevalier served at the front, was wounded, and was taken prisoner by German forces. During his captivity he set about learning English from fellow prisoners and guards, turning a grim experience into an education that would later open international doors. His release in 1916 came as part of efforts mediated by King Alfonso XIII of Spain, whose interventions on behalf of prisoners of war were well known. Back in Paris, Chevalier resumed his career with new determination, headlining at the Casino de Paris and other major houses and rejoining Mistinguett in elaborately staged revues that made him one of the citys most bankable attractions.

Hollywood and Global Fame
The arrival of talking pictures gave Chevalier an ideal platform. Invited to Hollywood at the end of the 1920s, he signed with Paramount and almost immediately became a defining face of the early sound musical. Under director Ernst Lubitsch he starred in The Love Parade (1929) opposite Jeanette MacDonald, establishing a transatlantic screen partnership that continued in One Hour With You (1932) and The Merry Widow (1934). In The Big Pond (1930) with Claudette Colbert, as well as The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) with Colbert and Miriam Hopkins, his lightly risqué persona and accented wordplay were central to the films sophisticated tone. With Rouben Mamoulian he made Love Me Tonight (1932), which featured songs by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, including Isn't It Romantic? and Mimi; Chevaliers relaxed delivery helped make them standards. His work drew Academy Award attention, and for a time he embodied Hollywoods idea of continental charm: witty, musical, and slightly subversive, but always good company.

Return to France and the 1930s
Chevalier returned to Europe in the mid-1930s to continue a prolific stage and screen career. In Paris he headlined major revues and appeared in French films while touring widely. The songs he popularized in this period, delivered with a wink and a lilting rhythm, kept alive the idea of Paris as a city of romance and playfulness even as the political climate grew darker across the continent.

Occupation, Accusations, and Vindication
During the Second World War, Chevalier remained in France. He refused offers to perform in Germany and instead appeared in venues at home, including carefully arranged concerts for French prisoners of war held in camps, where he sought to boost morale and, on occasion, negotiated for the release of compatriots. The complexities of performing under occupation, and his determination to protect colleagues and loved ones, including his companion and later wife Nita Raya, who was Jewish, exposed him to scrutiny after liberation. Investigations by French authorities examined his conduct; he was cleared of collaboration charges and eventually authorized to perform again. The episode left a mark, but he returned to the stage with energy, emphasizing charity performances and touring to rebuild goodwill.

Reinvention and Renewed Stardom
In the late 1940s Chevalier resumed international touring. Political tensions in the early 1950s, including controversy over his signing of peace appeals, complicated his ability to work in the United States. The restrictions were lifted later in the decade, and he reappeared on American television and in motion pictures to an enthusiastic reception. His most celebrated late-career film performance came in Gigi (1958), directed by Vincente Minnelli and written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. As Honore Lachaille, he introduced Thank Heaven for Little Girls and, with Hermione Gingold, sang the wistful duet I Remember It Well; the film, which also starred Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan, won widespread acclaim and reintroduced Chevalier to a new generation.

He remained visible on screen in English-language productions, including Can-Can (1960) with Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, and Louis Jourdan, and Fanny (1961) with Leslie Caron and Charles Boyer. Even when not the lead, his presence signaled urbane warmth and show-business continuity stretching back to the earliest days of sound film.

Voice, Style, and Repertoire
Chevaliers light baritone, rhythmic speech-singing, and conversational asides were central to his style. On screen and on record he cultivated an intimate relationship with his audience, as if confiding a joke or a memory to a friend. The boater hat, boutonniere, and the tilt of his head formed a visual signature, while his repertoire blended French chanson with American popular song. Collaborations with composers and lyricists such as Rodgers and Hart, Lerner and Loewe, and later the Sherman Brothers underlined his adaptability and cosmopolitan reach.

Final Years
Chevalier announced a farewell tour in the mid-1960s, capping a career that spanned more than half a century. In 1970 he briefly returned to the studio at the request of Walt Disneys collaborators Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman to sing the title song for The Aristocats, a valedictory recording that captured the geniality audiences associated with him. He died in Paris on 1 January 1972, at the age of eighty-three, and was laid to rest in the cemetery of Marnes-la-Coquette, a serene setting just outside the capital he had celebrated for so long.

Personal Life
Chevalier married twice: first to the dancer Yvonne Vallee, with whom he shared his Hollywood breakthrough years, and later to Nita Raya. After the war he found lasting companionship with Odette Meslier, who remained by his side for decades and helped manage the demands of his late-career resurgence. Beyond romance, his personal circle included many of the artists who had shaped his path: Mistinguett from the Paris music halls; Jeanette MacDonald, his luminous Hollywood partner; directors Ernst Lubitsch and Rouben Mamoulian, who molded his screen persona; and, in later years, colleagues like Vincente Minnelli, Leslie Caron, Louis Jourdan, and Hermione Gingold, whose collaborations reaffirmed his place in an evolving entertainment world.

Legacy
Maurice Chevalier stands as a bridge between eras: from smoky turn-of-the-century cafes to the escapist glamour of early sound film, through wartime trials, and into the glossy spectacles of postwar cinema. He received high honors in France, including the Legion of Honour, but his most enduring accolade was the affection of audiences on both sides of the Atlantic. His image of playful sophistication influenced generations of performers, proving that style, graciousness, and a sly sense of fun could travel any distance and outlast dramatic changes in popular culture.

Our collection contains 11 quotes who is written by Maurice, under the main topics: Witty One-Liners - Motivational - Love - Art - Aging.

Other people realated to Maurice: Hayley Mills (Actress), Tristan Bernard (Playwright)