Romantic French lead whose second stay in Hollywood (the first was from 1929-31) established him as a major star and the personification of Gallic charm. Boyer played opposite some of Hollywood's greatest leading ladies and starred in three classics of unrequited love: "All This and Heaven Too" (1940, opposite Bette Davis), "Back Street" (1941, opposite Margaret Sullavan) and "Hold Back the Dawn" (1941, opposite Olivia de Havilland). He played masterfully against type to drive Ingrid Bergman to insanity in "Gaslight" (1944).
After the war, Boyer continued to appear on Broadway and TV, in French films and on the London stage. His career lasted longer than that of any other romantic male of his era, earning him the title "the last of the cinema's great lovers." He was married from 1934 to British-born actress Pat Patterson; soon after she died, Boyer followed her by swallowing an overdose of barbiturates.
Family
SON: Michael Boyer. Birn in 1944; committed suicide in 1965.
Companion
WIFE: Pat Paterson. Actor. Married from 1934 until her death on August 24, 1978.
Milestone
1920: Stage debut and film debut (in "L'homme du large")
Appeared in numerous stage productions from 1950s, including world tour of G.B. Shaw's "Don Juan in Hell"
1959: Co-counded, with Thomas McDermott, David Niven and Dick Powell, production company Four Star Television
1964 - 1965: Co-starred with Niven in Four Star production "The Rogues"
Education
Paris Conservatoire - Paris, France
Sorbonne, University of Paris - Paris, France
Sorbonne, University of Paris - Paris, France - philosophy
Reported to be the inspiration for Mel Blanc's voice characterization of Pepe' Le Pew in the Warner Brothers Cartoons.
-- Submitted by: Holz
Charles Boyer (August 28, 1899 – August 26, 1978) was a four-time Academy Award-nominated French-American actor who starred in several classic Hollywood films, as well as television director and producer. His most famous role was in the 1944 film Gaslight. After moving to the U.S., he became an American citizen.
Born in Figeac, France, to Maurice and Louise Boyer - was just a shy small-town boy who discovered the movies and theater at the age of eleven. Working as a hospital orderly during World War I, Charles Boyer started to come out of himself performing comic sketches for the soldiers there. Nevertheless Boyer acceded to his mother's request that he graduate from the Sorbonne (earned a degree in philosophy) before studying acting at the Paris Conservatory. In the 1920s he was not only the popular romantic leading man on stage but was employed in silent films.
MGM signed him to a contract, and nothing much came of his first Hollywood stay from 1929-31.
His first big break was a very small part of a chauffeur to Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman, 1932. He settled in the Hollywood in 1934, after starring in a French adaptation of Liliom directed by Fritz Lang. Later the same year his films began to win public favor. In 1935, he starred in the psychiatric drama Private Worlds, and although the film was not a huge success, Charles Boyer was. He loved life in the United States, and went on to play opposite the alluring actresses of the 30's and 40's.
During this period, Boyer had continued making European films, and with Mayerling in 1936 it made him an international star. The offscreen Boyer was bookish and private, far removed from the Hollywood high life. But onscreen he made women swoon as he romanced Marlene Dietrich in The Garden of Allah (1936), Greta Garbo in Conquest (1937), and Irene Dunne in Love Affair (1939).
In 1938, he landed his famous role, as Pepe le Moko, the thief on the run, in Algiers an English-language remake of the hit French film Pepe le Moko with Jean Gabin. Although he never invited costar Hedy Lamarr to "Come with me to the Casbah", the line would stick with him, thanks to generations of impressionists.
He played in three classics of unrequited love with some of greatest leading ladies : All This and Heaven Too (1940), opposite Bette Davis, Hold Back the Dawn (1941), opposite Olivia de Havilland, and Back Street (1941), opposite Margaret Sullavan. Charles was made a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1942.
In 1943, he was awarded a Honorary Oscar Certificate for "progressive cultural achievement" in establishing the French Research Foundation in Los Angeles as a source of reference (certificate). He never won an Oscar for acting, though he was nominated four times - for Conquest (1937), Algiers (1938), Gaslight (1944) and Fanny (1961).
Charles Boyer is best known for his role in the 1944 film Gaslight in which he tried to convince Ingrid Bergman's character that she was going insane.
After World War II, he continued to appear on films, TV, Broadway stage, and the London stage. In 1948, Charles Boyer was made a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.
When another film with Bergman, Arch of Triumph (1948), failed at the box office, he started looking for character parts. He also moved into television as one of the pioneering producers and stars of Four Star Theatre; Four Star Productions would make him and partners David Niven and Dick Powell rich. In the 1950s he was a guest star on I Love Lucy. Charles was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in the 1952 film The Happy Time, and for the Emmy for Best Continuing Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Series for his work in Four Star Playhouse (1952-1956).
Onscreen, he continued to shine with older roles in Fanny (1961), Barefoot in the Park (1967) with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, and Stavisky (1974), the latter winning him the New York Film Critics Circle Award.[17]
Another successful TV program was The Rogues with David Niven and Gig Young; The series only lasted through the 1964-65 season but remains fondly remembered for its sophistication and humor by many who saw it.
Boyer's career lasted longer than other romantic male actor of his era, earning him the title "the last of the cinema's great lovers." He recorded a very dark album called Where Does Love Go? in 1966. The album consisted of famous love songs sung (or rather talked) with Charles Boyer's distinctive deep voice and French accent. The record was reportedly Elvis Presley's favorite album for the last 11 years of his life, the one he most listened to.
His last major film role was that of the High Lama in a musical version of Lost Horizon (1973, a commercial failure), although he also had a notable part as a corrupt city official in the 1969 film version of The Madwoman of Chaillot. His long, distinguished career included the motion pictures Around the World in 80 Days (1956), How to Steal a Million (1966), Is Paris Burning? (1966), and, his final film, A Matter of Time (1976), with Ingrid Bergman and Liza Minnelli.
For his contribution to the motion picture and television industries, Charles Boyer has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6300 Hollywood Blvd.
Boyer's marriage to British actress Pat Paterson, his first and only wife, was as romantic as his movies. It was love at first sight when they met at a dinner party in 1934. Two weeks later, they were engaged. Three months later, they were married. Later, they would move from Hollywood to Paradise Valley, Arizona. The marriage would last 44 years.
Two days after his wife died from cancer in 1978, Boyer committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal while at a friend's home at Scottsdale. He was taken to the hospital in Phoenix where he died. He was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, United States alongside his wife, and son Michael Charles Boyer, who had committed suicide playing Russian roulette after breaking up with his girlfriend in 1965 at the age of 21.
-- Submitted by: albatros1
Dana Wright
Charles Boyer-handsome, debonair and timeless
Thank you albatros1 for your excellent and informative review of Charles Boyer. What a romantic, onscreen and off. A sad ...
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arizfan
Charles Boyer
My favorite actor for 50 years!
His work was always superb.
His work deserves greater recognition and preservation. Many of his ...
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