- Born
- Died
- Birth nameLouis Robert Gendre
- Nicknames
- The Latin Lover
- Le Beau Garçon
- Height5′ 11″ (1.80 m)
- Louis Jourdan was born Louis Robert Gendre in Marseille, France to Yvonne (née Jourdan) and hotel owner Henry Gendre. He was educated in France, Britain, and Turkey. He trained as an actor with René Simon at the École Dramatique. He debuted on screen in 1939, going on to play cultivated, polished, dashing lead roles in a number of French romantic comedies and dramas.
After his father, the manager of the Cannes Grand Hôtel, was arrested by the Gestapo during World War II, Louis and his two brothers (Pierre Jourdan and Robert Gendre, both of whom became film directors) joined the French underground; his film career came to a halt when he refused to act in Nazi propaganda films.
In 1948, David O. Selznick invited him to Hollywood to appear in The Paradine Case (1947); he remained in the USA and went on to star in a number of Hollywood films. After 1953, he appeared in international productions and, in 1958, appeared in Gigi (1958), his best-known film by American audiences. He also made numerous appearances on American television.
Jourdan died at his home in Beverly Hills, California in 2015, at age 93.
- IMDb mini biography by: Ohad Rosen <yoav_ro@netvision.net.il>
- SpouseBerthe 'Quique' Frederique Takar(March 11, 1946 - June 13, 2014) (her death, 1 child)
- ChildrenLouis Henry Jourdan
- ParentsYvonne GendreHenry Gendre
- Often played dashing and charming characters
- Part of his French Resistance work was to help publish and distribute newspapers for the Underground.
- His father was the manager of the Cannes Grand Hôtel during WW2.
- In 2010, Jourdan received the 'French Legion of Honor.' The French Ambassador to the U.S presented the medal in Los Angeles, California.
- Jourdan's wife, Berthe, was known by the nickname "Quique"; they met during the German Occupation. Their only child, a son, Louis Henry George Jourdan, was born October 6, 1951 and died in 1981, aged 29, predeceasing his parents. Louis Jourdan found his son's body in his Beverly Hills home. His son had suffered from depression and had apparently taken an overdose of drugs. The police labeled it a suicide, even though it may have been an accidental overdose.
- He has two stars on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame".
- [Speaking of Gregory Peck] He can be funny, which is fortunate; otherwise such perfection would be unbearable.
- There are actors in this town who made important careers for a long, long period just by taking the parts that Cary Grant turned down.
- I never see my movies. When they're on television I click them away. Hollywood created an image and I long ago reconciled myself with it. I was the French cliché.
- When one has been married over thirty years, of course it would be absurd not to admit there have been some difficulties, at some times. But the important thing is that we have weathered them.
- I'm proud to be a Frenchman, but I resent the image people have of the stupid, continental charmer. Against that type of role I fight pitilessly.
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