Louis Jourdan

About this actor

Louis Jourdan (born 19 June 1921) is a French film actor. He is known for his roles in several Hollywood films, including The Paradine Case (1947), Gigi (1958), The Best of Everything (1959), and Octopussy (1983). His final film before his retirement was The Year Of The Comet in 1992. Jourdan was born as Louis Gendre in Marseille, France, the son of Yvonne (née Jourdan) and Henry Gendre, a hotel owner. He was educated in France, Turkey, and Britain and trained as an actor at the École Dramatique, making his film debut in 1939. Following the German occupation of France during World War II, he continued to make films but after refusing to participate in Nazi propaganda films, he joined the French Resistance; his father was arrested by the Gestapo. After the 1944 liberation of France by the Allies, Jourdan married Berthe Frédérique, with whom he had a son. In 1947, Jourdan accepted an offer to appear in The Paradine Case, an Alfred Hitchcock drama starring Gregory Peck. In Hollywood, he...