Maurice Chevalier: A Song in My Heart

An In-Depth Look Into the Life and Music of a Legendary Entertainer.

The life of Maurice Chevalier is fascinating: his heavy French accent, his melodic voice and his charm made him the prototype of the French Monsieur in America and all over the world.

Born in 1888 in Paris, Chevalier started his professional career in 1901 as a singer and comedian. He starred in his first Hollywood musical Innocents of Paris in 1929, just two years after Al Jolson made history with the first all-talking motion picture. He was nominated for Academy Awards for The Love Parade (1929) and The Big Pond (1930). Making a dozen movies over the next seven years, Chevalier and his songs, such as "Mimi," "Louise," and "Valentine," became internationally popular. In the late 1950's his appearances in the movies Gigi and Love in the Afternoon started his second film career. In 1959 he received a special Academy Award for his contributions to the world of entertainment.

While honored throughout the world as a great international entertainer, he was especially popular with American and French-speaking peoples, becoming an unofficial ambassador of goodwill in the relations between France and the United States.