Louis Jourdan (born June 19, 1919) 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).
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 England, 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 Frederique, with whom he had a son.
In 1947, Jourdan accepted an offer from a Hollywood studio to appear in The Paradine Case, an Alfred Hitchcock drama starring Gregory Peck. There he became friends with several stars who shared his love of croquet. After a number of American films, most notably the 1954 romantic drama Three Coins in the Fountain, he made his Broadway debut in the lead role in Billy Rose' drama, The Immoralist. He returned to Broadway for a short run in 1955 and that year made his U.S. television debut as Inspector Beaumont in the series Paris Precinct.
During the 1950s Jourdan made several international films, including playing the male lead in The Bride is Too Beautiful opposite Brigitte Bardot. However, he may be best remembered as the romantic lead opposite Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier in the 1958 film version of the Colette novel, Gigi. The film earned nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
Louis Jourdan as Kamal Khan in Octopussy
In later years Jourdan also appeared on television, such as 1977's Count Dracula for the BBC, and the 1978 episode Columbo: Murder Under Glass, where he played a killer caught by the eponymous, unorthodox, rumpled American detective, Lieutenant Columbo (played by Peter Falk).
In 1983, he was cast as the villainous Kamal Khan in the James Bond film, Octopussy. In 1984, he played the role of Pierre de Coubertin in The First Olympics: Athens 1896, a TV series about the 1896 Summer Olympics.
Jourdan's only child, his son, Louis Henry Jourdan, died of a drug overdose in 1981 and was buried in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. Jourdan has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6153 and 6445 Hollywood Blvd.
He is retired and lives in south of France, (where moved to after shooting his last film Year of the Comet) with his wife of over 60 years, Berthe Frederique "Quique" Jourdan.
