Trivia

Chevalier was an infantryman in the French army during World War I and was captured by German troops in 1914. He spent two years in the Alten Grabow POW camp.

In 1951, the U.S. State Department declared Chevalier "potentially dangerous" to the security of the United States because he had signed a petition against nuclear weapons called the Stockholm Appeal.

In 1944, after Paris was liberated by the Allies, Chevalier was arrested by French authorities on charges of collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation and put on trial. He was acquitted, but feelings ran high against him among the French public and government, and it was several years before he was granted a visa to leave the country.

On his death the "Times" of London wrote: "Paris has lost another piece of its history and of its legend".

As the star of radio's long-running "Chase and Sanborn Hour", he earned $5000 weekly, a record for radio performers up to that time.

In his youth, he was a sparring partner to heavyweight boxing champion Georges Carpentier.

He appeared in two films that have been selected for the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Love Me Tonight (1932) and Gigi (1958).

When Ernst Lubitsch told him he was going act as the prince in The Love Parade (1929), he said he would never be able carry conviction except as someone from a humble background. Lubitsch had to talk him into it.

Introduced his theme song, "Louise" (music by Richard A. Whiting, lyrics by Leo Robin), in his first U.S. film, Innocents of Paris (1929).

Director Rouben Mamoulian consented to write the foreword for "Chevalier: The Films and Career of Maurice Chevalier.".

Starred in five Oscar Best Picture nominees: The Love Parade (1929), The Smiling Lieutenant (1931), One Hour with You (1932), Gigi (1958) and Fanny (1961). Gigi is the only winner.

On August 24, 2021, he was honored with a day of his filmography during the Turner Classic Movies Summer Under the Stars.

When 11 made his debut as a dancer and at 17 joined the Folies Bergère.

An entertainer from age 11 he was 17 when nightclub queen Mistinguett invited him to join her act leading him to become the rage of Paris, London and Hollywood.

From 1941 to 1945, he sang the songs composed by his accompanying pianist Henri Betti as "Notre Espoir" (1941), "La Chanson du Maçon" (1941), "La Polka des Barbus" (1942) and "La Fête à Neu-Neu" (1943). "Notre Espoir" was Maurice Chevalier's first song as lyricist. In 1941, Maurice Chevalier composed the music for three songs with Henri Betti : "Je n'ai Besoin que d'un Coeur", "Le Régiment des Jambes Louis XV" and "Toi...Toi...Toi...".

From 1971 on he suffered memory lapses, chronic tiredness, and spent much of his time alone. On December 12, he fell ill and was taken to Paris's Necker Hospital and placed on dialysis. By December 30, doctors announced his kidneys were no longer responding to dialysis. Too frail for a transplant, he underwent surgery as a last-ditch effort to save his life. It was unsuccessful; Chevalier died from a cardiac arrest following kidney surgery on New Year's Day 1972, aged 83.

Chevalier suffered from bouts of depression throughout his adult life. On March 7, 1971, he attempted suicide by overdosing on barbiturates. Rushed to the hospital, Chevalier was saved but suffered liver and kidney damage as a result of the drug.

Author Michael Freedland claimed in his 1981 biography of Chevalier that the actor Felix Paquet, who became close to Chevalier during the 1960s, cut off contact with all of his friends and family in hopes of securing access to his fortune. Freedland alleges that Paquet, eighteen years Chevalier's junior, intercepted mail and withheld information about Maurice's health in the months before his death.

Companion of Nita Raya from 1935 to 1945.

He was the son of Victor Charles Chevalier, a house painter, and Joséphine (Van Den Bossche) Chevalier, a lacemaker. His father was of French and Belgian Walloon descent. His mother was from a Belgian Flemish family, from Ghent.

Interviewed in "The Great Comedians Talk About Comedy" by Larry Wilde. (1968)

Great granduncle of Alexis Chevalier.

Born at 2:0am-LMT

In 1941, he adapted the poem "Apaisement" by Paul Géraldy into a song with music by Henri Betti and with the title "On Veut tant s'Aimer".

In 1954, he recorded the French song "Deux Amoureux sur un Banc" by Henri Betti (music) and André Hornez (lyrics) and he sang the English version which is called "A Boy and a Girl" (lyrics by Ben Smith) on the TV show Max Liebman Presents: The Maurice Chevalier Show (1956) but he did not record it.