Charles Boyer (August 28, 1899 – August 26, 1978) was a four-time Academy Award-nominated French-American actor who starred in several classic Hollywood films, as well as television director and producer. His most famous role was in the 1944 film Gaslight. After moving to the U.S., he became an American citizen.

Born in Figeac, France, to Maurice and Louise Boyer - was just a shy small-town boy who discovered the movies and theater at the age of eleven. Working as a hospital orderly during World War I, Charles Boyer started to come out of himself performing comic sketches for the soldiers there. Nevertheless Boyer acceded to his mother's request that he graduate from the Sorbonne (earned a degree in philosophy) before studying acting at the Paris Conservatory. In the 1920s he was not only the popular romantic leading man on stage but was employed in silent films.

MGM signed him to a contract, and nothing much came of his first Hollywood stay from 1929-31. At first Boyer did film roles only for the money, but follow-up roles were unsatisfying.

His first big break was a very small part of a chauffeur to Jean Harlow in Red-Headed Woman, 1932. He settled in the Hollywood in 1934, after starring in a French adaptation of Liliom directed by Fritz Lang. Later the same year his films began to win public favor. In 1935, he starred in the psychiatric drama Private Worlds, and although the film was not a huge success, Charles Boyer was. He loved life in the United States, and went on to play opposite the alluring actresses of the 30's and 40's.

During this period, Boyer had continued making European films, and with Mayerling in 1936 it made him an international star. The offscreen Boyer was bookish and private, far removed from the Hollywood high life. But onscreen he made women swoon as he romanced Marlene Dietrich in The Garden of Allah (1936), Greta Garbo in Conquest (1937), and Irene Dunne in Love Affair (1939). He became a major star in The Garden of Allah, which was his first film in Technicolor.

In 1938, he landed his famous role, as Pepe le Moko, the thief on the run, in Algiers an English-language remake of the hit French film Pepe le Moko with Jean Gabin. Although he never invited costar Hedy Lamarr to "Come with me to the Casbah", the line would stick with him, thanks to generations of impressionists. Boyer's role as Pepe Le Moko was already world famous when animator Chuck Jones based the character of Pepe le Pew, the romantic skunk introduced in 1945's Odor-able Kitty, on Boyer and his most well-known performance.

He played in three classics of unrequited love with some of greatest leading ladies : All This and Heaven Too (1940), opposite Bette Davis, Hold Back the Dawn (1941), opposite Olivia de Havilland, and Back Street (1941), opposite Margaret Sullavan. Charles was made a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1942.

In contrast to his glamorous image, Boyer began losing his hair early, had a pronounced paunch, and was noticeably shorter than leading ladies like Ingrid Bergman. When Bette Davis first saw him on the set of All This and Heaven Too, she did not recognize him and tried to have him removed from the set.

In 1943, he was awarded a Honorary Oscar Certificate for "progressive cultural achievement" in establishing the French Research Foundation in Los Angeles as a source of reference (certificate). He never won an Oscar for acting, though he was nominated four times - for Conquest (1937), Algiers (1938), Gaslight (1944) and Fanny (1961).

Charles Boyer is best known for his role in the 1944 film Gaslight in which he tried to convince Ingrid Bergman's character that she was going insane. He became famous for his declarations of love in movies with Dietrich, Garbo or Bergman. And in the 1940s he was the voice of Capt. Daniel Gregg in Lux Radio Theater's presentation of The Ghost and Mrs. Muir.

After World War II, he continued to appear on films, TV, Broadway stage, and the London stage. In 1948, Charles Boyer was made a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.

When another film with Bergman, Arch of Triumph (1948), failed at the box office, he started looking for character parts. He also moved into television as one of the pioneering producers and stars of Four Star Theatre; Four Star Productions would make him and partners David Niven and Dick Powell rich. In the 1950s he was a guest star on I Love Lucy. Charles was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actor in the 1952 film The Happy Time, and for the Emmy for Best Continuing Performance by an Actor in a Dramatic Series for his work in Four Star Playhouse (1952-1956).

In 1950, he appeared on the Broadway stage in one of his most notable roles, that of Don Juan, in a dramatic reading of the third act of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman. This is the act popularly known as Don Juan in Hell. In 1952, he won Broadway's 1951 Special Tony Award for Don Juan in Hell. It was directed by actor Charles Laughton. Laughton co-starred as the Devil, with Cedric Hardwicke as the statue of the military commander slain by Don Juan, and Agnes Moorehead as Dona Anna, the commander's daughter, one of Juan's former conquests. The production was a critical success, and was subsequently recorded complete by Columbia Masterworks, one of the first complete recordings of a non-musical stage production ever made. As of 2006, however, it has never been released on CD. He was also nominated for Tony Award as Best Actor (Dramatic) for his performance in the 1963 Broadway production of Lord Pengo.

Onscreen, he continued to shine with older roles in Fanny (1961), Barefoot in the Park (1967) with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda, and Stavisky (1974), the latter winning him the New York Film Critics Circle Award.

Another successful TV program was The Rogues with David Niven and Gig Young; The series only lasted through the 1964-65 season but remains fondly remembered for its sophistication and humor by many who saw it.

Boyer's career lasted longer than other romantic male actor of his era, earning him the title "the last of the cinema's great lovers." He recorded a very dark album called Where Does Love Go? in 1966. The album consisted of famous love songs sung (or rather talked) with Charles Boyer's distinctive deep voice and French accent. The record was reportedly Elvis Presley's favorite album for the last 11 years of his life, the one he most listened to.

His last major film role was that of the High Lama in a musical version of Lost Horizon (1973, a commercial failure), although he also had a notable part as a corrupt city official in the 1969 film version of The Madwoman of Chaillot. His long, distinguished career included the motion pictures Around the World in 80 Days (1956), How to Steal a Million (1966), Is Paris Burning? (1966), and, his final film, A Matter of Time (1976), with Ingrid Bergman and Liza Minnelli.

For his contribution to the motion picture and television industries, Charles Boyer has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6300 Hollywood Blvd.

Boyer's only marriage was to British actress Pat Paterson whom he met at a dinner party in 1934. The two became engaged after two weeks of courtship and were married after a three month engagement. Later, they would move from Hollywood to Paradise Valley, Arizona. The marriage lasted 44 years.

Two days after his wife died from cancer in 1978, Boyer committed suicide with an overdose of Seconal while at a friend's home in Scottsdale. He was taken to the hospital in Phoenix where he died. He was interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, United States alongside his wife, and son Michael Charles Boyer. At the age of 21, Michael had committed suicide by playing Russian roulette after a breakup with his girlfriend.

*Captain Fracasse (1929) *Red-Headed Woman (1932) *Liliom (1934) *Caravan (1934) *Private Worlds (1935) *Break of Hearts (1935) *Mayerling (1936) *The Garden of Allah (1936) *History Is Made At Night (1937) *Conquest (1937) *Algiers (1938) *Love Affair (1939) *All This and Heaven Too (1940) *Back Street (1941) *Hold Back the Dawn (1941) *Tales of Manhattan (1942) *The Constant Nymph (1943) *Gaslight (1944) *Confidential Agent (1945) *Cluny Brown (1946) *A Woman's Vengeance (1948) *Arch of Triumph (1948) *The 13th Letter (1951)

*The First Legion (1951) *The Happy Time (1952) *The Earrings of Madame de... (1953) *The Cobweb (1955) *Nana (1955) *What a Woman! (1956) *Around the World in 80 Days (1956) *La Parisienne (1957) *The Buccaneer (1958) *Fanny (1961) *The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) *Love Is a Ball (1963) *A Very Special Favor (1965) *How to Steal a Million (1966) *Is Paris Burning? (1966) *Casino Royale (1967) *Barefoot in the Park (1967) *The Hot Line (1968) *The April Fools (1969) *The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) *Lost Horizon (1973) *Stavisky (1974) *A Matter of Time (1976)

*Four Star Playhouse (1952-1956) *I Love Lucy episode Lucy Meets Charles Boyer (1956) *The Louvre (1964) *The Rogues (1964-1965)

*"Mostly I've played other roles, but even when I've played other parts people see me differently. In America, when you have an accent, in the mind of the people they associate you with kissing hands and being gallant. I think that has harmed me, just as it has harmed me to be followed and plagued by a line I never said."

*"That love at first sight should happen to me was Life's most delicious revenge on a self-opinionated fool."

*TCM Film Guide The 50 Most Unforgettable Actors of the Studio Era: Leading Men, Chronicle Books, San Francisco, California, 2006.

* * * Charles Boyer's Gravesite * Charles Boyer Tribute Site