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January 30 2001, 18h02
Jean-Pierre Aumont's ultimate elegance --by Thibault Leroux--
PARIS (AP) -- Young leading man 'par excellence' from the 30s to the
50s, a false dilettante but a true charmer, Jean-Pierre Aumont has
performed in about forty movies, among which ''Hôtel du Nord'',
''Drôle de drame'' and ''Chéri-Bibi''. The actor passed away at age
90 on Tuesday at his home in St-Tropez.
Almost ten years earlier, on March 9th 1991, the actor who combined
elegance with discretion had received an honourary Cesar from his peers.
It was a tribute he accepted with humility: ''For the last few days I've
been wondering why I had been chosen to receive this honor... And now I
think I know the answer: it's to reward me for my longevity!''
Born in Paris on January 5th 1911 to an artistic family, Jean-Pierre
Aumont, born Salomons, has the good fortune of being noticed by Louis
Jouvet not long after graduating from the Conservatory. He makes his
debut at the Comédie des Champs-Elysées and, at the same time,
tries his luck in movie studios with a brief part in ''Jean de la
Lune''. He's only 20 years old at the time and looks as much at ease on
the stage as on the screen.
In 1934, a stroke of luck allows him to get hired by Marc Allégret for
''Lac aux Dames'', when the first-choice for the role, actor Johnny
Weissmuller, turns down the part. From then on follows a string of
likeable characters, like the boyfriend in ''Maria Chapdelaine''' (1934)
Julien Duvivier, and he soon becomes, somewhat in spite of himself, the
typical charmer. But more complex characters await him in the late 30s:
he'll be the ironic milkman in Marcel Carné's ''Drôle de Drame''
(1937), the coward lover in ''Hôtel du Nord'' (1938)
from the same director, the convict in Leon Mathot's ''Chéri-Bibi''
(1939), and the WWI soldier in Leonide Moguy's ''Déserteur'' (1939).
With WWII, he joins the Free French Forces and crosses the Atlantic. The
movies he makes at that time are for the purpose of U.S. propaganda.
During his long stay in the U.S., from 1940 to 1947, his career becomes
international with movies like ''Shéhérazade'' (1946) and
''L'Atlantide'' (1947), and he marries second wife Maria Montez in
Hollywood.
After performing in the musical ''Lili'' (1953), he is a cardinal in
Sacha Guitry's ''Si Versailles m'était conté'' (1954), and Louis XVI in ''John Paul Jones''
(1958). Married again to Marisa Pavan, after the
death of Maria Montez, he's in Sydney Pollack's 'Castle
Keep'' (1969), and in French movies that were to symbolize the period:
François Truffaut's ''La Nuit
américaine'' (1973), Claude Lelouch's ''Le Chat et la souris'' (1975)
and Marguerite Duras's ''Des Journées entières dans les arbres''
(1977).
Jean-Pierre Aumont's presence then becomes more scarce on the big screen,
his last movie role being in James Ivory's ''Jefferson in Paris''
(1995).
Meanwhile, he continued his rich artistic career by going back to the
stage and writing. He created several comedies for the theatre, among
them ''L'Empereur de Chine'' and
''Farfada'', he also wrote ''Le Soleil et les Ombres'' (1976), ''Il fait
beau mais ne le répétez pas''
(1981), and ''Dis-moi d'abord que tu m'aimes'' (1986).
The actor who was a father of three was made 'officier de la Légion
d'honneur' and awarded the 'Ordre national du mérite, et commandeur
des Arts et lettres.'