Georges Grey

Georges Grey, sometimes credited as George Grey, was born as Jean-Joseph-Georges Gacon in Lyon, France in 1911. He made his film debut in a bit part as a young Hungarian in Sacha Guitry's Les perles de la couronne/The Pearls of the Crown (1937). The following year, Grey played a much larger role as a charming Hollywood matinee idol in Paris in Guitry's Quadrille/ 2 x 2 = 4 (1938, Sacha Guitry), in which he gained additional attention in a non full-frontal nude scene. Guitry cast him again as a prince in Remontons les Champs-Élysées/Let us go back to the Champs Elysees (1938, Sacha Guitry) and in another supporting part in Ils étaient neuf célibataires/Nine Bachelors (1939, Sacha Guitry). Although Grey was obviousl;y a favorite of Guitry's, he also worked as well as with several other directors. He appeared in Narcisse (1940, Ayres d'Aguiar) featuring Rellys, Monsieur Hector/Mr. Hector (1940, Maurice Cammage) starring Fernandel, and La fille du puisatier/The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940, Marcel Pagnol) with Raimu. About the latter, James Travers writes at Films de France: "La Fille du puisatier may not be Marcel Pagnol's greatest film - indeed a less generous reviewer would write it off as a bland rehash of the director's previous Angèle (1934) - but it does assume some historical significance by dint of the fact that it documents France's capitulation to Nazi Germany more or less as it was happening. Work on the film began in May 1940 but was suspended in June at the height of the debacle. Filming resumed in August after France's surrender and the establishment of the Vichy government." Grey then played a gypsy in Cartacalha, reine des gitans/Cartacalha, Queen of the Gypsies (1942, Léon Mathot) starring Viviane Romance. He reunited with Guitry for Le destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary/Mlle. Desiree (1942, Sacha Guitry) featuring Gaby Morlay as a girlfriend of Napoleon. The following year, he played the second lead in the comedy Adémaï bandit d'honneur/Adémaï Bandit of Honor (1943) starring Noël-Noël. The film was produced by Les Prisonniers Associés, a company created by recently released prisoners of war; he was not seen on screen again until 1946 in another supporting part in Monsieur Grégoire s'évade/Mr. Gregoire Runs Away (1946, Jacques Daniel-Norman) with Bernard Blier. He finally had his first leading role in the comedy Tierce à coeur/Third at heart (1947, Jacques de Casembroot), but it was not a success. He reunited with Guitry again for a supporting part in Le comédien/The Private Life of an Actor (1948, Sacha Guitry). This was a lovingly told biography of Guitry's father, stage comedian and silent film actor Lucien Guitry. It was followed by another part for Guitry in the historical extravaganza Le diable boiteux/The Lame Devil (1948, Sacha Guitry). Grey's final film was the drama La ferme des sept péchés/The Farm of Seven Sins (1949, Jean-Devaivre) with Jacques Dumesnil. Five years later, he died in a sanatorium in Passy, France in 1954. Georges Grey was only 43.