Biography: life and films
In 1942, Boyer was granted American citizenship but returned to France in the early 1950s as his Hollywood career began to wane. Although he did appear in a few quality productions thereafter, notably Max Ophüls' Madame de... (1953), more frequently he lent his talents to such lowbrow fare as Michel Boisrond's Une parisienne (1957). One film to make good use of his flair for comedy was Gene Saks' Barefoot in the Park (1967), in which he succeeded in out-staging (and out-classing) Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. In his penultimate film, Alain Resnais's Stavisky (1974), Boyer attracted considerable critical acclaim for a performance that won him the Best Actor award at Cannes in 1974 (tying with Jack Nicholson for The Last Detail).
In the course of a remarkable screen career that spanned 56 years, Charles Boyer appeared in more than eighty films. He was nominated for four Oscars and received an honorary Academy Award in 1943 for his part in establishing the French Research Foundation in Los Angeles. In 1948, he was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. Successful as he was, Boyer's personal life was marked by immense tragedy. In 1965, his only son Michael committed suicide at the age of 21, and in August 1978 his wife Pat Paterson died from an inoperable brain tumour. A few days after his wife's death, and two days before his 79th birthday, Boyer killed himself by taking a lethal dose of barbiturates. He is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Los Angeles.
© James Travers 2013
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Filmography
Key: a = actor
Chantelouve (1921) [a]
Le Grillon du foyer (1922) [a]
La Ronde infernale (1928) [a]
La Barcarolle d'amour (1929) [a]
Le Capitaine Fracasse (1929) [a]
Le Procès de Mary Dugan (1930) [a]
Révolte dans la prison (1931) [a]
The Magnificent Lie (1931) [a]
Red-Headed Woman (1932) [a]
The Man from Yesterday (1932) [a]
Tumultes (1932) [a]
I.F.1 ne répond plus (1933) [a]
Ich und die Kaiserin (1933) [a]
L'Épervier (1933) [a]
La Bataille (1933) [a]
Moi et l'impératrice (1933) [a]
Caravan (1934) [a]
Caravane (1934) [a]
Liliom (1934) [a]
The Battle (1934) [a]
The Only Girl (1934) [a]
Break of Hearts (1935) [a]
Private Worlds (1935) [a]
Shanghai (1935) [a]
I Loved a Soldier (1936) [a]
Mayerling (1936) [a]
The Garden of Allah (1936) [a]
Conquest (1937) [a]
History Is Made at Night (1937) [a]
Tovarich (1937) [a]
Algiers (1938) [a]
Orage (1938) [a]
Le Corsaire (1939) [a]
When Tomorrow Comes (1939) [a]
All This, and Heaven Too (1940) [a]
Appointment for Love (1941) [a]
Back Street (1941) [a]
Flesh and Fantasy (1943) [a]
Gaslight (1944) [a]
The Fighting Lady (1944) [a]
Together Again (1944) [a]
Confidential Agent (1945) [a]
Cluny Brown (1946) [a]
La Bataille du rail (1946) [a]
A Woman's Vengeance (1948) [a]
The First Legion (1951) [a]
The Happy Time (1952) [a]
Thunder in the East (1952) [a]
Nana (1955) [a]
Around the World in Eighty Days (1956) [a]
La Fortuna di essere donna (1956) [a]
Paris, Palace Hôtel (1956) [a]
C'est arrivé à 36 chandelles (1957) [a]
Maxime (1958) [a]
The Buccaneer (1958) [a]
Fanny (1961) [a]
Les Démons de minuit (1961) [a]
Julia, Du bist zauberhaft (1962) [a]
The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1962) [a]
Love Is a Ball (1963) [a]
A Very Special Favor (1965) [a]
How to Steal a Million (1966) [a]
Barefoot in the Park (1967) [a]
Le Rouble à deux faces (1968) [a]
The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969) [a]
Lost Horizon (1973) [a]
Stavisky (1974) [a]
Ingrid (1984) [a]
The Carry On films, from the heyday of British film comedy
The history of French cinema
The very best French thrillers
