Jean-Pierre Aumont

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Aumont was born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons in Paris, the son of Suzanne (née Cahen; 1885–1940), an actress, and Alexandre Salomons, owner of La Maison du Blanc (a linen department store). His mother's uncle was well-known stage actor Georges Berr (died 1942). His father was from a Dutch-Jewish family; his mother's family were French Jews. Aumont's younger brother was the noted French film director François Villiers.

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At age 16, Aumont began studying drama at the Paris Conservatory, where his mother also studied. His professional stage debut occurred at the age of 19. His film debut came one year later when Jean de la Lune (Jean of the Moon) was produced in 1931.

However, his most important, career-defining role came in 1934 when Jean Cocteau's play La Machine infernale (The Infernal Machine), was staged. While his film and stage career began rising quickly, World War II began. Aumont remained in France until 1942 when he realized that as a Jew he would have to flee the Nazis. He migrated from the unoccupied zone of Vichy France to New York City, then to Hollywood, California to pursue his film career.

He began working for MGM, but after finishing The Cross of Lorraine, he joined the Free French Forces. He was sent to North Africa, where he participated in Operation Torch in Tunisia. He then moved with the Allied armies through Italy and France. He was wounded twice. The first was on a mission with his brother; the second was more serious. Aumont's Jeep was blown up near a land-mined bridge. General Diego Brosset, commander of the 1st Free French Division, to whom Aumont was aide de camp, was killed.{{Citation needed |date=August 2021}} For his bravery during the fighting, Aumont received the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre.

After the war, Aumont quickly resumed his movie career, starring with Ginger Rogers in Heartbeat (1946) and as the magician in Lili (1953) with Leslie Caron. He worked with a number of prominent theatre director and stars, including his (then) wife Maria Montez. In the mid-1950s, Aumont began working in television, appearing on several anthology programs, such as Robert Montgomery Presents and as a guest on the show What's My Line?. In the 1960s and 1970s, he appeared in various theater productions, including the musicals Tovarich with Vivien Leigh, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, South Pacific, and Gigi.

One of his later performances was in A Tale of Two Cities (1989). Two years later, in 1991, aged 80, he received an honorary César Award as well as being decorated with the cross of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres.{{cite news| title=Jean-Pierre Aumont, Film Star And Stage Hero, Dies at 90| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/31/arts/jean-pierre-aumont-film-star-and-stage-hero-dies-at-90.html| last=Riding| first=Alan| date=31 January 2001| newspaper=The New York Times| page=A19| archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241220162628/https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/31/arts/jean-pierre-aumont-film-star-and-stage-hero-dies-at-90.html| archive-date=2024-12-20| access-date=11 November 2023}}

File:Marisa Pavan Jean-Pierre Aumont 1965.jpg

Aumont was married four times to three women. His first wife was French actress Blanche Montel, to whom he was married from 1938 to 1940, ultimately divorcing. While in Hollywood, Aumont married Maria Montez, a Dominican actress. She was known as the Queen of Technicolor, and their marriage was very happy. However, Montez drowned in her bathtub on 7 September 1951 after suffering an apparent heart attack at the family's villa in Suresnes. Montez and Aumont had one child, a daughter, Tina (1946–2006).{{cite news| title=Jean-Pierre Aumont; Suave French Actor in Movies, TV| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jan-31-me-19352-story.html| last=Oliver| first=Myrna| date=31 January 2001| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| access-date=11 November 2023}}

In 1955, Aumont was dating Grace Kelly at the time she first met Prince Rainier III of Monaco.

In 1956, Aumont married Italian actress Marisa Pavan. The couple starred in John Paul Jones (1959), in which Pavan played the romantic interest of the lead, and Aumont appears as King Louis XVI. They divorced, but later remarried and remained together until his death. Aumont and Pavan had two sons, Jean-Claude and Patrick.{{cite book| first=H. Kristina| last=Haugland| title=Grace Kelly: Icon of Style to Royal Bride| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JE5ITOBYBJUC&pg=PA966| access-date=5 January 2013| year=2006| publisher=Yale University Press| isbn=978-0-300-11644-1| page=966}}{{cite news| title=Grace's Riviera Romance| magazine=Life| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFYEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15| access-date=11 November 2023| date=30 May 1955| pages=14–15| issn=0024-3019}}

Jean-Pierre Aumont died 30 January 2001 of a heart attack in Gassin, France, aged 90, and was cremated.{{cite news| title=Jean Pierre Aumont| url=https://variety.com/2001/scene/people-news/jean-pierre-aumont-1117792930/#!| date=30 January 2001| magazine=Variety |access-date=11 November 2023}}

File:Jean-Pierre Aumont Cannes nineties.jpg]]

File:Jean-Pierre-Aumont-in-“Lac-aux-Dames”-1934-a.jpg

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Category:1911 births

Category:2001 deaths

Category:Male actors from Paris

Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

Category:French male film actors

Category:French Ashkenazi Jews

Category:French military personnel of World War II

Category:French male musical theatre actors

Category:French male stage actors

Category:Jewish American male actors

Category:Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer contract players

Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)

Category:César Honorary Award recipients

Category:French expatriate male actors in the United States

Category:French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni

Category:20th-century French male singers