Trivia of Charles Boyer

Trivia of Charles Boyer (28 August 1899 - 26 August 1978)

*His surname is pronounced "Boy-yay". He was a small, shy, and introverted French boy who did not make many friends. Instead he loved to interact with adults as he was quite mature for his age. He developed an interest in acting and dramatics from a young age.

*Boyer was first brought to Hollywood by MGM who wanted him to play the Chester Morris part in a French version of The Big House (1930), Révolte dans la prison (1931).He did the first English-language role in The Man from Yesterday (1932) with Claudette Colbert at Paramount.

*His first role as the leading man in a Hollywood film came in 1934 when he starred opposite Loretta Young in the romantic musical ‘Caravan’.He began getting bigger roles as he was handsome and had a deep voice which made him an ideal choice for playing romantic leads.

*In 1938, he landed his famous role as Pepe le Moko, the thief on the run in Algiers, an English-language remake of the classic French film Pepe le Moko. Although in the movie Boyer never said to costar Hedy Lamarr "Come with me to the Casbah," this line was in the movie trailer. The line would stick with him, thanks to generations of impressionists and Looney Tunes parodies.Boyer's role as Pepe Le Moko was already world-famous when animator Chuck Jones based the character of Pepé Le Pew, the romantic skunk introduced in 1945, on Boyer and his best-known performance.

*His favorite film was the romantic drama Love Affair (1939) opposite Irene Dunne.It's also was Irene Dunne's favorite among her films.Charles Boyer and Irene Dunne were paired again as a romantic couple in When Tomorrow Comes (1939), made the same year as this film. Their third and final film together was Together Again (1944).

*Even though famous for portraying romantic roles, he also experimented with different characters. He starred in the mystery thriller ‘Gaslight’ (1944) along with Ingrid Bergman.During shooting this movie, Charles Boyer's wife, Pat Paterson, was pregnant with what would be the couple's only child. Boyer and Paterson had been trying to have a baby for many years, and Boyer was exceptionally nervous while making this movie. He rushed between takes to call and check on his wife's health as the expected birth date grew nearer. The baby was expected to come after Boyer had finished working on this movie, but he arrived early while Boyer was on set. Boyer broke down in tears when he was notified, and he informed the rest of the cast and crew of his son's birth. Production was halted for the day and the cast and crew opened up bottles of champagne to celebrate the birth.

*Charles who had only child in his life lost his son when the boy committed suicide at age 21 after he had separated from his long time girlfriend.His beautiful wife could follow their son only 13 years later from cancer and left only Charles to wallow in pain. On 26 August 1978, he took a fatal dose of barbiturates two days after his wife's death, which was also two days before his own seventy-ninth birthday.