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It is only indirectly that he speaks of himself. He talked little of his career in Europe, of his success there at an early age. But when the subject of Continental films in general was introduced, he spoke enthusiastically and at length.
The movies took him from the stage with the advent of sound in 1929, and since^ then he has worked in the Berlin, Paris, and London studios as well as in Hollywood.
Midway through the production of his first film, the leading lady became ill, necessitating a delay of two months while he remained idle on salary. Instead of accepting the money as his contract permitted, he took half his living expenses and worked out the two months as assistant cameraman and film cutter.
Most actors see no more of the making of a picture than is visible on the sound stage. Gravet understands films from script to screen. He knows all the great figures of the European cinema and discussed acutely and at length the trends he observed on his last trip abroad. He is the informed master of the picture business, not a cog in its wheels.
This shrewd appraisal of the field in which he works led him to J refuse his first American offers. In Europe he was secure, well known; Hollywood had been the professional death of many of his friends. Mervyn LeRoy, branching out as a producer-director and looking for a sensational "find," had to beg on bended knee before Gravet would consider becoming a Warner star.
"Hollywood is the world championship field, the big league, as you say," he said. "If you win, you are at the highest peak. If you lose there, you lose everywhere. That's why I divide the year between
All photos by Lazaraick
France and America. I must make pictures in Paris as well as Hollywood so that I won't be forgotten at home."
He will return to Europe early next year for another film. His insistence upon remaining an international star has caused all manner of trouble at Warners, where he was scheduled for two films in 1936 and three in 1937. Of the first two, only "The King and the Chorus Girl" was made, so that he supposedly has four more pictures to make before 1938. In all probability he will only make one. Questioned as to what the studio thought of this, he merely smiled and stuck to his guns. He will make a foreign film in January no matter what Warners think.
One gets the impression that working in America is just another chore for him, not unpleasant, richly rewarding in many ways, but unconnected with his real life, which is in France. His country home in Touraine is a more suitable setting than Hollywood for his pastimes of riding and fencing and his engrossing hobby, the research and design of military miniatures. He will not bring his fine stable here for fear the horses might get seasick, apparently a fatal equine disease.
He is interested in what America may do ' ( 'ontinued on page 75 1
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