Hollywood (Jan - Mar 1943)

I Pierre Aumont stood in a dense forest, through which ran a wide stream. Suddenly, in the misty light he could see young Darryl Hickman poling a flatbottomed boat around the bend. "Quick!" shouted Darryl. "The Nazis are coming!" With lightning precision, Pierre Aumont sprang into the boat. The scene was from Pierre's first American picture, Assignment in Brittany. But Pierre didn't need to act in order to portray the feelings of a Frenchman with the Nazis on his trail. For only a couple of years ago he himself escaped from the invaders, whose swastika flew over Paris. His experiences in the war make even his adventurous role in Assignment in Brittany seem tame. He was born Jean Pierre Aumont in Paris about thirty years ago. "Paris," he says, "was the gayest city in a very gay world; and the theater was the gayest thing in Paris." Certainly, it was the theater that interested Pierre most. Before he was sixteen, he enrolled as a student at the Conservatory of Drama in Paris. While still in his teens, he appeared in vaudeville comedy skits. Some of them were good, some poor, some indifferent; but no matter, Pierre played them all with zest. Then he began appearing in French adaptations of such famous plays as White Cargo, Her Cardboard Lover and Design for Living. French movie companies whipped out contracts. He was featured in pictures with such stars as Annabella, Jean Gabin and Simone Simon. He had appeared in about fifteen French pictures, when one day early in September, 1939, word reached the studio where he was making Manon Lescaut, with Marta Eggerth, that war had been declared. Pierre never made that picture. Like all Frenchmen, he had been trained for the Army. Pausing only to say a hasty goodby at the studio, Pierre reported to his Command in the French Tank Corps. As a buck private, he was assigned to handle a machine gun in a tank. He fought with such courage that he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. The action which won him this honor occurred when he and his Pierre Aumont won a high French military honor for valor under fire. His first American picture is Metro's Assignment in Brittany comrades were fighting in the Sedan. On three sides they were surrounded by Nazis. In order to use the one way of escape, it was necessary that someone block the Germans on the other sides. Pierre made that his business. While his tank mates escaped by the only possible route to safety, he fought off the Germans. Then, when all his comrades were safe, he got through, and made his way against great odds into the back country. For his courage under fire, he was awarded the Croix by his Commanding Officer. But neither his courage nor that of other Frenchmen saved France. A few weeks later France capitulated. Pierre realized that if he were captured by the Nazis he would be imprisoned or forced to do slave labor. His only hope lay in escaping from occupied France. Panic had swept France. In their haste to escape the Nazis, people made their way on mules, in shabby carts and cars of ancient vintage, sleeping where they could and eating when they could. Among those Frenchmen was Pierre. Everywhere the German army was straffing the roads and highways. He had to keep a sharp lookout for them. He escaped to unoccupied France, and from there to Lisbon, where he succeeded in getting on a ship bound for the United States. Ordinarily frank and amiable, he turns grimly silent when asked about the incidents that occurred during his escape. "I had the good luck to get away from the Nazis," he says, as though that explains everything. When Pierre arrived in New York, he ran into further difficulties. He was broke, but eager to get a job on the stage. Since he could barely speak English, there was little hope of obtaining one. So he made his way to Canada, where the French Canadians were familiar with his French films. On the strength of those, he got jobs in the theater. While he worked, he studied English. When he returned to New York, he spoke with only a slight accent. So impressed was Katharine Cornell by his ability, that she asked him to appear with her in Rose Burke. Pierre's personal notices were excellent. At that time M-G-M was hunting frantically for an actor to play the dual role of the French Intelligence Officer and a French soldier in Assignment in Brittany. A harassed talent scout spotted Pierre and leaped on him with sounds of joy. In Hollywood, Pierre, being blond, young and handsome, was promptly discovered by some of the most beautiful girls in town. The columnists have had a great deal to say about his "romance" with Hedy Lamarr. He has gone out with the delectable Hedy, but he has also gone out with Susan Peters and other lovelies. He is ready, willing and able to take up the fight against Hitler again, this time with the American Army. Because he believes that some day France will again be free, he has not renounced his French citizenship. But Uncle Sam is willing to have "friendly aliens" fight with our own boys; and Pierre is certainly the friendliest alien you've ever met. |R