French Actor Louis Jourdan, Star of 'Gigi' and 'Octopussy,' Dead at 93

French actor Louis Jourdan, who enjoyed a long and varied career playing debonair men and a James Bond villain, has died. He was 93.

Jourdan began acting in his native France in the late 1930s, though World War II put many of his early productions in jeopardy. He was invited to be part of his first American film in 1946, when legendary Hollywood producer David O. Selznick cast him in Alfred Hitchcock's 1947 flick "The Paradine Case," alongside his wife, the late Berthe Frederique "Quique" Jourdan.

Louis Jourdan continued to find success in Hollywood throughout the 1940s and '50s in movies such as "Letter From An Unknown Woman," "Three Coins In The Fountain," and two Vincente Minelli features: "Madame Bovary" and "Gigi," the latter of which won nine Oscars including Best Pitcure. He worked steadily over the next few decades, frequently appearing in TV movies and series guest-starring roles, before landing the role of a James Bond villain in 1983's "Octopussy."

Jourdan died February 14 at his Beverly Hills home. He was predeceased by his wife and a son.

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images

Article by Katie Roberts

Freelance Writer

Katie Nowak Roberts is a freelance writer and pop culture junkie based in Rochester, New York. Her work has also appeared in Uproxx, (585) magazine, Indianapolis Monthly, The Record newspaper (Troy, New York), Syracuse Woman Magazine, Making Music Magazine, and International Musician (official trade publication of the American Federation of Musicians).