Charles Aznavour, singer and actor, whose gestures and expressions conveyed the romance of Paris to worldwide audiences, has died.
An actor turned singer, he epitomized the French chansonnier: His songs were half-sung, half-spoken acclamations of love. A popular-song stylistic, Aznavour was a charismatic stage presence, despite his 5 ft. 3 inch height and pedestrian appearance. He headlined at such Parisian venues as the Olympia and was very popular with international audiences.
In 2005, he was chosen as Entertainer of the Century in an on-line poll conducted by Time magazine, topping such superstars as Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
In a career that spanned roughly six decades, Aznavour wrote more than 1,000 songs and sold more than 100 million records. He often wrote songs that were considered immoral. Until 1960, 60% of his songs were banned from the French radio. He also wrote music with political or social themes, which he dubbed his “faits de societe” songs.
He was sung by all the great French musical stars, including Edith Piaf, his onetime mentor, and Maurice Chevalier.
As an actor, his most memorable role was as the barroom pianist with a troubled past in Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player.
When queried about which profession he preferred, singing or acting, he said, Each of my songs is a story. He called himself a “happy sad singer.”
In 1994, he signed a deal with EMI, which authorized re-release of his life's recordings, which was packaged in a series of 30 CDs in 1996. He was feted with a cover on Billboard that year, rare for a foreign singer.
His first film Head Against the Wall won him the Crystal Star Award from the French Motion Picture Academy. He was also memorable as the marathon runner in The Games, and as a Jewish shopkeeper in Volker Schloendorff's The Tin Drum.
He also performed in Atom Egoyan's “Ararat, a film about the Armenian genocide. He was instrumental in erecting a commemorative statue for the victims in Paris.
As a singer, Aznavour packed French theaters and music halls. During a 15-year period in the '60s and '70s, only Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Elton John topped Aznavour in sales. He had a hit single, She, in 1974, which later was used covered by Elvis Costello in the romantic comedy Notting Hill, and was also used in Tadpole.
He was popular with mainstream U.S. audiences, as well: On U.S. television, Aznavour performed in a dual concert on TV with Liza Minnelli titled Love from A to Z.
He entertained at the Hollywood Bowl with a program of songs in French and English, accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He finished with Yesterday When I Was Young, which he wrote.
Sad eyed and slight-framed, Aznavour won audiences by simple emotion. Time magazine once characterized his music: “His words are the plea of any poor devil, sung in any poor devil's voice.”
“I sing about the ordinary things of life. My ideas are everyone's ideas. My problems are their. …. So the audience accepts me. I am not a handsome, talented man. My voice is froggy, everything about me is common. They identify with me.”
In 1975, he starred in Claude Chabrol's “Folies Bourgeoises, and, in 1983, starred in another Chabrol film, Le Fantome du Chapelier.
In U.S. films, he also played a wild hunchback in Candy and a villain in Harold Robbins' The Adventurers.
Other film credits include: Tomorrow is My Turn, Taxi for Tobruk, High Fidelity and Paris in the Month of August. For 20th Century Fox, he played a European police chief in Sky Riders, which also starred James Coburn and Susannah York.
He was born as Shahnour Varenagh Aznavurjian on May 22, 1924 in Paris of Armenian parents. His father was a singer, his mother an actress. At age nine, he entered acting and at 11 left school. He was 16 when World War II began and survived by selling newspapers and sweeping streets. He teamed with actor Pierre Roche in a double act, and began song-write collaboration with Roche. He wrote songs for the likes of Edith Piaf and Maurice Chevalier.
Aznavour was a member of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1986.
Most recent films include Le Comedien, Les Momes, Laguna, and Ennemis publics.
He was married five times and had five children: Seda, Patricia, Katia, Patrick and Mischa.
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