Henri Garat

Henri Garat (1902-1959) was a popular singer and leading man in light romances during the 1930s. He was born Henri Garascu, the son of a minor actor and vaudeville performer known as Garet and the singer Césarine Lévy. Henri (sometimes Henry) Garat began his career as a jeune premier in music halls working with the likes of Mistinguett. In 1930 he made his first film for the Ufa, Flagrant délit (1930, Hanns Schwarz, Georges Tréville). He was cast in French adaptations of German operettas opposite Lilian Harvey such as Le chemin du Paradis (1930, Wilhelm Thiele, Max de Vaucorbeil), Le congrès s'amuse (1931, Erik Charell, Jean Boyer), La fille et le garçon (1931, Roger Le Bon, Wilhelm Thiele), Princesse, à vos ordres (1931, Hanns Schwarz, Max de Vaucorbeil) and Un rêve blond (1932, André Daven, Paul Martin) based on a script by Walter Reisch and Billy Wilder. These films made him a big star and his songs became huge hits. When Lilian Harvey left for Hollywood Henri Garat played with new partner Meg Lemonnier in Simone est comme ça (1932, Karl Anton) and with Arletty in his best film, Un soir de réveillon (1933, Karl Anton). In Hollywood he appeared with Janet Gaynor in Adorable (1933, William Dieterle), a remake of Princesse, à vos ordres. He returned to Paris for the Molière adaptation Les dieux s'amusent (1935, Reinhold Schünzel, Albert Valentin) and played other parts as a seducer. In 1936 he made another comedy with Lilian Harvey, Les gais lurons (1936, Paul Martin, Jacques Natanson). At the end of the 1930s he started to consumate cocaine and his career declined. His extravagancies (a yacht, an airplane, a castle) and his divorces ruined him. His next films failed and he suffered a serious depression. In 1944 he left for Switzerland for a long period of rehab. In 1947 he tried to make a come-back, but sadly nobody was interested anymore in the former jeune premier of the 1930s. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.