A dashingly handsome French actor, Louis Jourdan trained for the stage under Rene Simon in Paris in the 1930s and made his film debut in 1939's "Le Corsaire". His budding career was cut short by World War II when his hotelier father was arrested and Jourdan and his brothers joined the French Resistance. After the war, David O Selznick hired the actor to appear in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Paradine Case" (1946).

Jourdan was hampered in his Hollywood career by his looks and by typecasting as the Continental lover (not unlike Charles Boyer). While he was memorable opposite Joan Fontaine in Max Ophuls' "Letter from an Unknown Woman" (1948), he went on to play similar roles opposite Jennifer Jones in "Madame Bovary" (1949) and Grace Kelly in "The Swan" (1956). Jourdan's best-known role was as Leslie Caron's suitor in Vincente Minnelli's "Gigi" (1958). He continued to make features, but few tapped his abilities until he turned to playing eccentric villains, as in "Swamp Thing" (1982) and its 1989 sequel.