Renowned French-born actor Louis Jourdan, who enjoyed fame and fortune as a romantic lead for a little over 15 years, starting with Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Paradine Case (’47) and more or less ending his run in The V.I.Ps (’63), died yesterday at age 93. Once he became famous he was almost always cast as the continental, cultivated charmer. (One exception was when Jourdan played a baddie opposite Doris Day in Julie.) He kept working for decades after that, and I know he rebounded with a villain role in Octopussy (’82) but I swear to God I don’t remember him in that film. Perhaps he didn’t chew enough scenery or acted too civilized? The Marseilles-born Jourdan began his career in the French cinema in the early to mid ’40s and served in the French resistance toward the end of World War II. His best-known role was in Gigi (’58), a popular Paris-set musical with Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier. Following his Paradine Case debut Jourdan’s biggest films were Letter from an Unknown Woman (’48), Bird of Paradise (’51), Three Coins in the Fountain (’54), The Swan (’56), The Best of Everything (’59), Can-Can (’60) and, as noted, The V.I.Ps. The poor guy lost his only son, Louis Henry Jourdan, to a drug overdose in ’81.