Georges Guétary

Georges Guétary, born Lambros Vorloou in Alexandria, Egypt, to Greek parents, was a French singer, dancer, cabaret performer, and film actor whose career spanned stage, screen, and television across multiple countries. His father worked as a textile executive. Guétary studied music both in Egypt and in Paris, making his stage debut in 1937. During the early years of his career, he performed alongside the celebrated chanteuse Mistinguett at the Casino de Paris, and his first film credit came with the 1938 musical Quand le cœur chante. He also appeared regularly at the Théâtre du Châtelet and in numerous French motion pictures and television productions.

During World War II, Guétary adopted an altered spelling of his name to avoid scrutiny from officials who were deporting foreigners to concentration camps. He became a French citizen in 1950. Following the war, he built a strong stage reputation in both London and New York. In London, he appeared opposite Lizbeth Webb in the 1947 operetta Bless the Bride, which ran for nearly a thousand performances and earned him considerable critical praise. On January 5, 1949, he recorded the first version of Maître Pierre, a song composed by Henri Betti with lyrics by Jacques Plante that went on to be performed by many singers and accordionists.

Guétary made his Broadway debut in 1950 in Arms and the Girl alongside Nanette Fabray, a performance for which he received a Tony Award for Best Foreign Performer. He returned to Broadway in 1958 in the musical Portofino, his second and final Broadway credit.

His most prominent American recognition came through the 1951 MGM musical An American in Paris, in which he played Henri Baurel, a cabaret performer and family friend who had sheltered a young woman named Lisa Bouvier, played by Leslie Caron, during the war in Paris. His character is engaged to Bouvier but is unaware that she has fallen in love with the American painter Jerry Mulligan, played by Gene Kelly. The role had originally been intended for Maurice Chevalier, who declined it, and Kelly's biographer Clive Hirschhorn noted that Kelly recruited Guétary despite recognizing he was too young for the part. Variety, however, described him as neatly cast in the role of the older man. Among his notable moments in the film was a solo sequence in which he ascends a stairway performing George Gershwin's Stairway to Paradise, and he appeared with Kelly in a rendition of Gershwin's 'S Wonderful. An American in Paris remained his sole Hollywood film appearance, and he subsequently returned to stage and film work in France.

Guétary was married to Janine Guyon, a French television producer, and the couple had two children.