Jean-Pierre Aumont built a career as one of France's most elegant leading men, a matinée idol whose charm translated across both French and American cinema. Born Jean-Pierre Philippe Salomons on January 5, 1911, in Paris, to a prosperous Jewish family, he trained under the legendary director Louis Jouvet at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées and quickly became one of the most sought-after young actors in French theater and film during the 1930s. His burgeoning career was interrupted by the Second World War. Aumont joined the Free French Forces, serving under General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, and fought in campaigns across North Africa and southern France. He was wounded in action and received the Légion d'honneur and the Croix de Guerre for his service. After the war, Hollywood came calling. He appeared in American films alongside stars like Gene Kelly and Lana Turner, moving between French and English-language productions with an ease that few European actors of his generation managed. His personal life was marked by tragedy and glamour in equal measure. His first wife, the Dominican-born actress María Montez, died of a heart attack in her bathtub in 1951 at age 39. He later married Italian actress Marisa Pavan, Pier Angeli's twin sister. Aumont continued working steadily in European and American film and television for five decades, appearing in over 90 films. His autobiography, "Sun and Shadow," offered a candid portrait of both the golden age of French cinema and the experience of exile during the war. He died on January 30, 2001, in Saint-Tropez, at age 90.