Yvonne Vallée

Biography

From Wikipedia Yvonne Vallée (February 21, 1899 – June 15, 1996) was a French actress. She was born Marguerite Yvonne Vallee in Bordeaux in 1899. Vallée was the wife of Maurice Chevalier from 1927 to 1933. She died in Vallauris, France in 1996, aged 97. She is buried in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes) Before their marriage, Yvonne Vallée was Chevalier's music hall dancing partner. She performed operetta often alongside Chevalier and was in the ensemble for the Paris debut of Belle of New York. Reportedly she met Chevalier in 1924 during his period of depression on return to France from a failed venture in New York City; this culminated in attempted suicide, but things turned around for Chevalier and he married Vallée three years later. The pair is featured in the photograph "Réunion de stars du cinéma" by Erich Salomon. Vallée frequently performed alongside her husband, playing the café proprietor's daughter (the love interest of her husband's character) in Le Petit Cafe, in the musical "Playboy of Paris", directed by Ludwig Berger and singing in duo with him on the recording "Dit's moi M'sieur Chevalier". The marriage lasted eight years, and they were divorced on grounds of incompatibility.