Jean Servais Biography

Belgian actor Jean Servais built his reputation on the Parisian stage, where he played leading roles from the late 1920s onward. Servais' film career, which began in 1932, was interrupted for several years by the War. By the time he had returned before the cameras in 1946, he had acquired a brooding, haunted demeanor which lingered until the end of his days. Servais' film work of the 1950s includes the influential crime-caper drama Rififi, in which he played Tony le Stephanois, the cool, methodical leader of a quartet of jewel thieves. He continued working in films until the early 1970s, accepting small but significant character roles in such popular international fare as The Longest Day (1962) and That Man From Rio (1964). Jean Servais was at one time the husband of actress Dominique Blanchar. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi