A Case of Jacques Itch!

Many a Hollywood female wound up with it... Jacques itch! Ha ha! I have to say I've had a mild case of it lately, too, thanks to checking out some of his work on screen. I refer to that French charmer Jacques Bergerac, seen here in a publicity still for The Hypnotic Eye (1960.) (If you're curious, the gals are Merry Anders, Allison Hayes and Marcia Henderson.)

Full disclosure is that about a month ago I had minor surgery and spent some time recuperating at home, then working from home. I also was not permitted to do any strenuous exercise for several weeks. The result is that I watched a ton of television, including many movies on television. One of them was called Fear No More (1961), a thriller featuring a strong performance by Mala Powers. Her leading man in the movie was played by Jacques Bergerac. It was while looking into him a bit further that I unearthed that Joan Collins movie I recently posted about, in which he had a supporting role.

The broodingly handsome, dark-featured Bergerac was born May 26th, 1927 in Boarritz, France. He had aspirations of becoming an attorney and was in law school when fate intervened.

In 1953, while Oscar-winning movie actress and former dance partner to Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers was vacationing in France, she spotted the young man. Immediately smitten, she (strongly!) recommended that he be given a featured role in her upcoming movie.

The movie was Twist of Fate (1954) and, though her male costars were Herbert Lom and Stanley Baker, she wound up in Bergerac's arms on and off-screen.

The inseparable twosome, he 26 and she 41, briefly dispelled any rumors of marriage, but were indeed wed in Palm Springs, California in February of 1953.

Twist of Fate was convoluted and failed to take proper advantage of its location filming. It also didn't have any particular prestige at the box office, though he was given "Introducing" credit.

In the majority of photos one finds of the couple, she is generally gazing at him. And who can blame her?! There was no fancy wedding, or even published photos of the nuptials. After all, he was her fourth husband.

With this, he found himself hobnobbing amidst show business royalty, from Charles Boyer to Gloria Swanson and Van Johnson to Ethel Merman.

Before it was all said and done, Bergerac had a contract at MGM Studios.

Ginger's handsome hubby played Armand to Signe Hasso's Camille on Kraft Theatre and wound up as a love interest to Ida Lupino in Strange Intruder (the male lead being Edmond Purdom) in 1956. But the wheels were coming off their whirlwind romance and marriage. They were divorced in 1957.

Bergerac had been honing his craft on American television, usually when someone handsome and continental was called for. He's seen here with Ann Sothern on her sitcom Private Secretary, but also did Climax! and Playhouse 90.

In 1957, he played the second male lead in Gene Kelly's final MGM musical under his original contract. Les Girls had him romancing Taina Elg. 

Bergerac appeared three times on Alfred Hitchcock Presents between 1956 and 1958.

This introduction to his character gave me a start! Because his skin and his trunks are so close in tone, I thought he was presenting his own Hitchcock to the female costar!

For this episode, he was cast opposite Oscar-winner Claire Trevor. It seemed as if half the ladies in Hollywood were getting a turn at working with him.

Not everyone can say that he or she appeared in an Oscar-winning Best Picture, but Bergerac could. He had a supporting role in MGM's Gigi (1958), seen here with Eva Gabor. I don't know whether anything developed with Eva...

...but he was seen about town with her sister Zsa Zsa and you just know that she took him for a test drive!

The same year as Gigi, he starred in a little-known French-Canadian picture called Un homme se penche sur son passé. Based upon a novel (with inspiration from the works of Jack London), the title translates to "A Man Scans His Past."

He plays a horse smuggler whose profile looks divine whether chatting with partner Pierre Dudan or love interest Barbara Rutting.

At one point, Dudan is shot and Bergerac slides onto the bed to speak to him.

I couldn't help but take notice that, even in this innocuous scene, Bergerac's innate sensuality gives the images a certain feeling that surely was not intended...!

In any event, the pal healed rather swiftly.

Love was in the air once more. And once more a blonde, Oscar-winning actress was gazing in awe at her prize while he looked into the camera's lens. Dorothy Malone was only 3 years his senior.

And the two were wed in Hong Kong (where she was filming The Last Voyage, 1960) in 1959 amid throngs of interested well-wishers.

1959 also saw the release of Thunder in the Sun, in which he was third-billed behind Susan Hayward and Jeff Chandler. He was Hayward's husband in the wagon train tale which focuses on Basques (who were represented so inaccurately that people still complain about it today!)

1960 saw him portraying a nefarious hypnotist in The Hypnotic Eye, a movie we've profiled extensively on this site. This same year in April, Wife Dorothy gave birth to their daughter Mimi.

Then in 1961 came the aforementioned Fear No More, in which he was heroically trying to assist a very troubled Mala Powers who may or may not be leveling with him.

He went to Italy in order to costar in 1962's Fury of Achilles, playing a nemesis of the fabled hero. In February of 1962, a second daughter, Diane, was born.

It would be nearly impossible to count the Italian sword and sandal films that sprang up in the 1950s and '60s. As far as they go, this one was pretty decent.

Certainly, Bergerac had the right looks for portraying a toga-clad swordsman.

He, and many of the other gents on hand, occasionally flashed a pair of 100% authentic white cotton undies during the action scenes. Ha ha!

The only time we got any glimpse of his chest, though, was during a bloody and prolonged battle with Gordon Mitchell (as the title figure.)

Having appeared in the Vittorio Gassman/Joan Collins movie La conguintura and popping up in the Bob Hope comedy A Global Affair (both 1964), he next starred in the unlikely Taffy and the Jungle Hunter (!), in which a child and every sort of animal imaginable threatened to retain all the focus. This same year, his marriage to Dorothy Malone came to an end, though the two would battle in court over child support and custody for some time.

If you hadn't already noticed, Bergerac's level of quality when it came to movies was fast on the wane. Low-budgets, international fluff and now tacky bedroom farce in the form of Mother Goose a Go-Go (1966.)

Make no mistake, this wasn't any sort of explicit type of movie, more a goofy, innocuous romp with a lot of suggestiveness. Tommy Kirk (who you just know enjoyed bumping up against Jacques) can't seem to avoid his nursery rhyme obsession and do the deed with his wife Anne Helm, so resident Lothario Bergerac acts as a mentor.

Kirk is shirtless a lot, while Bergerac is limited to two brief, dark instances.

It should've been the other way around if you ask me...!

1966 marked Bergerac's last appearances in cinematic releases. The aforementioned flick and this one, Special Mission Lady Chaplin, were the final movies he did before turning exclusively to television. In this one, he seemed to be in a chair, smoking a cigar and on the phone for the bulk of his scenes. 

Still, the James Bond rip-off had Daniela Bianchi (of From Russia with Love, 1963) as the title character, a fashionista, and brawny Ken Clark as a spy (at one point skulking around in some abbreviated blue patterned swim trunks.)

From 1966 to 1969, Bergerac would pop up on hit television series of the day, often as a movie star, a member of royalty or some other elegant type of gent. Seen here with one of Ginger Rogers' old pals, Lucille Ball, he lent charm to The Lucy Show.

On the Ben Gazzara show Run for Your Life, he was one of several wealthy lodgers at a ski resort, trapped by an avalanche.

He appeared twice on Batman as an epee-wielding fencer who is also a "fence" for stolen jewelry.

This is the way Mr. B. looked during the last of his on-screen acting appearances.

He played, naturally, a handsome movie star who charms not only Rose Marie, but also the blonde star of The Doris Day Show.

Public appearances after this were rather rare. Bergerac departed Hollywood, showbiz and all its trappings and headed back to France. There, he ran the Paris office of Revlon and also worked for Perfumes Balmain.

Still fit and handsome, though older, he's seen here (in the main photo) at a Revlon presentation in 1976.

As shown in this mid-1980s photo, his and Malone's daughters inherited their father's dark features. (Of course, Malone was a brunette under the peroxide, too!) Today, these gals are in their 60s...!

Bergerac passed away in 2014 at the age of 87 from undisclosed causes. He did not remarry again in the wake of the (very) acrimonious divorce from Malone in 1964. His daughters provided him with six grandchildren between them.

And with that, I bid you adieu!