Jean-Paul Vignon, the romantic French vocalist and
Actor who impressed audiences on both sides of the Atlantic during an eight-decade career, died March 22 of liver
cancer in Beverly Hills, his family announced. He was 89. Performing a repertoire of contemporary pop and
American standards, Vignon debuted in the U.S. in 1963 at the famed
New York supper club The Blue Angel, where he opened for stand-up comic . Ed Sullivan on his Sunday night CBS variety show in eight appearances — including one in which he sang a duet with young — and he became a regular guest on Johnny Carson and Merv Griffin’s programs. Signed to Columbia Records, Vignon released his first U.S. album, , in 1964. Three years later, he had a supporting role opposite William Holden and Cliff Robertson in the World War II film . In a in the , reporter Robert Koehler noted, “Vignon fulfilled the American image of the romantic, singing Frenchman. Ironically, rather than compare his voice to such renowned Gallic crooners as Maurice Chevalier and Gilbert Bécaud, Vignon says that he has a Bobby Darin kind of voice, able to sing fast and passionate or gentle and slow.” He continued to play some of the top rooms in New York, Miami,
Los Angeles and other major cities into the early 1970s, and in ’74 he recorded a single, “You,” with , then a relatively unknown young
Actress and model. Changing audience tastes stalled his career, but he did host a Canadian TV show produced by Dick Clark called , which ended each week with him reclining in a bathtub. And for a centerfold in 1973, he sported a sweater once worn in a famous photo shoot by Marilyn Monroe and little else. Born on Jan. 30, 1935, in the port city of Dire-Daou in the colonial territory of French Somaliland (later known as Djibouti), Vignon was schooled in Avignon, France. He briefly studied medicine in Marseille and law at the Sorbonne in
Paris but decided to pursue
music full time. He was in his early 20s when, on the recommendation of Belgian singer-actor Jacques Brel, he secured a prestigious cabaret
Job in Paris that would launch his career. The baritone debuted in front of the cameras as the star of the 1956 feature , then followed with a performance opposite Francoise Arnoul in the romantic drama (1959). Meanwhile, he had signed as a vocalist with France’s Disques
Vogue, which aimed to develop him as an artist along the lines of such balladeers as Charles Trenet (his idol), Yves Montand and . His first album was 1957’s autobiographical . His career in
France began to lag after he served 17 months of compulsory
MILITARY service, but after opening for Edith Piaf and performing on board the French liner Liberté before such ocean-going celebrities as Ernie Kovacs, Edie Adams and Carol Burnett, he decided to try his luck in the States. As he wrote in his 2018 memoir, , “My adventurous spirit was telling me, ‘Marco Polo did not hesitate to go to
China, Henry Morton Stanley did not hesitate to presume exploring Central Africa and find Dr. Livingston, Christopher Columbus did not hesitate to sail west to discover America … so it is your turn to discover the
United States.’” After years of career ebbs and flows, he returned to the L.A. cabaret scene in 1993, encouraged by such pop vocalists as Harry Connick Jr., Michael Feinstein and Tony Bennett and the smash success of “Unforgettable,” which electronically paired the late Nat King Cole and his daughter Natalie. He would remain active into his 80s with appearances at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s and the Catalina Jazz Club. Along the way, he would also appear on such shows as , , , , , and ; voice the Merry Man in (2001); and narrate the romantic
comedy (2009). Meanwhile, his company, Côte d’Azur Productions, provided French audiences with translations and overdubs of and other American films. Survivors include his longtime partner, Suzie Summers; daughters Marguerite Vignon Gaul (from his marriage to late actress Brigid Bazlen) and Lucy Brank; and granddaughters Leah and Hannah. THR Newsletters Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day More from The
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