Armand Mestral

Armand Mestral, who was born Serge Armand Zelikson in 1917, was a French actor and singer, and the father of actress Marie-Claude Mestral and composer Patrice Mestral. Mestral lived for 50 years in the Parisian arrondissement of Montparnasse, and, following his death in 2000, was buried in the Montparnasse cemetery. The son of a Russian sculptor, Mestral grew up as a singer in the Church of Saint Roch in Paris, and started his entertainment career performing cabaret at the Theatre de La Ga"té Lyrique. He made his screen debut, as an actor, with a tiny role in "L'extravagante mission" (1945). Mestral broke out with his first starring role in Georges Plécet's war saga "Tabor" (1954), and then went on to play the title role in Raymond Bailly's "L'étrange Monsieur Steve" (1957) opposite Jeanne Moreau, share screen time with Édith Piaf in Marcel Blisténe's "Les amants de demain" (1959), and perform a starring turn in Alex Joffé's "Le tracassin ou Les plaisirs de la ville" (1961). Mestral also turned up in a string of crime movies -- including Walter Kapps' "Paris clandestin" (1957), Maurice Cloche's underworld drama "Le vicomte régle ses comptes" (1967), and Philippe Fourastié's Jacques Brel-starring lark "Bonnot's Gang" (1974) -- but crossed to the right side of the law to play a straight cop in the Morecambe & Wise caper comedy "That Riviera Touch" (1966). After a long career in sometimes-questionable TV movies, Mestral's final role was in cinema, in Annick Lanoe's geriatric comedy, "Les Mamies" (1992).