French actor and singer (died 1971)

Fernandel

Fernand Joseph Désiré Contandin, better known as Fernandel, was a French comic actor. Born in Marseille, France, to Désirée Bedouin and Denis Contandin, originating in Perosa Argentina, a town located in the province of Turin, Italy, he became a comedy star, first gaining popularity in French vaudeville, operettas, and music-hall revues. His stage name originated from his marriage to Henriette Manse, the sister of his best friend and frequent cinematic collaborator Jean Manse. So attentive was he to his wife that his mother-in-law amusingly referred to him as Fernand d'elle.

Born

1903

May 8

Died

Living

Era

1900s

Country

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About

Fernandel, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1903 Born

Also on May 8

What else happened on this day, through history

-453 Spring and Autumn period: The house of Zhao defeats the house of Zhi, ending the Battle of Jinyang, a military conflict between the elite families of the State of Jin.
413 Emperor Honorius signs an edict providing tax relief for the Italian provinces Tuscia, Campania, Picenum, Samnium, Apulia, Lucania and Calabria, which were plundered by the Visigoths.
589 Reccared I opens the Third Council of Toledo, marking the entry of Visigothic Spain into the Catholic Church.
1360 The Hundred Years War: the Treaty of Brétigny is drafted between King Edward III of England and King John II of France (the Good).

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The world in 1903

When Fernandel arrived

april 19 The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Palestine and the Western world.
april 26 Atlético Madrid Association football club is founded.
april 29 A landslide kills 70 people in Frank, in the District of Alberta, Canada.
august 18 German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on May 8

Harry S. Truman 1884–1972 American colonel and politician, 33rd President of the United States (born 1884) Barbara Howard 1920–2017 Canadian sprinter and educator (born 1920) Bill Cowher 1957– American football player, coach, and analyst David Attenborough 1926– English environmentalist and television host David Keith 1954– American actor and director Franco Baresi 1960– Italian footballer and coach Friedrich Hayek 1899–1992 Austrian-German economist, philosopher, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Gamini Lokuge 1943– Sri Lankan politician (died 2025) Kemba Walker 1990– American basketball player

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1903

Alec Douglas-Home 1903–1995 English cricketer and politician, 66th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1995) Caroline Pafford Miller 1903–1992 American author (died 1992) Frank P. Ramsey 1903–1930 English economist, mathematician, and philosopher (died 1930) Frank Sargeson 1903– New Zealand writer (died 1982) Georg Elser 1903– German carpenter and attempted assassin of Adolf Hitler (died 1945) Giulio Natta 1903–1979 Italian chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1979) Guy Simonds 1903– English-Canadian general (died 1974) Harold Eugene Edgerton 1903–1990 American engineer and academic (died 1990) Jeanette MacDonald 1903–1965 American actress and singer (born 1903)

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More to explore

Fernandel's birthday May 8 Fernandel's zodiac Taurus When Fernandel arrived 1903