Chevalier wrote a very selective and successful memoir, but this book is a probing biography of the man, looking closely at the shrewd, obsessive and complex man behind the caricature French image. As the uncontested king of showbusiness for most of the 20th century, he was already a rising star before World War I. This biography looks at his career as well as the women who played an important part in his life - from the great music hall star, Mistinguett, to Marlene Dietrich and Kay Francis. Chevalier died in 1967, aged 85.