Grégoire Aslan (born Krikor Kaloust Aslanian (); 28 March 1908 – 8 January 1982) was a Swiss-Armenian

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and musician.

Early life

He was born to an Armenian family in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

or in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, according to different sources. He made his professional début at 18 as a vocalist, trumpeter and drummer with the

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

dance band of Ray Ventura et ses Collegiens, then launched an acting career under the name of Coco Aslan. He also performed with guitarist

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...

Career

Aslan's first film appearance was uncredited in Marc Didier's 1935 ''Le Billet de mille''. His first credited appearance was in ''Feux de joie'' (1939), along with conductor Ventura. During World War II he toured South America with actor Louis Jouvet and eventually started his own theatre troupe. He became an indispensable feature in many British and American films, usually playing foreigners – Russians, Frenchmen, Italians, Germans, Albanians and Middle Easterners – with equal finesse. Aslan's screen appearances include gangster boss Duca in '' Joe MacBeth'' (1955), ''

King of Kings King of Kings, ''Mepet mepe''; , group="n" was a ruling title employed primarily by monarchs based in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. Commonly associated with History of Iran, Iran (historically known as name of Iran, Persia ...

'' (1961) as Herod, and ''

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

'' (1963) as Pothinus. In 1961, in '' The Devil at 4 O'Clock'', alongside

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

and Spencer Tracy, he portrayed Marcel, a criminal who finds repentance by giving his life to save children from being killed by a volcanic eruption on a South Sea island. He played a police chief in '' Paris When It Sizzles'' (1964) and '' The Return of the Pink Panther'' (1975). He appeared in over 110 film and TV roles. He also appeared on the French stage in productions from 1946 to 1981.

Personal life

From 1948 to 1955, Aslan was married to French theatre actress Denise Noël.

Death

Aslan died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

in Breage, whilst visiting

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

.''Screen World'', Volume 34 (1983), p. 233

Selected filmography

* ' (1935) * '' Adventure in Paris'' (1936) as Un membre de l'orchestre de Ray Ventura (uncredited) * ''Feux de joie'' (1939) as Coco * '' Whirlwind of Paris'' (1939) as Coco * '' Radio Surprises'' (1940) as Robert * ''La fruta mordida'' (1945) * '' Are You Sure?'' (1947) as Coco * '' Sleeping Car to Trieste'' (1948) as Poirier, the chef * '' Keep an Eye on Amelia'' (1949) as Le prince * '' Wicked City'' (aka ''Hans le marin'', 1949) as Le Brésilien * '' A Man Walks in the City'' (1950) as Ambilarès * '' Last Holiday'' (1950) as Gambini * '' Cairo Road'' (1950) as Lombardi (as Coco) * '' Cage of Gold'' (1950) as Duport * '' The Adventurers'' (1951) as Dominic * ' (1951) as Ernest Duranval * '' The Red Inn'' (1951) as Barboeuf * '' No Vacation for Mr. Mayor'' (1951) as M Beaudubec * ''Jouons le jeu'' (1952) as l'acteur (segment 'La jalousie') * ' (1952) as Coudert * '' A Mother's Secret'' (1952) as Georges Lavier * '' Innocents in Paris'' (1953) as Carpet Seller * '' Good Lord Without Confession'' (1953) as Varesco * '' Le Chevalier de la nuit'' (1953) as Le préfet de police * '' This Man Is Dangerous'' (1953) as Siegella * '' Act of Love'' (1953) as Commissaire (uncredited) * ' (1954) as Mortimer Schoom * ''La soupe à la grimace'' (1954) as Karl Worden * ''

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentMr. Arkadin'' (1955) as Bracco * '' Joe MacBeth'' (1955) as Duncan * ''Une fille épatante'' (1955) as Atcheminocc * ' (1956) as Bodoni * ' (1956) as Zajir * '' He Who Must Die'' (1957) as Agha * '' The Suspects'' (1957) as Inspecteur Ben Hamman * ' (1957) as Le prince Yucca * ''Casino de Paris'' (1957) as Mario * '' A Bomb for a Dictator'' (1957) as Général Ribera * '' Windom's Way'' (1957) as Mayor Lollivar * '' The Tricyclist'' (1957) as Mouillefarine * '' The Snorkel'' (1958) as The Inspector * '' Sea Fury'' (1958) as Fernando * '' The Roots of Heaven'' (1958) as Habib * ' (1959) as Stanley père * '' Killers of Kilimanjaro'' (1959) as Ben Ahmed * '' Our Man in Havana'' (1959) as Cifuentes * '' Under Ten Flags'' (1960) as Master of Abdullah * '' The Criminal'' (1960) as Frank Saffron * '' The 3 Worlds of Gulliver'' (1960) as King Brob * ''Bernadette de Lourdes'' (1961) * '' The Rebel'' (1961) as Aristotle Carreras * '' The Invasion Quartet'' (1961) as Debrie * ''

'' (1961) as Herod the Great * '' The Devil at 4 O'Clock'' (1961) as Marcel * '' The Happy Thieves'' (1961) as Dr. Victor Muñoz * '' Village of Daughters'' (1962) as Gastoni (A Father) * (''Marco Polo'', unfinished French film, 1962) * ''

'' (1963) as Pothinus * '' The Main Chance'' (1964) as Potter * '' Une ravissante idiote'' (1964) as Bagda * '' Paris When It Sizzles'' (1964) as Police Insp. Gilet * ' (1964) as Inspecteur Rossi * '' Crooks in Cloisters'' (1964) as Lorenzo * '' Amori pericolosi'' (1964) as Il generale (segment "Il generale") * '' The Gorillas'' (1964) as Maître Lebavard * '' The Yellow Rolls-Royce'' (1964) as the Albanian Ambassador * '' The High Bright Sun'' (1965) as Gen. Stavros Skyros * '' Marco the Magnificent'' (1965) as Achmed Abdullah * ''

Moment to Moment ''Moment to Moment'' is a 1966 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starring Jean Seberg, Honor Blackman and Sean Garrison. Plot Kay Stanton lives on the French Riviera with her psychiatrist husband Neil Sta ...

'' (1965) as Insp. DeFargo * '' A Man Could Get Killed'' (1966) as Florian * '' Our Man in Marrakesh'' (1966) as Achmed * '' Lost Command'' (1966) as Dr. Ali Ben Saad * '' The 25th Hour'' (1967) as Dobresco * '' Tiffany Memorandum'' (1967) as The Shadow * ''Marry Me! Marry Me!'' (1968) as Mr. Schmoll * '' A Flea in Her Ear'' (1968) as Max, Hotel Coq Dor Owner * '' The Thirteen Chairs'' (1969) as Psychiarist * '' You Can't Win 'Em All'' (1970) as Osman Bey * ''Le Cinéma de papa'' (1971) as Le producteur * '' The Pebbles of Etratat'' (1972) as Timakoff * '' Die rote Kapelle'' (1972, TV miniseries) as Baron Maximowitsch * ''Sex-shop'' (1972) as Le père d'Isabelle / Father-in-law * '' The Girl from Hong Kong'' (1973) as Harris * '' The Golden Voyage of Sinbad'' (1973) as Hakim * '' QB VII'' (1974, TV miniseries) as Sheik Hassan * '' The Girl from Petrovka'' (1974) as Minister * '' The Return of the Pink Panther'' (1975) as Lugash Police Chief * '' Bloedverwanten'' (1977) as Rudolphe De Guys * '' Gloria'' (1977) as Le patron du cabaret * ''

Meetings with Remarkable Men ''Meetings with Remarkable Men'', autobiographical in nature, is the second volume of the ''All and Everything'' trilogy written by the Greeks, Greek-Armenians, Armenian spiritual teacher G. I. Gurdjieff. Gurdjieff started working on the Russia ...

'' (1979) as Armenian Priest / Le prêtre arménien

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aslan, Gregoire 1908 births 1982 deaths Armenian male actors Swiss male film actors Swiss male television actors 20th-century Swiss male actors Swiss people of Armenian descent Burials at Neuilly-sur-Seine community cemetery Swiss male stage actors Swiss expatriates in France French people of Armenian descent