Georges Guetary; Co-Star of ‘An American in Paris’

Georges Guetary, the Egyptian-born singer whose career included a memorable song and dance with Gene Kelly in “An American in Paris,” has died. He was 82.

Guetary, decorated by the French government as a Chevalier of Arts and Letters, died Sept. 13 of a heart attack, according to the Pleine Ciel hospital in Mougins.

In the 1951 Oscar-winning film, Guetary played the suave, good-natured singer, Henri, who becomes caught in a love triangle with Kelly and Leslie Caron. In a solo turn, he strutted up and down impressive stairsteps singing, “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.” With Kelly, he sang and danced the George Gershwin tune “S’Wonderful.”

Guetary, whose French recordings made him a multimillionaire, later recorded “S’Wonderful” along with such hits as “Chic a Chiquitu” and “Caballero.”

Born Lambros Woorlou on Feb. 8, 1915, in Alexandria, Egypt, Guetary came to France to study music in 1937.

Of Greek ancestry, he began singing under the name Georges Lambros and later changed it to Georges Guetary.

Bandleader Jo Bouillon gave Guetary his first singing contract in 1938, and the man who would later be known as “King Georges” was soon entertaining at the then-swanky Casino de Paris.

He starred in several stage musicals in Paris, London and New York during the 1940s and 1950s, including “Toi, C’est Moi” (1942), “Bless the Bride” (1947) and “Arms and the Girl” (1950).

Other than “American in Paris,” his films include “The Black Cavalier” (1944), “The Adventures of Casanova” (1946) and “The Road to Paradise” (1955).

Guetary is survived by his wife, Jeanine Guyon, and two children.