Movie actor, singer; born in Los Angeles. The son of a Russian immigrant opera baritone, he studied voice in Vienna and sang in the chorus at Radio City Music Hall before following his wife, dancer Helene Mussel, to Paris where he established himself as a nightclub singer, and later, as an actor. He became widely known as protégé and friend of Edith Piaf. His film credits include a series of French action thrillers in which he played a tough, hard-drinking American private eye, Lemmy Caution. He also wrote a novel, La Proprietaire, published in English in 1976 as The Godplayer.