Known as much as an actor as a singer, Armand Mestral was born in Paris on
November 25, 1917. His real name was Armand Serge Zelikson, son of a Russian
émigré sculptor and a draughtswoman, and he grew up with his half-sister Irénée
Rochard, who would go on to make a name for herself in animal sculpture. An
operatic singer with a bass voice when he first appeared at the Théâtre de la
Gaïté-Lyrique, Armand Mestral appeared in Franz Lehár's operettas Le Pays du
sourire and Maurice Yvain's Chanson gitane, where he scored his first success in
1946 with the aria "Jalousie". He turned t...