Louis Alphonse Gassion

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Louis Alphonse Gassion
Born	(1881-05-10)10 May 1881 Falaise, Calvados, France
Died	3 March 1944(1944-03-03) (aged 62) Paris, France
Resting place	Cimitière du Père-Lachaise, Paris[1]
Occupation	Theatre actor, Contortionist
Known for	Father of Édith Piaf
Spouse(s)	Annetta Maillard ​ ​ (m. 1914; div. 1929)​ Jeanne L'Hôte ​ (m. 1932)​
Children	3; including Édith

Louis Alphonse Gassion (10 May 1881 – 3 March 1944), is mostly known as the father of Édith Piaf, the legendary singer-songwriter who was known as France's national chanteuse and was internationally famous.

Biography[]

Gassion was born on 10 May 1881 in Falaise, Calvados to a poor family. His father, Victor Alphonse Gassion, was a horseman in the circus, and his mother, Louise Léontine (née Deschamps), was the madam of a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. He had seven sisters, two of whom died at a young age. He began his career in the circus with the 'Ciotti' circus, and became a contortionist. At first, he performed with family, then, on his own. ^[2]

On 4 September 1914, he married Annetta Giovanna Maillard, an Italian-born café singer known under the stage name of Line Marsa. On 19 December 1915, she gave birth to their first child, a daughter- Édith Giovanna, who would go on to become Édith Piaf. He left Édith in the care of his mother when she was two years old, after Annetta and her mother Emma had been neglecting her care. They also had a second child, Herbert (1918-1997).

In 1922, Louis was going to take an engagement in the Caroli circus, but decided to become an independent act, touring with various itinerant circuses. Often, Louis would have Édith sing for the crowds after he performed. This was when she first realised her talent for singing. On 4 June 1929, Louis divorced Annetta, who became a drunk and drug addict.

In 1932, when Édith left to live with her boyfriend Louis Dupont and friend Simone Bertaut, he married Jeanne Georgette L'Hôte, with whom he had a third child, Dénise, born in 1931.

Gassion died of lung cancer on 3 March 1944 in Paris, at the age of 62. He is buried alongside his daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter at Père Lachaise Cemetery.^[3]

In popular culture[]

In 2007, Louis Gassion was portrayed by Jean-Paul Rouve in Olivier Dahan's biopic of Édith Piaf's life, La Vie en rose.^[4]

References[]