Marcel Dalio

French character actor Marcel Dalio first gained international renown with major roles in Jean Renoir's masterworks "Grand Illusion" (1937) and "The Rules of the Game" (1939). While those two films would establish Dalio as a major star in his native France, the Romanian-Jewish actor had a far more difficult time after the Nazis took control of Paris in World War II. When a publicity shot of the film star was distributed by the Third Reich's propaganda machine as an example of "The Typical Jew," Dalio fled Europe for the United States, taking stereotypical roles as a Frenchman in American-made films. While Dalio's brief stint in Hollywood was better remembered for the high caliber of stars he appeared with -- Edward G. Robinson in "Unholy Partners" (1941), Glenn Ford in "Flight Lieutenant" (1942), and, perhaps most memorably, Humphrey Bogart in "Casablanca" (1942) -- the actor persevered in the immediate postwar years, earning more substantial parts in comedic romps such as "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (1953) and the Audrey Hepburn-starred "Sabrina" (1954). Dalio returned to French film for his final movie roles but remained a frequenter of American television, portraying Captain Renault on the short-lived 1955 series TV adaptation of "Casablanca."