Louis Alphonse Gassion

Louis Alphonse Gassion (May 10, 1881 - March 3, 1944) was a French circus performer and contortionist. He is mostly known as the father of the legendary French singer-songwriter Édith Piaf.

Biography

Gassion was born on May 10, 1881 in Falaise, Calvados to a poor family. His father, Victor Alphonse Gassion, was a horseman in the circus, and his mother, Louise Léontine Deschamps, was the Madam of a brothel in Bernay, Normandy. He had seven sisters, two of which 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 September 4, 1914, he married Annetta Maillard, an Italian-born singer known under the nom de plume of "Line Marsa". On December 19, 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 had been neglecting her care. They also had a second child, Herbert (August 31, 1918 - January 22, 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 June 4, 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 remarried to Jeanne L'Hôte, with whom he had a third child, Dénise, born in 1931.

Louis died on March 3, 1944 in Paris at the age of 62. The cause of his death was from lung cancer.

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.^[3]

External links

• The Genealogy of Édith Piaf and Louis Alphonse Gassion (in French)

References