Over the course of his nearly five-decade career, this French actor appeared in close to one hundred and fifty French and American films. His credits include the 1945 version of Cyrano de Bergerac; the 1953 Bing Crosby movie Little Boy Lost; and the 1966 action film Grand Prix.
In 1930, he provided voice acting work for a stop-motion animated film titled Le Roman de Renard (The Tale of the Fox).
His father, poet Maurice Étienne Legrand (better known by his pen name of Franc-Nohain), wrote the libretto for an opera by composer Maurice Ravel.
His marriage to American screen actress Norma Eberhardt lasted from 1955 until his death in 1978. He and Eberhardt had residences in New York, New Jersey, California, and Paris, France.
He appeared with Doris Day in the 1952 American movie musical April in Paris.