Lily Fayol

Elegant, funny and beautiful singer Lily Fayol (1914-1999) had her heyday in France before and after the war. She sang successfully a repertoire that ranged from Fernandel to Mistinguett. Lily Fayol also appeared in several (TV) films.


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 72. Offered by S.A. Victoria, Bruxelles (Brussels). Photo: Star, Paris.

The American Rythm

Lily Fayol was born in Allevard, France, in 1914. She started her artistic career shortly before World War II.

In the 1940s she had her biggest successes with songs like 'Fifine', 'Les trois bandits de Napoli' (The Three Bandits of Naples), and '(Qui c'est qui fait glou-glou, c'est) La bouteille' ((Who is making that gurgling sound, it is) The Bottle).

After the war, she had a huge hit with 'Le Rythme Américain' (The American Rythm) in 1945. Her other popular songs included 'La guitare à Chiquita' (Chiquita’s Guitar), and 'Le gros Bill' (Big Bill).

In 1946, she made her film debut with a small part in Monsieur Grégoire s'évade/Mr. Gregoire Runs Away (Jacques Daniel-Norman, 1946) featuring Bernard Blier.

Three years later she starred opposite Tino Rossi in Marlène (Pierre de Hérain, 1949).


French postcard by Editions P.I., Paris, no. 171. Photo: Star, Paris.


French postcard by Studio Star, Paris.

Queen for Six Days

In 1950, Lili Fayol was the star at the Theâtre du Châtelet in the operetta 'Annie du Far West' (Wild West Annie) opposite Marcel Merkes. She also appeared in films such as La Tournée des Grands-Ducs/The Tour Grand Dukes (André Pellenc, 1953) starring Raymond Bussières.

Married to the cycling champion Maurice Roux, she was the 'Reine des six jours' (Queen for Six Days) at the Vélodrome d'hiver (Winter Velodrome). She retired and worked for years in the hotel business.

In 1977, she made a cinema come-back with the film La nuit, tous les chats sont gris/At Night All Cats Are Gray (Gérard Zingg, 1977) starring Gérard Depardieu.

Other films followed like the political comedy La Gueule de l'autre/The Other One's Mug (Pierre Tchernia, 1979) and the action comedy Le Guignolo/The Guignolo (Georges Lautner, 1980) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Fayol also appeared several times on television, such as in the TV film Un beau petit milliard/A Beautiful Small Billion (Pierre Tchernia, 1992) with Michel Galabru. Lili Fayol died in St. Raphaël, France, in 1999.


French card. Photo: Teddy Piaz, Paris.

Sources: AlloCiné (French), Wikipedia (French), and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 4 March 2024.