Feb. 16 (Reuters): French actor Louis Jourdan, who played a suave bon vivant in the Oscar-winning film Gigi and had a long reign as Hollywood's top choice to play elegant international gentlemen, died on Saturday at the age of 93, his biographer said.

Jourdan, who also worked frequently on stage and television, died at home, Olivier Minne, his friend and biographer, said by telephone from Paris.

Jourdan starred in Gigi, one of the most successful movies of the 1950s, as the dashing Gaston, who realises he is falling for the title character, played by Leslie Caron, as she evolves from tomboy to courtesan-in-training.