Death and Fame
During his short period as a world champion, Cerdan became a popular figure of the Paris scene. Although married with three children, he had an affair with the famous singer Édith Piaf. The affair lasted from summer 1948 until his death in autumn 1949. They were very devoted to each other and Piaf wrote one of her most famous songs, Hymne à l'amour, for Cerdan.
For his first defense Cerdan returned to the United States, where he fought Jake LaMotta in Detroit. Cerdan was knocked down in round one, his shoulder was dislocated, and he had to give up after the tenth round. It would be the last fight of Cerdan's life. A contract was signed for a rematch and Cerdan went to training camp for it, but before camp began he boarded an Air France flight to visit Piaf in New York, where she was singing. The Lockheed L-749 Constellation crashed into Monte Redondo (São Miguel Island, Azores), killing all 11 crew members and 37 passengers on board, including Cerdan and the famous French violinist Ginette Neveu, while approaching the intermediate stop airport at Santa Maria. Days later, LaMotta lauded Cerdan as a great sportsman. Cerdan was interred in the Cimetière du Sud, Perpignan, Languedoc-Roussillon, France.
Cerdan's record was 113 wins and 4 losses, with 66 wins by knockout.
He is a member, along with LaMotta and Zale, of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame.
In 1983, Cerdan and Piaf had their lives turned into a big screen biography by Claude Lelouch. The film, Édith et Marcel, starred Marcel Cerdan, Jr. in the role of his father and Évelyne Bouix as Piaf. He is portrayed by actor Jean-Pierre Martins in the 2007 Piaf biopic La Môme (entitled La Vie en Rose in English-speaking countries).
Actress Marion Cotillard named her son Marcel after him.
Read more about this topic: Marcel Cerdan
Famous quotes containing the words death and, death and/or fame:
“Death and life were not
Till man made up the whole,
Made lock, stock and barrel
Out of his bitter soul,”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“There is no sorrow more grievous than the death of one’s spirit.”
—Chinese proverb.
Zhaungzi.
“But those rare souls whose spirit gets magically into the hearts of men, leave behind them something more real and warmly personal than bodily presence, an ineffable and eternal thing. It is everlasting life touching us as something more than a vague, recondite concept. The sound of a great name dies like an echo; the splendor of fame fades into nothing; but the grace of a fine spirit pervades the places through which it has passed, like the haunting loveliness of mignonette.”
—James Thurber (1894–1961)