George Gaynes was born in Helsinki, Finland in May 1917, during a time of great change and upheaval. The Grand Duchy of Finland was then part of the Russian Empire, which was in a state of collapse following the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II in March of that year. Gaynes' family left Finland soon after his birth and he was primarily raised in France, England, and Switzerland, where he developed a multilingual skill set that would serve him well in his later career.
Gaynes' parents were not Finnish; his father, Gerrit Jongejans, was a Dutch businessman, and his mother, Iya Grigorievna de Gay, was a Russian artist. He attended college in the vicinity of Lausanne, Switzerland, graduating in 1937, and then went on to study music in Milan, Italy.
In 1940, Gaynes was living in France when the Battle of France was underway, and he attempted to flee the occupation authorities by crossing the Pyrenees mountains into neutral Spain. He was arrested by the Spanish authorities for illegally crossing the border, but was soon released.
Gaynes joined the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1943, where he was noticed for his multilingual skills and was detached to the British Royal Navy to serve as a translator. He took part in several key battles during World War II, including the Allied invasion of Sicily, the Battle of Anzio, and the Adriatic Campaign.
After the war, Gaynes returned to France and was approached by an American theater director to play a part in a musical. He took the offer and moved to New York City, where he started appearing in Broadway musicals and eventually applied for and was granted American citizenship in 1948.
From the late 1940s to the early 1960s, Gaynes was primarily a theatrical actor, appearing in various musicals, dramas, and comedies. One of his better-known roles was that of Henry Higgins in the theatrical version of "My Fair Lady," which went on a successful tour in 1964.
In the early 1960s, Gaynes started appearing as a character actor in various television series, and he was also offered a number of film roles. His career unexpectedly took off in the 1980s, with a major part in the television series "Punky Brewster" (1985) and another one in the then-popular film series "Police Academy" from 1984 to 1994.
In "Police Academy" (1984),his role was that of Commandant Eric Lassard, the titular leader of the Academy. He played the role in all 7 films of the series, though he only had a featured part in the fifth film. This was probably his most memorable role and gained him celebrity recognition for the first time.
In the 1990s, Gaynes' career slowed down again, with only a few film appearances. He only played in a single film through the 2000s, "Just Married" (2003),and then retired. He spent 13 years in retirement before he died of natural causes in 2016 at the age of 86.
