Hyacinthe (actor)
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Hyacinthe , real name Louis-Hyacinthe Duflost , (born September 17, 1814 in Amiens , † May 8, 1887 in Asnières ) was a French actor.
biography
Hyacinthes father was a wig maker at the Théâtre Comte and his mother usher. So it happened that he was accepted into the troupe at the age of seven. Before that, he had already had acting classes for a year. He played at the Théâtre Comte until 1829. That was interrupted by a short excursion into the music field, at the Théâtre des Variétés as a choir player and also as an apprentice at a music publisher. Then he spent some time in the ensemble of a touring troupe with whom he toured Dreux , Évreux and Bernay , among others , until he finally got an engagement at the Théâtre de l'Ambigu-Comique . After moving to the Théâtre du Vaudeville , he finally ended up at the Théâtre des Variétés again in 1837, this time as an actor. Théophile Gautier wrote in a review of him:
C´est un paillasse né, et la nature lui à planté fatalement la queue rouge au bas de la nuque (A Bajazzo is born and nature gave him the ability to grotesque clowning with a rogue on his neck)
In the course of time he got bigger and bigger roles and then at some point his unusually large nose was noticed. Combined with the ability for eccentricity and his baroque style of expression, he was predestined for roles in burlesque . Just his appearance at the entrance caused laughter.
The director of the Théâtre du Palais-Royal recruited him from the Théâtre des Variétés in 1847 and Hyacinthe stayed there, interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War , until 1886. He played at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in all the plays in which he was cast, one of the main roles. He then retired in Asnières, where he died in 1887.
During the siege of Paris from 1870 to 1871 he was deployed in the National Guard in the 32nd Battalion. He later showed himself, like many veterans, with his Kepi , which he had kept as a souvenir.
Little is known about his private life. He was considered a respected fellow citizen on his street on Montmartre . Hyacinthe lived there inconspicuously, in a small house, with his mother, wife and children. There he pursued his passion, growing flowers, did the shopping and went to the hairdresser, always wearing a plaid blanket over his angular shoulders. His favorite trips were to the market hall and the local flower markets, where he was a well-known figure. At his retirement home in Asnières, Hyacinthe was a well-known personality, not least because of his big nose. When asked if he didn't want to run for city council, he replied: Non, merci, je n`ai jamais joué ce genre-là (no thanks, I never played this genre there).
Roles (excerpt)
- Gringalet in Les Saltimbanques by Théophile Marion Dumersan and Charles Varin (1838)
- Faucheux in Le Maître d'école by Lockroy and Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois (1841)
- Arcas in Une tragédie chez M. Grassot by Eugène Labiche (1848)
- Beauvoisin in Un feu de cheminée by Eugène Labiche (1853)
- Bengalo in La Dame aux jambes d'azur by Eugène Labiche (1857)
- Bocardon in Célimare le bien-aimé by Eugène Labiche (1863)
- Nérée Dusorbet in La Pénélope à la mode de Caen by Paul Siraudin , Alfred Delacour and Ernest Blum (1864)
- Chiffardin in Le Carnaval d'un merle blanc by Henri Chivot and Alfred Duru (1868)
- Alfred in Le Réveillon by Henri Meilhac and Jacques Fromental Halévy (1872)
- Birochet in Le Panache by Edmond Gondinet (1875)
- Beaudichon in Le Volcan by Edmond Gondinet, François Oswald and Pierre Giffard (1882)
- Le Lord in La Fille à Georgette by Albin Valabrègue (1886)
literature
- Henry Lyonnet : Dictionnaire des comédiens français, ceux d'hier, 1912, pp. 207f., Digitized
- Pierre Larousse : Grand dictionnaire universel du XIXe siècle, Volume 17, 1866–1877, p. 467 digitized
- Le Gaulois : Bloc-Notes Parisien: Hyacinthe , edition of May 10, 1887, p. 1, digitized
Web links
- Information on Hyacinthe in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Hyacinth |
ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Duflost, Louis-Hyacinthe (real name) |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French actor |
DATE OF BIRTH | September 17, 1814 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Amiens |
DATE OF DEATH | May 8, 1887 |
Place of death | Asnières-sur-Seine |