Madeleine Béjart
Madeleine Béjart (born January 8, 1618 in Paris ; † February 17, 1672 ibid) was a French actress who went down in the history of French theater as the long-time companion of the actor, theater director and playwright Molière .
Life
She belonged to a Parisian actor family , to which her father Joseph († 1643) and herself her brothers Joseph (1616-1659) and Louis (1630-1678), her sister Geneviève (1624-1675) and her youngest sister or else Daughter Armande (1642-1700) counted.
According to contemporaries, she was a gifted actress and a good-looking, energetic and very versatile person. At around 20, she had an illegitimate daughter from one of the family's protectors, the Duc de Modène. If Armande was her daughter too, the name of her father would apparently not have been passed down.
In 1642 Madeleine met Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known as Molière, who was four years her junior lawyer and theater fanatic from a middle-class background. She encouraged him in his theatrical passion and in 1644 founded with him, who renamed himself Molière, a theater group called L' illustre Théâtre . Her relationship with her partner seems to have been close enough, at least initially, that he could later be suspected of being the father of Armande (see above).
When the Illustre Théâtre went bankrupt in 1645, Madeleine joined with Molière, her brother Joseph and her sister Geneviève the troupe of the actor and theater director Du Fresne , most of which moved to the south of France .
In 1658 she returned to Paris with the troops that had meanwhile been led by Molière. She took part in the rise of the troupe to the troupe du roi (troupe of the king) and in the development of Molière to a recognized, but also hostile theater director and author. Until her death, she remained one of his most important actresses and caregivers.
literature
- Béjart . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 3 : Austria - Bisectrix . London 1910, p. 659 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Madeleine Béjart . In: Encyclopædia Britannica , accessed January 8, 2018.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Béjart, Madeleine |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | french actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 8, 1618 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 17, 1672 |
| Place of death | Paris |