Paul Legrand
Paul Legrand , born as Charles Dominique Martin Legrand (born January 4, 1816 in Saintes , † 1894 in Paris ), was a French pantomime .
biography
He was first raised by his mother's family who lived in Soisy-sur-Seine . His mother later ran a grocery store on Rue de Tracy in Paris. There she raised him and his three siblings. Legrand began an apprenticeship as a hatter, then a jeweler and finally a valet as Charles. But he wanted to become a pantomime and was able to win Jean-Gaspard Deburau , who gave him lessons. In 1839 he was finally engaged at the Théâtre des Funambules . But since there was already a Charles in the ensemble, he was simply called Paul. The main role of Pierrot was already occupied by Deburau and Legrand only got a thankless supporting role. So he moved to a theater near La Madeleine that also bore this name. When this closed the doors he was engaged in the Théâtre du Luxembourg . But just six months later, in 1840, he was drawn back to the Funambules, where he again received a full engagement. He played his first role in the play Les Ruines de Mont-Bianco . He celebrated his first personal success with the lead role in the comedy Ci-Devant jeune Homme .
When Deburau was absent more and more often due to illness, Legrand gradually took his place. Deburau died in 1846 and Legrand, as Pierrot, became the main attraction of the Funambules. It was only when Legrand went to London in 1848 that Charles Deburau, the son of Jean-Gaspard Deburau, was able to carry on his father's tradition. However, Legrand returned to Paris as early as 1849 and Les Deux pierrots , a piece with two harlequins, was put on the program by Auguste Jouhaud in the Funambules . Legrande was able to prevail here and he was filled for the better paid first Pierrot. At some point Legrand got tired of the constant competition for the name Deburau and in 1854 he followed Hervé in his Les Folies-Nouvelles . He stayed there until 1862. He spent the following year with a dancer from the Alcazar, a revue theater, in Bordeaux . Back in Paris he performed his own adaptation of the comic opera L'automate de Vaucanson by Adolphe de Leuven at the Folies Marigny . After a trip to Rio de Janeiro in 1865, he returned to the Folies Marigny, but moved to several smaller theaters and stayed in London. In 1870 Legrand was awarded the gold medal of the Société Royale de Belgique .
When the aging Legrand received fewer and fewer engagements in 1885, his fellow actor Frédéric Febvre took the initiative and wrote over 300 letters of appeal. Legrand received a variety of large and small sums of money, which enabled him to make a modest living. So he moved into lodging in a tenement building on the fifth floor. In 1894 he was given his last honor during his lifetime and he was awarded the Ordre des Palmes Académiques . Legrand died in 1894.
Publications
- With Félix and Eugène Larcher: Pantomimes de Paul Legrand , Paris: Librairie Theatrale, 1887
- With Adolphe Lindheim: Pas comique du ballet du Petit Cendrillon: dansé au théâtre des Folies nouvelles par Monsieur Paul Legrand et le corps de ballet , Paris: L'auteur, 1857
- With Pol Mercier: Le chevrier blanc: conte-pantomime, à grand spectacle en cinq tableaux , Paris: Raçon, 1856
literature
- Henry Lyonnet : Dictionnaire des comédiens français , Paris, Volume 2, p. 330, digitized
Web links
- Information on Paul Legrand in the database of the Bibliothèque nationale de France .
- Literature by and about Paul Legrand in the WorldCat bibliographic database
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Legrand, Paul |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Legrand, Charles Dominique Martin (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French pantomime |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 4, 1816 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Saintes |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1894 |
| Place of death | Paris |