Alice Regnault (born Augustine-Alexandrine Toulet; February 5, 1849 – July 12, 1931) was a French

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

. Her theatrical career began in 1871, but she was praised mainly for her beauty. She became very rich as a courtesan in Paris, and retired in 1881. She briefly worked as a journalist, under the pseudonym of Mitaine de Soie, and published two novels without much attention: ''Mademoiselle Pomme'' (1886) and ''La Famille Carmettes'' (1888). She is best known for marrying in secret the French writer

Octave Mirbeau Octave Mirbeau (16 February 1848 – 16 February 1917) was a French novelist, art critic, travel writer, pamphleteer, journalist and playwright, who achieved celebrity in Europe and great success among the public, whilst still appealing to the ...

, in May 1887, in London. After his death, she published the fictitious ''Testament politique d’Octave Mirbeau'', which was in fact written by former anti-militarist and pacifist Gustave Hervé. Sacha Guitry dramatized this "betrayal" in his 1923 comedy, ''Un sujet de roman'', inspired by Alice and his old friend Mirbeau, whom he admired very much.

Bibliography

Pierre Michel Pierre Michel (born 11 June 1942), is a professor of literature and a scholar specializing in the French writer Octave Mirbeau. Michel was born in Toulon, the son of the historian Henri Michel. After defending his doctoral dissertation on the w ...

, ''Alice Regnault, épouse Mirbeau'', À l'écart, 1994.

External links

Alice Regnault
in
''Dictionnaire Octave Mirbeau''
*

« Mirbeau et l'affaire Gyp »
''Littératures'', n° 26, spring 1992, p. 201-219. {{DEFAULTSORT:Regnault, Alice 1849 births 1931 deaths 19th-century French actresses French stage actresses French women writers Octave Mirbeau