Pierre Berton, (6 March 1842 – 23 October 1912) was a French actor and playwright.

Biographie

Pierre Berton, real name Pierre François Samuel Montan, was the grandson of the composer

Henri Montan Berton Henri-Montan Berton (17 September 1767 – 22 April 1844) was a French composer, teacher, and writer, mostly known as a composer of operas for the Opéra-Comique. Career Henri-Montan Berton was born the son of Pierre Montan Berton.Charlton ...

(1767-1844), the son of the actor Charles-François Montan Berton, called Francisque Berton (1820-1874) and of Caroline Samson, novelist and Joseph Samson's daughter, himself a sociétaire de la Comédie française."Morte de M. Pierre Berton", ''Le Figaro'', 25 October 1912, p. 6 Pierre Berton first appeared as an actor on the Parisian stages, winning success at the théâtre du Gymnase, the Théâtre de l'Odéon, the Théâtre-Français, and the

Théâtre du Vaudeville The Théâtre du Vaudeville was a theatre company in Paris. It opened on 12 January 1792 on rue de Chartres. Its directors, Piis and Barré, mainly put on "petites pièces mêlées de couplets sur des airs connus", including vaudevilles. Af ...

. In 1865, he made his debut as

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

with ''Les Jurons de Cadillac'', a one-act comedy, and carried on two years later with another comedy, ''La Vertu de ma femme''. During three decades he would alternate his work as an author and an actor. At the end of the 19th century, he stopped performing but continued to write for theatre until his death. From 1908 to 1909, he serialized his ''Souvenirs de la vie de théâtre'' in ', published as a book in 1913.

Actor

* 1864: ''Les Flibustiers de la Sonore'' by

Gustave Aimard Gustave Aimard (13 September 1818 – 20 June 1883) was the author of numerous books about Latin America and the American frontier. Aimard was born ''Olivier Aimard'' in Paris. As he once said, he was the son of two people who were married, " ...

and Amédée Rolland, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin * 1869: ''Patrie !'' by

Victorien Sardou Victorien Sardou ( , ; 5 September 18318 November 1908) was a French dramatist. He is best remembered today for his development, along with Eugène Scribe, of the well-made play. He also wrote several plays that were made into popular 19th-centur ...

, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin * 1882: ''Fédora'' by Sardou,

* 1886: ''Le Crocodile'' by Sardou, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin * 1887: ''La Tosca'' by Sardou, Théâtre de la Porte Saint Martin * 1891: ''L'Impératrice Faustine'' by Stanislas Rzewuski, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin * 1895: ''Le Collier de la reine'' by

Pierre Decourcelle Pierre Adrien Decourcelle (25 January 1856 - 10 October 1926) was a French writer and playwright. Life Pierre Adrien Decourcelle was born in Paris on 25 January 1856. His father, Adrien Decourcelle, and his uncle, Adolphe d'Ennery, were both au ...

, Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin

Playwright

* March 1862: ''Le Pavé'' by

George Sand Amantine Lucile Aurore Dupin de Francueil (; 1 July 1804 – 8 June 1876), best known by her pen name George Sand (), was a French novelist, memoirist and journalist. One of the most popular writers in Europe in her lifetime, bein ...

, with Pierre Chéri Lafont (1797-1873); Pierre Berton (1842-1912); Marie Delaporte (1838-1910); Anna Chéri-Lesueur (1826-1912) as actors and actresses. * 1865: ''Les Jurons de Cadillac'', comedy in 1 act, Théâtre du Gymnase * 1867: ''La Vertu de ma femme'', comedy in 1 act, Théâtre du Gymnase * 1868: ''Didier'', play in 3 acts, Théâtre de l'Odéon * 1880: ''La Tempête'',

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

in 3 parts, after

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, poem by

Armand Silvestre Paul Armand Silvestre (18 April 1837 – 19 February 1901) was a 19th-century French poet and ''conteur'' born in Paris. He studied at the École polytechnique with the intention of entering the army, but in 1870 he entered the department ...

and Pierre Berton, music by

Alphonse Duvernoy Victor-Alphonse Duvernoy (; 30 August 1842 – 7 March 1907) was a French pianist and composer. Life and career The son of noted bass-baritone Charles-François Duvernoy (1796–1872), Duvernoy was born in Paris and became a student of Antoine ...

Théâtre du Châtelet The Théâtre du Châtelet () is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. One of two theatres (the other being the Théâtre de la Ville) built on the site of a ''châtelet'', a s ...

* 1882: ''

Sardanapalus Sardanapalus (; sometimes spelled Sardanapallus) was, according to the Greek writer Ctesias, the last king of Assyria Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotami ...

'', opera in 3 acts, after

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

, libretto Pierre Berton, music by Alphonse Duvernoy, Concerts Lamoureux * 1889: ''Léna'', play in 4 acts with

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

Théâtre des Variétés The Théâtre des Variétés is a theatre and "salle de spectacles" at 7–8, boulevard Montmartre, 2nd arrondissement, in Paris. It was declared a monument historique in 1974. History It owes its creation to the theatre director Mademoiselle ...

* 1894: ''

Les Chouans ''Les Chouans'' (, ''The Chouans'') is an 1829 novel by French novelist and playwright Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) and included in the ''Scènes de la vie militaire'' section of his novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine''. Set in the French ...

'', drama in 5 acts by Pierre Berton and Émile Blavet after Balzac, Théâtre de l'Ambigu * 1898: ''

Zaza Zaza may refer to: Ethnic group * Zazas, a group of people in eastern Anatolia (southeastern Turkey) * Zaza–Gorani languages, Indo-Iranian languages ** Zaza language, spoken by the Zazas People Given name * Zaza Sor. Aree (born 1993), Thai k ...

'', play in 5 acts by Pierre Berton and ,

. It was adapted in the United States by

David Belasco David Belasco (July 25, 1853 – May 14, 1931) was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director, and playwright. He was the first writer to adapt the short story ''Madame Butterfly'' for the stage. He launched the theatrical career of m ...

, premiering in Washington, D.C. in 1898, and then moving to New York City in 1899''Zaza'' de Belasco
sur Ibdb * 1901: ''

Yvette Yvette is female given name, the French feminine form of Yves, which means yew or archer in some cases. Name days *Czech Republic: ''7 June'' *Hungary: ''13 January'', ''6 May'' and ''29 June'' *Poland: ''13 January'' *Slovakia: ''27 May'' ...

'', comedy in 3 acts after

Guy de Maupassant Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant (, ; ; 5 August 1850 – 6 July 1893) was a 19th-century French author, remembered as a master of the short story form, as well as a representative of the Naturalist school, who depicted human lives, destin ...

, Théâtre du Vaudeville * 1905: ''La Belle Marseillaise'', drama in 4 acts, Théâtre de l'Ambigu * 1909: ''La Rencontre'', play in 4 acts,

Comédie-Française The Comédie-Française () or Théâtre-Français () is one of the few state theatres in France. Founded in 1680, it is the oldest active theatre company in the world. Established as a French state-controlled entity in 1995, it is the only state ...

, 17 June * 1912: ''Mioche'', play in 3 acts, Théâtre du Vaudeville

Publication

* Pierre Berton, ''Souvenirs de la vie de théâtre'', La Revue de Paris, Paris, 1913

References

Bibliography

* A. de Gubernatis, ''Dictionnaire international des écrivains du jour'', Louis Niccolai éditeur, Florence, 1891 ; , page 285

External links

Pierre Berton on BnF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berton, Pierre 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 19th-century French male actors French male stage actors Writers from Paris 1842 births 1912 deaths Burials at Montmartre Cemetery