Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (; 21 February 188524 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the
boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor,
Lucien Guitry
Lucien Germain Guitry (13 December 1860 – 1 June 1925) was a French actor.
Life
In 1885, while living in Saint Petersburg, Guitry appeared at the French (or Mikhaylovsky) Theatre.
His son, the future actor, writer and director Sacha Gui ...
, and followed his father into the theatrical profession. He became known for his stage performances, particularly in boulevardier roles. He was also a prolific playwright, writing 115 plays throughout his career. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered. Probably his best-known wife was
Yvonne Printemps
Yvonne Printemps (; born Yvonne Wigniolle; 25 July 1894 – 19 January 1977) was a French singer and actress who achieved stardom on stage and screen in France and internationally.
Printemps went on the stage in Paris at the age of 12, and ...
to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932.
Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have musical scores, by composers including
André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager (; 30 December 1853 – 24 February 1929) was a French composer, organist, pianist and conductor. His compositions include eight ballets and thirty opéra comique, opéras comiques, opérettes and other stage wo ...
and
Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn (; 9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100.
Hahn was born in Caracas b ...
. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year.
The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification he received from some of his compatriots. By the time of his death, his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris.
Life and career
Early years
Guitry was born at No 12
Nevsky Prospect
Nevsky Prospect ( rus, Не́вский проспе́кт, r=Nevsky Prospekt, p=ˈnʲɛfskʲɪj prɐˈspʲɛkt) is the main street (high street) in the federal city of St. Petersburg in Russia. It takes its name from the Alexander Nevsky La ...
, Saint Petersburg, Russia, the third son of the French actors
Lucien Guitry
Lucien Germain Guitry (13 December 1860 – 1 June 1925) was a French actor.
Life
In 1885, while living in Saint Petersburg, Guitry appeared at the French (or Mikhaylovsky) Theatre.
His son, the future actor, writer and director Sacha Gui ...
and his wife Marie-Louise-Renée ''née'' Delmas de Pont-Jest (1858–1902).
[ The couple had eloped, in the face of family disapproval, and were married at St Martin in the Fields, London, in 1882. They then moved to the then Russian capital, where Lucien ran the French theatre company, the Théâtre Michel, from 1882 to 1891. The marriage was brief. Guitry senior was a persistent adulterer, and his wife instituted divorce proceedings in 1888.][Bernard, p. 29] Two of their sons died in infancy (one in 1883 and the other in 1887); the other surviving son, Jean (1884–1920) became an actor and journalist.[Bernard, p. 14] The family's Russian nurse habitually shortened Alexandre-Pierre's name to the Russian diminutive "Sacha", by which he was known all his life. The young Sacha made his stage debut in his father's company at the age of five.[
Lucien Guitry, considered the most distinguished actor in France since Coquelin,]["Death of Sacha Guitry: Playwright, actor, and wit", ''The Manchester Guardian'', 25 July 1957, p. 7] was immensely successful, both critically and commercially. When he returned to Paris he lived in a flat in a prestigious spot, overlooking the Place Vendôme
The Place Vendôme (), earlier known as Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is ...
and the Rue de la Paix
The rue de la Paix (English: Peace Street) () is a fashionable shopping street in the center of Paris. Located in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, running north from Place Vendôme and ending at the Opéra Garnier, it is best known for its jewe ...
.[ The young Sacha lived there, and for his schooling he was first sent to the well-known Lycée Janson de Sailly in the fashionable Sixteenth arrondissement. He did not stay long there, and went to a succession of other schools, both secular and religious, before abandoning formal education at the age of sixteen.]["M. Sacha Guitry – Playwright and Actor", ''The Times'', 5 July 1957, p. 15]
After giving up school Guitry embarked on a career as a playwright with a little musical piece called ''Le Page'', with a score by Ludo Ratz, premiered at the Théâtre des Mathurins on 15 April 1902. Eighteen months later he joined his father's company at the Théâtre de la Renaissance
The name Théâtre de la Renaissance has been used successively for three distinct Parisian theatre companies. The first two companies, which were short-lived enterprises in the 19th century, used the Salle Ventadour, now an office building on t ...
. At first he appeared under the stage name "Lorcey"; the pseudonym deceived no-one, as the press immediately announced the debutant's real identity.["La Semaine Dramatique", ''Journal des Débats'', 7 November 1904, p. 2] His first role was in ''L'Escalier'', by Maurice Donnay
Charles Maurice Donnay (12 October 1859 – 31 March 1945) was a French dramatist.
Biography
Donnay was born of middle-class parents in Paris in 1859. His father was a railway engineer and initially Donnay followed a similar profession, st ...
in November 1904.[ He fell out with his father over what the latter saw as Guitry's lack of professionalism. In the aftermath of their quarrel they neither saw nor spoke to one another.][Morley, p. 152]
A member of Lucien Guitry's company was a young actress, Charlotte-Augustine-Hortense Lejeune, whose stage name was Charlotte Lysès (1877–1956).[ In April 1905, she and Sacha set up home together in the rue d'Anjou (now the ]rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré
The Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré () is a street located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Relatively narrow and nondescript, especially in comparison to the nearby Avenue des Champs-Élysées, it is cited as being one of the most luxu ...
). For her he wrote his play, ''Le KWTZ'', premiered in December 1905 at the Théâtre des Capucins
Théâtre des Capucins is a theatre in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. It is part of the Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg. Directed by Frank Feitler, the Capucin Theater is located in the heart of the Old Town. It puts on performances in German, F ...
. In the same month he had his first substantial hit with ''Nono'' at the Mathurins.[ Adair, Gilbert. "Sacha: An Introduction to Guitry", ''Monthly Film Bulletin''; Winter 1981, p. 50]["Guitry, Sacha"]
''Who's Who in the Twentieth Century'', Oxford University Press, 1999, accessed 15 August 2013 When the leading man in Guitry's 1906 play ''Chez les Zoaques'' fell ill the author took over, and in the words of a critic, "proved to be his own definitive interpreter".[ The pattern of his career was set: he remained an actor-author, and later manager, for the rest of his life.][
]
Rise to prominence
For the next five years, Guitry's plays were, at best, moderate successes, but he then had five consecutive hits with ''Le Veilleur de nuit'' (1911), ''Un Beau mariage'' (1912), ''Le Prise de Berg-op-Zoom'' (1912), ''La Pèlerine écossaise'' (1912), and ''Les Deux converts'' (1914), the last of which was staged by the 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 ...
.[
In 1915, Guitry made his first cinema film, ''Ceux de chez nous'' ("Those of our home"), a short patriotic piece that celebrated great French men and women of the day, including ]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 ...
, Anatole France
(; born , ; 16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie França ...
, Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...
, Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (; 25 February 1841 – 3 December 1919) was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "R ...
, Auguste Rodin
François Auguste René Rodin (12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor, generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a uniqu ...
, Edmond Rostand
Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with t ...
and Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (; 9 October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano C ...
. He was not greatly attracted by the medium of silent film, regarding dialogue as the essence of drama; he did not make a full-length film until 1935. In 1915, he met the young singer Yvonne Printemps
Yvonne Printemps (; born Yvonne Wigniolle; 25 July 1894 – 19 January 1977) was a French singer and actress who achieved stardom on stage and screen in France and internationally.
Printemps went on the stage in Paris at the age of 12, and ...
, with whom he began an affair that led Charlotte to leave him and obtain a divorce. Guitry started to write leading roles for Printemps some musical and others straight comedies.[
]
With Printemps
Guitry was reconciled with his father in 1918. Lucien appeared in many productions with his son and Printemps, including ''Mon Père avait raison'' and ''Comment on ecrit l'histoire''. They played together not only in Paris, but in the West End of London. All three appeared at the Aldwych Theatre
The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels.
History
Origins
The theatre was constructed in th ...
in a four-week season in 1920. Sir John Gielgud wrote that Printemps and her husband "returned … many times to delight London in various pieces artfully contrived by him to show them both off to the best possible advantage."[Gielgud, Sir John. "Golden Days", ''The Times'', 26 February 1977, p. 7]
Guitry developed a charming, witty stage persona, often appearing in period-dress light comedies, for instance his 1925 pastiche
A pastiche is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking it ...
''Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
'', about the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
on a visit to Paris. To compose the score he approached André Messager
André Charles Prosper Messager (; 30 December 1853 – 24 February 1929) was a French composer, organist, pianist and conductor. His compositions include eight ballets and thirty opéra comique, opéras comiques, opérettes and other stage wo ...
, with whom he had successfully collaborated in 1923 on a show for Printemps, ''L'amour masqué
''L'amour masqué'' is a comédie musicale in three acts with music by André Messager and a French libretto by Sacha Guitry, based on the work by Ivan Caryll
Félix Marie Henri Tilkin (12 May 1861 – 29 November 1921), better known by hi ...
''. Messager was unavailable and recommended the composer Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn (; 9 August 1874 – 28 January 1947) was a Venezuelan-born French composer, conductor, music critic, and singer. He is best known for his songs – ''mélodies'' – of which he wrote more than 100.
Hahn was born in Caracas b ...
, who accepted the commission. The resulting production took some liberties with historical accuracy, but it proved highly popular.[Engelson, p. 36] Printemps, in a breeches role, played and sang the young Mozart, with Guitry as the composer's patron, Baron Grimm. Gielgud recalled, "She seemed ravishingly youthful and touching in her powdered wig, black knee breeches and buckled shoes, while Sacha hovered over her with avuncular authority, not attempting to try to sing himself, but contributing a kind of flowing, rhythmic accompaniment with his speeches, delivered in a deep caressing voice."[ After playing successfully at the Théâtre Edouard VII, the company presented the piece for a three-week season in London in June and July 1926. After the London production, Guitry and Printemps took the piece to Broadway, ]Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
in late 1926 and early 1927.[Sharland, p. 85] They returned to the US and Canada in 1929.[Morley, p. 153]
In 1931, Guitry was awarded the Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
, and the following year he marked thirty years on the stage with a banquet, with dishes named after some of his greatest successes.[ Later in 1932, his marriage to Printemps broke up. He took a six-month break from the theatre, returning in April 1933 in ''Châteaux en Espagne'', which co-starred his new ''protégée'', ]Jacqueline Delubac
Jacqueline Delubac (1907–1997) was a French stage and film actress.Williams p.158 She was married to Sacha Guitry and appeared in a number of his productions on both stage and screen.
Selected filmography
* '' Let's Get Married'' (1931)
* '' T ...
, whom he married on his fiftieth birthday.[ During the 1930s, he turned his attention once more to the cinema, as writer, director and star, while not neglecting his theatrical career. ]Sheridan Morley
Sheridan Morley (5 December 1941 − 16 February 2007) was an English author, biographer, critic and broadcaster. He was the official biographer of Sir John Gielgud and wrote biographies of many other theatrical figures he had known, including ...
comments that in 1936 alone Guitry made five films and also wrote five plays.[ Among the latter was his hundredth play, ''Le Mot de Cambronne''.][
]
Later years
In 1938, Guitry wrote a one-act play, ''Dieu sauve le roi'', to mark the state visit to Paris of George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952. ...
; the play was given in front of the king and queen at the Elysée Palace. When President Lebrun made a reciprocal visit to London the following year, Guitry wrote a short comedy in English, ''You're Telling Me'', in which the author and Sir Seymour Hicks
Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and p ...
starred at a command performance and for a limited run after it.[
As the war approached, Guitry managed to do something which would be of far greater significance. On 16 August 1939, when visiting London, Guitry smuggled over a replica Enigma machine supplied by the ]Biuro Szyfrow
The Cipher Bureau, in Polish: ''Biuro Szyfrów'' (), was the interwar Polish General Staff's Second Department's unit charged with SIGINT and both cryptography (the ''use'' of ciphers and codes) and cryptanalysis (the ''study'' of ciphers and ...
and bound for Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park is an English country house and estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes ( Buckinghamshire) that became the principal centre of Allied code-breaking during the Second World War. The mansion was constructed during the years following ...
.
His next play, ''Un Monde fou'' was his last to feature Delubac, who, in Morley's phrase, "could no longer bear living with a jealous workaholic". Within months of her leaving him, he married for a fourth time; his new wife was Geneviève de Séréville, who had been in the cast of his London play.[
Guitry's career was affected by the ]Nazi occupation
German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...
of France. He continued to work both on stage and in the cinema under the Nazis. Although this gave him the opportunity to help many of his compatriots, it also brought accusations of collaborating with the enemy. He conceived his book and associated film, ''De 1429 à 1942 ou De Jeanne d'Arc à Philippe Pétain'' ("1429 to 1942, or Joan of Arc to Philippe Pétain") as a tribute to France's past glories, but many saw it as honouring the collaborationist president of Vichy France
Vichy France (french: Régime de Vichy; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was the fascist French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. Officially independent, but with half of its ter ...
, Marshal Pétain
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
. In 1944, Guitry's fourth wife left him.[ In 1942, Guitry was named on a list of French collaborators with Germany to be killed during the war, or tried after it.]
On the liberation of France, Guitry was among the first arrested, by a Resistance militia. He was interned in a detention camp at Drancy
Drancy () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris in the Seine-Saint-Denis department in northern France. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris.
History
Toponymy
The name Drancy comes from Medieval Lati ...
, and suffered ill-effects on his health that necessitated his transfer to a Paris nursing home. The criminal charges were dropped for lack of evidence, and the experience left him disillusioned.[
In 1947, Guitry married for the fifth and final time; he was sixty-two and his bride, ]Lana Marconi
Lana Marconi (born Ecaterina Ileana Marcovici; 8 September 1917 in Bucharest, Romania – 8 December 1990) was a Romanian- French actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the ...
, was twenty-eight. He was permitted to resume working in the theatre in 1948, when he returned to the Paris stage with ''Le Diable boiteux''.[ For the London season in 1953, celebrating the coronation of ]Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during ...
, Guitry starred at the Winter Garden
A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime.
History
The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...
in ''Ecoutez bien, messieurs'', a comedy in which he played a voluble Frenchman reduced to baffled silence by an even more voluble Englishwoman, played (in English) by Heather Thatcher
Heather Thatcher (3 September 1896 – 15 January 1987) was an English actress in theatre and films.
Dancer
By 1922, Thatcher was a dancer. She was especially noted for her interpretation of an Egyptian harem dance. Her exotic clothes were desig ...
. Later in the same year he made his last stage appearance in Paris in ''Palsambleu''. He continued to make films until 1957, when he suffered a disabling disease of the nervous system.[
Guitry died in Paris at the age of seventy-two. Twelve thousand people filed past his coffin, and he was buried, like his father, in the ]Cimetière de Montmartre
The Cemetery of Montmartre (french: link=no, Cimetière de Montmartre) is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis ...
, Paris.[
]
Legacy and reputation
Critical re-assessment has been prompted by reissues of Guitry's films. In 2011, an auction of Guitry memorabilia, including manuscripts, drawings, paintings and photographs, was held at the Drouot-Richelieu in Paris; with more than eight hundred items, it was considered the most important collection of material relating to Guitry since the playwright's death.[ Thiollet, Jean-Pierre]
"Sacha Guitry sous le feu des enchères"
''France-Soir'', 18 November 2011
In an obituary, ''The Manchester Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' commented:
Selected filmography
Film adaptations
*''The Lover of Camille
''The Lover of Camille'' is a 1924 American silent romantic drama film directed by Harry Beaumont, and starring Monte Blue. The film was based on the French play '' Deburau'' by Sacha Guitry, which was also adapted into a Broadway play by Ha ...
'', directed by Harry Beaumont
Harry Beaumont (10 February 1888 – 22 December 1966) was an American film director, actor, and screenwriter. He worked for a variety of production companies including 20th Century Fox, Fox, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation, Goldwyn, Metro Picture ...
(USA, 1924, based on the play ''Deburau
''Deburau'' is a 1918 French play by Sacha Guitry that also played on Broadway in a translation by Harley Granville-Barker at the Belasco Theatre in 1920–21 Mantle, BurnsThe Best Plays of 1920-21 and the Year Book of the Drama in America pp. 1 ...
'')
*''Sleeping Partners
''Sleeping Partners'' is a 1930 British comedy film directed by Seymour Hicks and starring Hicks, Edna Best and Lyn Harding. It is based on the 1916 play ''Let's Make a Dream (play), Let's Make a Dream'' by Sacha Guitry. It was shot at Islington ...
'', directed by Seymour Hicks
Sir Edward Seymour Hicks (30 January 1871 – 6 April 1949), better known as Seymour Hicks, was a British actor, music hall performer, playwright, actor-manager and producer. He became known, early in his career, for writing, starring in and p ...
(UK, 1930, based on the play ''Let's Make a Dream
''Let's Make a Dream'' (French: ''Faisons un rêve...'') is a 1936 French romantic comedy film directed by Sacha Guitry and starring Guitry, Raimu and Jacqueline Delubac.Oscherwitz & Higgins p.24 It is an adaptation of the 1916 play of the same t ...
'')
*''Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
'', directed by Marc Allégret
Marc Allégret (22 December 1900 – 3 November 1973) was a French screenwriter, photographer and film director.
Biography
Born in Basel, Basel-Stadt, Switzerland, he was the elder brother of Yves Allégret. Marc was educated to be a lawyer in ...
and Robert Florey
Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor.
Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he became an orphan at an early age and was then raised in Switzerland. In 1920 he worked a ...
(France, 1931, based on the play ''Le Blanc et le Noir'')
Notes and references
;Notes
;References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
See also
* Plays and films of Sacha Guitry
External links
Les gens du cinéma
*
Dave Kehr
David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...
, ''New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', 30 July 2010
Literature on Sacha Guitry
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guitry, Sacha
1885 births
1957 deaths
French male film actors
French male silent film actors
French male stage actors
French film directors
French male screenwriters
20th-century French screenwriters
20th-century French dramatists and playwrights
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
French opera librettists
Burials at Montmartre Cemetery
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
Male actors from Paris
20th-century French male actors
20th-century French male writers