François-Joseph Regnier

François-Joseph-Philoclès Regnier de La Brière called Regnier [1] (1 April 1807, in Paris – 27 April 1885, in Paris) was a 19th-century French actor and playwright. The comedian Alcide Tousez was his uncle.

Régnier by Jules-Élie Delaunay (1884)

Biography

After he studied at the Oratorians, he made his comedian debut at the Théâtre Montmartre in 1826 then toured the French provinces, particularly in Metz and Nantes. He was admitted at the Comédie-Française in 1831, became a sociétaire in 1835 then the dean in 1865 before retiring in 1871.[2] In 1884, he also became a professor at the Paris Conservatory, where among his students were Réjane, Marguerite Durand, Jules-Théophile Boucher and Constant Coquelin.

Theatre

Career at the Comédie-Française
Admission in 1831
Appointed 255th sociétaire in 1835; became dean in 1865
Retirement in 1871

Anecdote

In a letter from 1876 Regnier says that the unusual first name of Philoclès comes from the French translation of Agathocle by Christoph Martin Wieland whose his godfather was a great admirer. The name of Charles was substituted at his baptism, but the destruction of civil registers during the Paris Commune allowed him to recover it at the time of the reconstitution of his birth certificate.[3]

References
  1. In a letter to Réjane, the actor said that unlike the spelling of many newspapers, his name does not have an acute accent on the « e ». Quoted in Henry Lyonnet, Dictionnaire des comédiens français.
  2. Liste des Comédiens-Français Archived 2009-10-16 at the Wayback Machine sur le site de la Comédie-Française.
  3. Quoted in Georges d'Heylli, Gazette anecdotique n° 13 (15 July 1885), Librairie des bibliophiles, 1885, p. 9-11.

Bibliography
  • Georges d'Heylli, Regnier, sociétaire de la Comédie-Française, Librairie générale, 1872.
  • Henry Lyonnet, Dictionnaire des comédiens français, Revue universelle internationale illustrée, Genève, 1912.
  • Gustave Vapereau, Dictionnaire universel des contemporains, Paris, 1865.
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