Préville (actor)
French comic actor (1721–1799) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
French comic actor (1721–1799) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Préville (17[1] or 19[2] September 1721 – 18 December 1799) was a French comic actor.[1][2]
Born Pierre-Louis Dubus to an impoverished family in Paris, he was originally intended for the clergy.[1] While playing with a mediocre troop of actors in provincial France, Préville's budding talents were spotted in the town of Rouen by Jean Monnet, who engaged him to perform with the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1743.[3] Later Préville returned to the provinces and was the manager of the Grand Théâtre in Lyon.[2]
He joined the Comédie Francaise in Paris in 1753, where he debuted on 20 September in the role of Crispin in Jean-François Regnard's Le Légataire universel (The Sole Legatee).[1] He took on roles previously played by François-Arnoul Poisson [fr] and revealed himself to be the best comedian in the company since Jean-Baptiste Raisin. [fr] He appeared with the actress Mlle Dangeville [fr] with great success in several plays by Pierre de Marivaux[4] and created the roles of Figaro in Pierre Beaumarchais's Le Barbier de Séville in 1775 and Brid'oison in Le Mariage de Figaro in 1784.[3] In 1777, he played the role of Saint-Germain in Jacques Marie Boutet’s play L’amant bourru. One of his most notable successes was playing 6 characters in one in Edmé Boursault's Le Mercure galant.[4]
He retired in 1786, returning to the stage in 1791 and 1794–5,[3] and died in Beauvais at the age of 78 years and 3 months.[2] He was married to Mademoiselle Préville.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
