Champmeslé

Champmeslé
Charles Chevillet de Champmêlé
engraving after Netscher (1789).
Image CÉSAR
Born
Charles Chevillet

20 October 1642
Died22 August 1701(1701-08-22) (aged 58)
Paris
Occupation(s)Actor
Playwright
SpouseMarie Desmares

Charles Chevillet, sieur de Champmeslé, (20 October 1642 – 22 August 1701) was a 17th-century French actor and playwright (see Troupe of the Comédie-Française in 1680).

Champmeslé made his theatre debut in 1665 in a troupe of the province and married Marie Desmares in Rouen on 9 January 1666. He then played at the Théâtre du Marais then at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and became one of the first sociétaires of the Comédie-Française.

When he died, coming out of a tavern, the priest of Saint-Sulpice refused the funeral service and Champmeslé was buried in the garden of his house in Asnières.

Champmeslé also wrote less than a dozen theatre plays, including some in collaboration with Jean de La Fontaine.

He wrote several comedies such as:

  • Les Grisettes, 3 acts ;
  • Les Grissettes ou Crispin chevalier, 1 act ;
  • Le Florentin ;
  • La Coupe enchantée ; these two last plays he composed in association with Jean de La Fontaine.

His Œuvres were collected in 1696.

References

[edit]
[edit]