Alice Regnault

This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please help improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Alice Regnault (born Augustine-Alexandrine Toulet; February 5, 1849 – July 12, 1931) was a French actress.

Her theatrical career began in 1871, but she was praised mainly for her beauty. She became very rich as a courtesan in Paris, and retired in 1881. She briefly worked as a journalist, under the pseudonym of Mitaine de Soie, and published two novels without much attention: Mademoiselle Pomme (1886) and La Famille Carmettes (1888).

She is best known for marrying in secret the French writer Octave Mirbeau, in May 1887, in London. After his death, she published the fictitious Testament politique d’Octave Mirbeau, which was in fact written by former anti-militarist and pacifist Gustave Hervé. Sacha Guitry dramatized this "betrayal" in his 1923 comedy, Un sujet de roman, inspired by Alice and his old friend Mirbeau, whom he admired very much.

• Pierre Michel, Alice Regnault, épouse Mirbeau, À l'écart, 1994.

• Alice Regnault, in Dictionnaire Octave Mirbeau.
• Pierre Michel, « Mirbeau et l'affaire Gyp », Littératures, n° 26, spring 1992, p. 201-219.