Georges Alain Thierry Feydeau (21 July 1934 – 14 January 2008) was a French actor, director and writer. He was a grandson of the playwright

Georges Feydeau Georges-Léon-Jules-Marie Feydeau (; 8 December 1862 – 5 June 1921) was a French playwright of the Belle Époque era, remembered for his farces, written between 1886 and 1914. Feydeau was born in Paris to middle-class parents and raised in a ...

, and appeared in several of his grandfather's works, and directed new productions of two of them.

Life and career

Feydeau was born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...

, near Paris, on 21 July 1934, son of Michel Feydeau (1900–1961) and his wife Françoise, ''née'' Hoentschel. At the

Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique The Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (; "National Academy of Dramatic Arts"; abbr. CNSAD) is France's national drama academy, located in Paris and a constituent college of University PSL. It is a higher education institution r ...

in Paris he won the first prize for comedy in 1958, after which he joined the company of 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 ...

, of which he remained a member until 1983. During his time with the company Feydeau was appointed to the rank of ''Grand Pensionnaire'', but was never made a full '' Sociétaire''. In a stage career lasting nearly fifty years, Feydeau played in a wide range of plays, from French and foreign classics, such as Corneille's ''

Le Menteur ''The Liar'' () is a play by Pierre Corneille that was first performed in 1644. It was based on ''La Verdad Sospechosa'' by the Spanish-American playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, which was published in 1634. Summary Dorante, the eponymous quas ...

'',

Hugo's Hugo's Family Marketplace is a family-owned chain of supermarket grocery stores located in the U.S. states of North Dakota and Minnesota. It was founded by Hugo and Dorothy Magnuson in 1939. Hugo's is headquartered in the city of Grand Forks, No ...

Ruy Blas ''Ruy Blas'' () is a tragic drama by Victor Hugo. It was the first play presented at the Théâtre de la Renaissance and opened on November 8, 1838. Though considered by many to be Hugo’s best drama, the play was initially met with only ave ...

'' and Schiller's '' Marie Stuart'' to 20th-century works by writers including

Anouilh Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; ; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist and screenwriter whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ...

Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau ( , ; ; 5 July 1889 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost avant-garde artists of the 20th-c ...

, Giraudoux,

Sacha Guitry 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 (aesthetic), boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French ac ...

and

Marcel Pagnol Marcel Paul Pagnol (, also ; ; 28 February 1895 – 18 April 1974) was a French novelist, playwright, and filmmaker. Regarded as an auteur, in 1946, he became the first filmmaker elected to the . Pagnol is generally regarded as one of France's ...

."Alain Feydeau"
''Les Archives du spectacle''. Retrieved 13 August 2020 Among his more unusual roles was

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...

Captain Hastings Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel '' The Mysterious Affa ...

in a stage adaptation of a

Poirot Hercule Poirot (, ) is a fictional Belgian detective created by the English writer Agatha Christie. Poirot is Christie's most famous and longest-running character, appearing in 33 novels, two plays (''Black Coffee (play), Black Coffee'' and '' ...

story. The dramatist in whose plays he appeared most frequently was

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

– ''

Les Archives du spectacle Les Archives du spectacle – The Performing Arts Archive – is an online French database covering live performance (theatre, dance, opera, puppetry, etc.). It was created in 2007.Jacques Charon Jacques Charon (27 February 1920 – 15 October 1975) was a French actor and film director. Born in Paris, Charon trained at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (CNSAD) and made his début at the Comédie-Française in 1941. Du ...

's production of ''

Un fil à la patte ''Un fil à la patte'' (Tied by the leg) is a three-act farce by Georges Feydeau. It was first performed in Paris in 1894 and ran for 129 performances. The play has been revived frequently in France, and has been staged in translations in the US ...

'' (1961 and subsequent revivals), Moricet in his own production of '' Monsieur chasse!'' (1969), Pontagnac in

Jean Meyer Jean Meyer Barth (born February 8, 1942) is a French-Mexican historian and author, known for his writings on early 20th-century Mexican history. He has published extensively on the Mexican Revolution and Cristero War, the history of Nayarit, an ...

's production of ''

Le Dindon ''Le Dindon'' is a three-act farce by Georges Feydeau, first produced in Paris in 1896. It depicts the unsuccessful attempts of the central character – the ''"wikt:dindon de la farce, dindon"'' (roughly "the fall guy") to seduce a married woma ...

'' (1970), Ribadier or Thommereux in his own production of ''

Le Système Ribadier ''Le Système Ribadier'' (The Ribadier System) is a farce in three acts by Georges Feydeau and Maurice Hennequin, first performed in November 1892. It depicts a husband's stratagem for escaping the marital home to engage in extramarital intrigue, ...

'' (1972), Etienne in Jacques-Henri Duval's production of '' Occupe-toi d'Amélie'' (1972), and Dr Finache in

Jean-Laurent Cochet Jean-Laurent Cochet (28 January 1935 – 7 April 2020) was a French theater directo, actor and acting coach. Biography He was best known for starring in movies such as '' A Thousand Billion Dollars'' and ''Fort Saganne''. He was an important tea ...

's production of ''

La Puce à l'oreille ''A Flea in Her Ear'' () is a play by Georges Feydeau written in 1907, at the height of the Belle Époque. The author called it a vaudeville, but in Anglophone countries, where it is the most popular of Feydeau's plays, it is usually described ...

'' (1978)."Un fil à la patte""Monsieur chasse!""Le Dindon""Occupe-toi d'Amélie"
an
"La Puce à l'oreille"
''Les Archives du spectacle''. Retrieved 13 August 2020 On television Feydeau appeared frequently in the long-running series '' Au théâtre ce soir'' (At the theatre tonight), taking 21 different roles between 1968 and 1985. He made numerous other television appearances, and did a small amount of work for the cinema. As a writer, Feydeau published two books about the distinguished actress

Edwige Feuillère Edwige Feuillère (born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunatti; 29 October 1907 – 13 November 1998) was a French stage and film actress. Biography She was born Edwige Louise Caroline Cunatti to an Italian architect father and an Alsace-born moth ...

, whom he knew well. He also published some fiction. Feydeau died in Paris on 14 January 2008, aged 73. He is buried in the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of 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 in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

with other family members including the playwright.''Le Figaro'', ''quoted i
"Alain Feydeau"
Avis-de-deces.com. Retrieved 13 August 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feydeau, Alain 1934 births 2008 deaths Burials at Montmartre Cemetery 20th-century French male actors French male stage actors French male film actors French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni Male actors from Boulogne-Billancourt Writers from Boulogne-Billancourt