Simone Le Bargy (3 April 1877 – 17 October 1985), born Pauline Benda but better known by her stage and pen name, Madame Simone, was a

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

actress and woman of letters.

Biography

Born into a

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ian family of Jewish bourgeoisie, Benda was a cousin of the writer Julien Benda. She made her stage debut in 1902 and played parts for

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and

François Porché François Porché (born Cognac, November 21, 1877 - died Vichy, April 19, 1944) was a French dramatist, poet and literary critic. The French Academy awarded him the Grand Prix de Littérature in 1923. ''Les Butors et la Finette'', a "symbolical a ...

, her late husband. She took after

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in the role of L'Aiglon's Edmond Rostand and participated in the creation of Chantecler in 1910. In 1898, she married her diction teacher Charles Le Bargy at the church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule. He was more than twice her age. After her divorce from him, she took the name "Simone Le Bargy". She remarried, in 1909, Claude Casimir-Perier, son of former President of the Republic

Jean Casimir-Perier Jean Paul Pierre Casimir-Perier (; 8 November 1847 – 11 March 1907) was a French politician who served as President of France from June 1894 to January 1895. Biography Jean Casimir-Perier was born in Paris on 8 November 1847, the son of Augu ...

. She was the friend of many celebrities of her time and, from 1909, she received the great literary figures of the time, like her later lover

Alain-Fournier Henri-Alban Fournier (; 3 October 1886 – 22 September 1914),Mémoire des hommes
Secrétariat ...

, his friend

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, and

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at the castle of the Trie-City. The most striking feature of her personal life is her brief and passionate affair that began 29 May 1913 with Alain-Fournier, whom she met while he was secretary of her second husband. He was killed 12 January 1915 on the front of the Aisne. Alain-Fournier was killed while leading his company 22 September 1914, during a reconnaissance of the German lines. She married a third time, to the author François Porché, which she says in his memoirs was a marriage based on their respective common point following for each of them, a passion rudely interrupted. She lived 108 years, and was a jury member of the

Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French List of literary awards, literary prize awarded each year by an exclusively female jury. The prize, which was established in 1904, is awarded to French-language works written in prose or Verse (poetry), verse by male ...

from 1935 to 1985, literary salon, friendships and Parisian influences, writing novels, memoirs (Grand Prize for Literature of academy in 1960). Her unhappy first marriage with actor Le Bargy seems to have served as a model for Jean Cocteau's ''Bel Indifferent''. She died at a retreat in the Basque Country in October 1985.

Publications

* ''Le Désordre'', Paris, Plon, 1930. * ''Jours de colère'', Paris, Plon, 1935. * ''Le Paradis terrestre'', Paris, Gallimard, 1935. * ''Québéfi'', Genève, éd. du Milieu du monde, 1943. * ''Le Bal des ardents'', Paris, Plon, 1951. * ''L'Autre roman'', Paris, Plon, 1954. * ''Sous de nouveaux soleils'', Paris, Gallimard, 1957. * ''Ce qui restait à dire'', Paris, Gallimard, 1967. * ''Mon nouveau testament'', Paris, Gallimard, 1970. * ''Correspondance 1912-1914'', avec Alain-Fournier, édité par Claude Sicard, Paris, Fayard, 1992.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Bargy, Simone 1877 births 1985 deaths French stage actresses French women centenarians French women dramatists and playwrights French National Academy of Dramatic Arts alumni French women writers