Pierre-Laurent Buirette de Belloy, known as Dormont de Belloy (17 November 17275 March 1775), was a French dramatist and actor.

Life

De Belloy was born at

Saint-Flour, Cantal Saint-Flour (; Auvergnat dialect, Auvergnat: ''Sant Flor'') is a Communes of France, commune in the south-central French Departments of France, department of Cantal, approximately 100 km south of Clermont-Ferrand. Its inhabitants are calle ...

, and, orphaned at a young age, was educated by his uncle, a distinguished advocate in Paris, for the bar. To escape from a profession he disliked he joined a troupe of comedians playing in the courts of the northern sovereigns. In 1758 the performance of his ''Titus'', which had already been produced in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

, was postponed through his uncle's exertions; and when it did appear, a hostile cabal procured its failure, and it was not until after his guardians death that de Belloy returned to Paris with ''Zelmire'' (1762), a fantastic drama which met with great success, latter becoming an opera by Rossini. This was followed in 1765 by the patriotic play, ''Le Siège de Calais''. The humiliations undergone by France in the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

assured a good reception for a play in which the devotion of Frenchmen redeemed disaster. The popular enthusiasm was unaffected by the judgment of calmer critics such as

Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during t ...

and

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

, who pointed out that the glorification of France was not best effected by a picture of defeat. De Belloy was admitted to the

Académie Française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

in 1772 due to his activities as a playwright. He remains the only actor to have ever held a seat on the academy. His attempt to introduce national subjects into French drama deserves honor, but it must be confessed that his resources proved unequal to the task. The ''Le Siège de Calais'' was followed by ''Gabrielle de Vergy'' (1770), ''Gaston di Bayard'' (1771), ''Pedro le cruel'' (1772). None of these attained the success of the earlier play, and de Belloy's death, which took place on 5 March 1775, is said to have been hastened by disappointment.

References

;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belloy, Dormont de 1727 births 1775 deaths People from Cantal Male actors from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes 18th-century French dramatists and playwrights 18th-century French male actors French male stage actors 18th-century French people Members of the Académie Française