Henri Lafontaine
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Portrait of Henri Lafontaine (1873), woodburytype from a photograph by Alphonse Liébert
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| Born | 28 May 1824 Bordeaux, Kingdom of France |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Versailles, France |
| Occupation | Novelist and playwright |
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| Signature | File:Henri Lafontaine signature.png |
Louis-Henri-Marie Thomas (28 May 1824 – 22 February 1898), better known by the pen name of Henri Lafontaine, sometimes H. Lafontaine, or simply Lafontaine, was a French actor, playwright and novelist.
Biography
Henri Lafontaine was born in Bordeaux. He was related to the academician Thomas and was something like the grand-nephew of La Harpe.[1] His mother (née Guérin), who belonged to a family of shipowners long established in Royan, was well known for her Catholic sentiments, so young Henri was destined, by his parents' wishes, for an ecclesiastical career.[2] Placed in a seminary, he remained there until the age of sixteen, but as his religious vocation was not strong enough, he resolved to set off on an adventure.[2]
He escaped from the seminary and was hired as a cabin boy on a ship bound for faraway lands in Bordeaux, but the life of a sailor was not his dream either, because he wanted to be in the theatre, to become an actor. Before he could achieve this, he had to do a number of jobs, in turn working as a newsagent and pedlar. Nevertheless, he took to the theatre early on, and began performing comedy in the provinces under the name of "Charles Roch".[2] With no money of his own, he had to make the journey from Bordeaux to Paris on foot. Once in the capital, he took the stage name of "Lafontaine".[2]
He made his debut at a very young age on the Batignolles stage, playing the main roles in the repertoire then in vogue.[3] Loved by his audience, one evening in 1848 when he was performing in Les Aristocraties, by Étienne Arago as he entered the stage to speak, a sudden movement occurred in the auditorium, and a spectator shouted at him from the back of the auditorium: "Old chap, enough of the aristos, let's get on with La Marseillaise! Lafontaine replied by grabbing the flag that was held out to him and singing the popular song to great acclaim.[3] A few months later, having made a name for himself in these various roles, on Villemot's suggestion, Tilly, then director of the Porte-Saint-Martin, engaged him. Shortly afterwards, Tilly went bankrupt. Lafontaine refused to accept his salary, hoping to save the company.[3]
In 1849, he moved to the Gymnase, and really began to make a name for himself, thanks to his excellent creations in Brutus lâche César, in Fils de famille, Mariage de Victorine in 1851. In 1852, the Vacances de Pandolphe, and the Démon du foyer, by George Sand, followed by the Fils de famille. In 1853, Philiberte, by Émile Augier; 'Pressoir by G. Sand; Diane de Lys, by Alexandre Dumas fils. In 1854, Les Cœurs d'or, by Léon Laya, Flaminio, by G. Sand; Je dine chez ma mère, by Adrien Decourcelle, Faust et Marguerite by Carré & Barbier, etc., were published.[2]
After a successful campaign on the Gymnase stage, he made his Comédie-Française debut on 19 May 1856 in Le Cid. Wanting to play the tragedy with his own realistic ideas and means, he composed the role based on in-depth studies of the Spanish play, from which Corneille himself had drawn his subject. This attempt was coldly received; the audience and the critics wanted nothing to do with tradition. At the second performance, he was forced to return to the tradition established by his predecessors and was much applauded, but one of his illusions had just been shattered, and from that day on he gave up tragedy forever.[3] Lafontaine liked to innovate: on the evening of the dress rehearsal of Fils de famille, he came down from his dressing room dressed as a real colonel, with a moustache, greying hair and a tanned complexion.[1] There was a cry of astonishment. The authors and the director himself went up to him with their arms raised to heaven: "But, my friend," said Montigny, "that's not it at all! We need a young colonel who can compete elegantly with Bressant, the public wouldn't understand.[1]
— A young colonel from Scribe, then?" replied Lafontaine. Only we're not in the days of the wars of the Empire, there are no more young colonels!
— It doesn't matter," added Montigny, "do as I say. You'll see that it'll be much better!
Lafontaine hurried back to his dressing room and removed the powder from his hair and the tan from his face.[1] Congratulations from Montigny. The next day, at the première, he did not come down until he was about to go on stage. Montigny, who saw him with grey hair and the same face as the day before, was stunned, but he didn't have time to say a word, Lafontaine was already in front of the audience... who gave him a huge success.[1] Cheered as the curtain fell, as he passed the authors, he simply said to them: "To hell with Scribe's colonels!"[1]
However, not wanting to leave the Comédie-Française without having created a role that would re-establish him as an actor, he played d'Aubigny in Mlle de Belle-Isle, then Les Pauvres d'esprit, by Léon Laya, in the company of Provost, Bressant and Arnould-Plessy.[3] There was a scene in this play in which the character created by Lafontaine, reproaching his family for stopping the development of his talent, exclaimed: "In a word, I'm suffocating in this house! The audience saw the appropriateness of this and applauded.[3]
He then moved on to Vaudeville, where he played Roswein, Dalila and Le Roman d'un jeune homme pauvre by Octave Feuillet, La Seconde Jeunesse by Mario Uchard, Le Pamphlétaire by André Thomas and La Pénélope normande by Alphonse Karr to great success.[3]
In 1860, he returned to the Gymnase to create Les Pattes de mouche, by Sardou; in 1861: Le Gentilhomme pauvre by Dumanoir and Lafargue; La Vertu de Célimène by Henri Meilhac; in 1862: La Perle noire, and Les Ganaches by Sardou; in 1863: Le Démon du jeu, by Barrière and Crisafulli.[3]
On 19 February 1863, in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris, he married one of his classmates, Victoria Valous, known as Mademoiselle Victoria, who had been very successful as an ingénue since 1857. This union, which was never troubled by the slightest disagreement, was cited as the model for artists' households.
In November 1863, the Lafontaine couple joined the Comédie-Française, both immediately acquiring the title of full members, without having undergone the preliminary training as boarders prescribed by the Decree of Moscow.[2] This great favour, imposed by Count Walewski, the Minister of State, did not go unnoticed by the two new members. From that day on, the Lafontaine household was subjected to deafening hostility and harassment from the other artists in the company.[2] They were only given secondary roles. Less privileged in the distribution of roles than his wife, who made her debut under excellent conditions, he stepped aside to serve her interests.[3] For three years, therefore, he only had to create roles left by other members of the company, such as Dernier Quartier, by Édouard Pailleron, Alvarez in le Supplice d'une Femme, Moi, — roles refused by Delaunay — Mme Desroches, which Leroux rejected, and Gringoire, which Régnier abandoned to him; then, finally, Julie by Octave Feuillet,[3] in which he was quite remarkable, as well as in the Louis XI of Banville's Gringoire while his wife created the role of Henriette Maréchal.[2] His success in these last two plays rekindled his ambition, so he played Alceste in The Misanthrope, and the minister went up to his dressing room to compliment him. He then appeared in Tartuffe, or The Impostor, and was able to leave the Comédie-Française again, having given unquestionable proof of his personality.[3]
Tired of fighting against their situation at the Comédie-Française, the two Lafontaines resigned their membership, and he entered the Odéon to make his brilliant debut in the title role of Ruy Blas, while his wife left the stage for good. Lafontaine soon returned to the stage of his first successes. At the Gymnase, he appeared in Les Pattes de Mouche, La Vertu de Célimène, Les Ganaches and Le Démon du jeu, which he performed in 1863.[2]
From then on, Lafontaine travelled from theatre to theatre, sometimes at the Gaité, sometimes at the Gymnase, sometimes at the Odéon, sometimes at the Vaudeville.[2] Victor Hugo had chosen him for the revival of Ruy Blas at the Odéon. After a short stay at the Odéon, he moved on to the Gaité, where he gave one hundred performances of Victor Séjour's Fils de la Nuit and had the same number for Artaban, the main character of Barrière's Gascon, where he achieved great success as a singer by interpreting a popular song from southern France in an accurate and tender voice.[2] He then returned to the Odéon, came back to the Gaité to create the complex role of Orso Vagnano, from La Haine, and was engaged in 1876 at the Gymnase where he was seen in the character of Louvard, which he created with astonishing realism in Pierre Gendron, a play written by him. He also toured the provinces, performing in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Brussels, etc.[3]
In 1887, he returned to the Gymnase, where he made a name for himself in the Comtesse Sarah, and above all in his last creation, the Abbé Constantin, who had a long career in the theatre thanks to his talent.
Lafontaine was also a playwright and novelist. Among the plays he had performed were La Servante (Bruxelles), L'Aile du corbeau (Vaudeville), Le Rêve de ma femme (Gymnase), Pierre Gendron (Gymnase), Pour les pauvres, and others. He also collaborated with Alphonse Daudet on Jack, a play in five acts. He wrote and published several novels: L'Homme qui tue, Les Bons Camarades, Thérèse ma mie, Petites Misères, a work which was even awarded the Montyon Prize by the French Academy in 1882.[4]
Lafontaine was also an art collector. He had a magnificent collection of paintings by old masters. In his last years, living completely away from the theatre, he was seen from time to time at the Théâtre-Français, where he took an ever-new pleasure in performing works from the classical repertoire.
Henri Lafontaine died in Versailles, Yvelines at the age of 73. He was buried at the Cemetery of Notre-Dame.[2]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Stoullig, Edmond (6 mars 1898). "À propos de Lafontaine," Le Monde artiste, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 10, p. 151.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Tout-Paris (24 février 1898). "Le comédien Lafontaine," Le Gaulois, No. 5956, p. 2.
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 Jahyer, Félix (20 novembre 1873). "Lafontaine," Paris-théâtre, No. 27, p. 2.
- ↑ "Henri Thomas Lafontaine," Académie française.
External links
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- Pages with broken file links
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- 1824 births
- 1898 deaths
- 19th-century French dramatists and playwrights
- 19th-century French male actors
- 19th-century French novelists
- 19th-century pseudonymous writers
- Burials at the Cemetery of Notre-Dame, Versailles
- French male novelists
- Male actors from Bordeaux
- Montyon Prize laureates
- Sociétaires of the Comédie-Française
- Writers from Bordeaux
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