Louis Jouvet | |
|---|---|
 Louis Jouvet in The School for Wives in 1950 | |
| Born | Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet 24 December 1887 Crozon, France |
| Died | 16 August 1951 (aged 63) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, director, theatre manager |
| Spouse | Else Collin (1886–1967) |
| Partner | Madeleine Ozeray (?–1943) |
Jules Eugène Louis Jouvet (24 December 1887 – 16 August 1951) was a French actor, theatre director and filmmaker.
Jouvet was born in Crozon. He had a stutter as a young man and originally trained as a pharmacist.[1] He received an advanced degree in pharmacy in 1913, though he never actually practiced, instead pursuing a career in theatre.[2]:91
Jouvet was 'refused three times by the Conservatoire' in Paris before being accepted to Jacques Copeau's Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier as a stage manager in 1913.[3]:345 Copeau's training included a varied and demanding schedule, regular exercise for agility and stamina, and pressing his cast and crew to invent theatrical effects in a bare-bones space. It was there Jouvet developed his considerable stagecraft skills, particularly makeup and lighting (he developed a kind of accent light named the jouvet). These years included a successful tour to the United States.[citation needed]
While influential, Copeau's theater was never lucrative and Jouvet left in October 1922 for the Comédie des Champs-Élysées (the small stage of the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées). He was made director of the theatre in 1924.[1] In December 1923 he staged his single most successful production, the satire Dr. Knock, written by Jules Romains.[2]:92 His characterization of the manipulative crank doctor was informed by his own experience in pharmacy school.[citation needed] It became his signature and his standby; he produced it 'almost every year until the end of his life'.[4] Jouvet remained at the Comédie until 1934, when he moved to the Théâtre de l'Athénée due to the high overhead of running a theatre troupe at the Comédie.[2]:92 He served as director of the Théâtre from 1934 through his death in 1951.[2]:92
In 1927, he formed Le Cartel des Quatre [The Cartel of Four] with Charles Dullin, Gaston Baty (1885–1952), and Georges Pitoëff.[5]:80 The Cartel was 'an artistic and economic alliance in opposition to academic and commercial theatre',[5]:178 and the directors did not share a specific 'aesthetic movement'.[5]:80
In 1928 he began an ongoing collaboration with playwright Jean Giraudoux, beginning with a radical streamlining of Giraudoux's Siegfried et le Limousin (1922). Their work together included the first staging of The Madwoman of Chaillot in 1945.[citation needed]
Jouvet starred in some 34 films, including two recordings of Dr. Knock, once in 1933 and again in 1951. He was professor at the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts.[citation needed]
He died 16 August 1951 in his dressing room at the Théâtre de l'Athénée after having a heart attack.[6] Jouvet is buried in the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris.[citation needed] The Athénée theatre now bears his name.[2]:92
French-Argentine actor Maurice Jouvet (1923–1999) was his nephew.
British actor Peter Wyngarde has claimed Jouvet as his maternal uncle,[7] but Jouvet's immediate family tree does not confirm this.
Pixar paid homage to Jouvet by basing the appearance of the character Anton Ego in Ratatouille (2007) on him.[citation needed]
